banks may seem arbitrary and troublesome, but
reflection will show that they safeguard the depositor as well as the
bank. The simple rules here laid down will enable anyone who has
business with a bank to do so with the least trouble and with absolute
safety.

How to Make Out a Check.

Checks are the most satisfactory and most convenient method of paying a
debt or making any ordinary remittance. The stub of your check book will
furnish a permanent memorandum, and when the check is canceled and
returned to you by the bank, it is an indisputable evidence that the
debt has been paid, or that the remittance has been made. The making of
a check is a simple matter, but even the best business men make mistakes
sometimes which are as difficult to remedy as they are easy to avoid.
The hints here given and the facsimiles of checks printed in
illustration will repay careful study.

[Illustration: A Check Properly Drawn. The name and amount are against
the left side of their fields.]

The first facsimile shows a check properly made. It will be seen, in the
first place, that this check is written very plainly, and that there is
no room for the insertion of extra figures or words. The writing of the
amount commences as nearly as possible to the extreme left of the check.
The figures are written close together and there is no space between the
first figure and the dollar mark.

All erasures in checks should be avoided. If you have made a mistake,
tear a blank check from the back of your check book and use that in
place of the one spoiled.

Some business men allow their clerks to fill out checks on the
typewriter. This is ill-advised for two reasons: First, it is much
easier to alter a typewritten check than one filled in with a pen; in
the second place, a teller, in passing on the genuineness of a check,
takes into consideration the character of the handwriting in the body of
the check as well as in the signature. The typewritten characters offer
no clue to individuality.

Never mail a check drawn to "Bearer." Remember that if your check is
made payable to "Bearer" or to "John Smith or Bearer" it may be cashed
by anybody who happens to have it. Unless it is for a large amount the
paying teller of your bank will look only to see whether your signature
is correct, and, that being right, the bank cannot be held responsible
if the check should have come into the wrong hands.

A check drawn to order can be cashed only when