Now the law says that banks shall keep open _during certain hours_ on every business day, which is not a legal holiday. After the closing hour there is a tremendous amount of work to be done. The tellers must balance their cash; the bookkeepers must take off a balance of every account on their particular set of books; and every check and draft deposited, or received through the mails, and payable in other towns, must be listed and forwarded for collection. Nothing can be held over without risk, no matter how heavy the day's work. The rule in every bank is to clean up all the work on the very day it is received. None of this daily balancing of cash, or books, can be commenced until the last check has been cashed, the last depositor has come in, and the last payer of a collection has settled. For instance, the payment of a single draft or note after banking hours, necessitates the holding open of several sets of books or the erasure and changing of various totals by the bookkeepers. It is a very mistaken, but popular, idea that the bank employes practically are through with their duties at the close of banking hours. The fact is, that the usual hours for the employes are from eight till five, and it is no uncommon thing for the clerk and officers to be hard at work many hours after the business houses have closed. Yet many persons think the bank very disobliging if it refuses to transact business after hours. One unreasonable individual insisted that he had until sundown to pay his note on the day it was due. When the collecting bank told him it would be protested if not paid before the end of banking hours, he became very abusive and wanted to know who gave that bank the power to say how late he could pay. He was politely referred to the law makers, but this did not lessen his resentment against the bank. The foregoing are statements of actual daily occurrences and are only fair samples of the injustice with which many persons treat the banks. And it is mainly the result of ignorance of the laws and customs, which the banks _must_ obey. XII THE LOAN DEPARTMENT As a preface to the remarks on this department, the following simple and concise statement is taken, by permission, from that excellent book, "Money and Banking," by Mr. Horace White. (Book II, Chapter I, page 235, Edition of 1895.) "FUNCTION OF A BANK"