Never date a check ahead unless you are positive that you will have the money in bank to meet it on the day named. Never, if you can avoid it in trade, receive a post-dated check. Cash or deposit your checks as soon as possible after they are received. If the bank should fail, while you are holding the check, the maker cannot be held for the loss. CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT Often when a depositor is travelling, he finds it convenient to carry with him a form of paper that is as good as cash, and much better in the event of loss. Banks will issue "certified checks" to depositors. These checks are stamped by the bank "certified" with the date and officer's signature attached. On issuing such a check, the bank debits the receiver's account with the amount, and so can guarantee the payment whenever or wherever presented. Such a check may be received with as much certainty of its value as if it were a bank bill. When a person places money in a bank with no intention of checking it out for some time to come, he may have issued to him a "Certificate of deposit." While holding this certificate he cannot check against the money in the bank. The holder of a certificate of deposit may transfer it. The money may be paid in part by the bank, if the certificate is presented, and the amount is endorsed on the back. To withdraw all the money the certificate must be surrendered. USE OF CHECKS There is no form of commercial paper in such general use as the check. The total of all the checks in use at some seasons is far more than the total of all the money in all the banks. Checks are balanced in the money centers through what are known as clearing houses. In these a bank is charged with checks against it and credited with those in its favor. The differences are settled by cash. Often a few thousand dollars will settle check accounts amounting to millions. If by any chance you should receive a check in which your name is misspelled, or not given as you write it, endorse the check exactly as the name is written on the face, then add your name in the regular way. CHAPTER IX SAVINGS BANKS While of National importance, savings banks are chartered by the respective states in which they exist, and as such are distinctly local institutions. Unlike the National, the savings bank is not established as a money-making corporation. The ostensible and actual purpose of the savings bank is to encourage people of small means to save. The savings bank provides a safe place for the care of such deposits, and it pays such rates of interest on such deposits as are warranted by the earnings of its investments after paying the expenses incident to the proper conduct of its officers. When a savings bank receives authorization to act, through a charter from the state, the organizers choose a board of directors and the proper officers.