"That the use of checks has increased rapidly in the past ten years is an undisputed fact, and the question of how to handle them to advantage, or without loss, is a problem that has caused much discussion. All large cities have had the same experience, and have dealt with the question in various ways. Rather than ask his bank to draw exchange, the country merchant sent his check to Boston in payment of his account, and in this way, he was encouraged by the city merchants who deposited the check in his bank, where it was received at par. This continued until the volume handled reached such proportions as to make the item of exchange quite prominent in the expense account, which the city bankers sought to reduce by various methods. In many cases checks were not sent directly to the banks upon which they were drawn, some other route being selected to avoid exchange charges; as, for example, a check on Stonington, Conn., deposited in Westerly, R.I., only six miles distant, after many days, during which it traveled one thousand miles, perhaps, passed through Providence, Boston, Newport, then New Haven and New London and reached its destination bearing the endorsement of nine banks. Mr. Cannon in his work on Clearing Houses cites a remarkable case of zigzagging to avoid collection charges; a check on Sag Harbor, N.Y., paid to a Hoboken firm was eleven days reaching its destination. Had it been collected through the New York Clearing House ten days' time, fifteen hundred miles of travel and a vast amount of clerical work might have been saved." Here are two diagrams showing the route and the indorsements of the check to which Mr. Cannon referred, taken from Mr. Cannon's work on Clearing Houses.