Special Collections The special collection section of the city collection department receives: r. For collection and credit, all drafts which require special advice of payment, drafts with bill of lading attached to be held for arrival of the merchandise, and all drafts which require special attention.
2. Foreign currency and rare coins for sale and credit under advice to correspondents.
3. Notes for collection.
The special collection clerks are often called upon to exchange inland bills of lading for ocean documents, to get shipments insured through brokers in the city, to arrange for the transfer of merchan dise from the railroad yards and steamship docks to the warehouses for storage, and to care for all the detail in this connection.
Clerks from the city collection department assist the mail teller with the morning mail and receive from the mail teller and check all items sent in special letters or bearing a special notation requesting that a specific thing be done. A credit ticket is im mediately made out bearing the name of the correspondent, collection number, date of letter, name of drawee, amount, in structions as to protest, etc. The drafts are stamped "Paid" and sorted into the various routes for the messengers. Another source of drafts is from the foreign collection department.
The notes received for collection are entered in a "note book," with complete instructions covering each item, and then delivered to the note teller to be collected at maturity. All time drafts are listed upon sheets with a complete description of each item and also of the final disposition when accepted or returned. Time drafts are usually left with the drawee overnight for examination, a messenger calling for them the following morning. If they are accepted, they really become notes and are entered in a scratch book and delivered to the note teller to be collected at the date of maturity. If any of the time drafts are returned without ac ceptance, they are returned to the correspondents or the for eign collection department. Time drafts carrying documents usually bear instructions indicating that documents may be surrendered upon acceptance or upon payment, and the messen ger guides himself accordingly. Arrival drafts, that is, drafts
drawn payable upon arrival of certain goods covered by a bill of lading which is usually attached to the draft, and other drafts bearing order bills of lading, are presented and held per instruc tions and the correspondents are notified to that effect. Because of the great number of arrival drafts it may be quite impossible to follow up the arrival of cars, and unless the correspondent makes a special request the bank will depend upon the drawee for informa tion as to the time the goods arrive.
While the messengers are on the street making collections, the special collection clerks compare the instructions on the credit tickets with those on the letters, and prepare telegrams and letters covering the items which require immediate attention.
The credit tickets are arranged according to amounts, and as the messengers return to the bank the clerks check the items re ceived in payment of the various drafts. Advices of payment are prepared and, after proof against the tickets, are mailed through the transit department or, if they are foreign advises, delivered to the foreign collection department, which in turn advises its correspondents.
The credit tickets are posted in the credit journal and are turned over to the bookkeepers of the check desk department.
The special collection clerks attend to all the items returned unpaid, wiring or writing in order to effect an early settlement of each draft.
At the end of the day the special collection clerks make out a proof. The total of the items received in payment of the drafts must equal the total of the credit journal.
Sight Draft Collections The sight draft section of the department collects all sight drafts which are received by mail or over the counter for imme diate credit, but which are not payable through the clearing house. The volume of sight drafts drawn on non-clearing trust companies is so large that the handling of these is sometimes delegated to a special trusts section; the detail of their collection is similar to that of sights in general.