Par Collections

In the South, much of the smaller banks' income has always been derived from changes upon checks entrusted to it for collection. One of the main aims of the Federal Reserve system has always been to eliminate such tariffs, and to establish a uniform practice throughout the country of clearing all checks at par as far as possible. The tenacity with which the Southern bankers have clung to their collection charges for out-of-town exchange has provided most of the protest against the Reserve system below the Mason and Dixon line. Such charges have proved, however, a burden and a nuisance to American business, and sentiment in general is with the Reserve in its par collection campaign. Recently, the National Association of Credit Men, in its convention report, endorsed the stand taken upon this subject by the Reserve system.