Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/26

* CLEARING-HOUSE. U CLEARWING. ings are not so important. On the other hand, the institution is widely known in Canada. Aiis- tnilia. and other Knj;lisli colonies. In the Lnited States, the clearinii-house asso- ofations not onlv fiirnisli the facilities for settle- ments anions l)aiiks which have been described, Init also enalde the banks to act as units in mat- ters of banking policy. They establish rules of banking practice in the interest of the banks, as a whole, which individual banks would not be strong enough to maintain. Thus, many asso- ciations fix the rates to be charged for the col- lection of out-of-town checks. Certain associa- tions prohibit the issue of certified checks by the members. .Many details of practice are thus regulated by clearinghouse rules. These asso- ciations, too. foster among the banks a feeling of solidarity of interest, and furnish an organ through which this can find expression. In times of financial distress, it may be a matter of supreme importance to all the banks that none go to the wall ; for such an occurrence may canse a run upon all the l)anks and a general catas- trophe. The stronger banks, under such circum- stances, come to the aid of their weaker brethren. Xowhere is the function of the clearing-house in sustaining the interests of the banks, and the general credit of the comnuuiity, more apparent than in the issue of clearing-house loan certifi- cates. The ordinary clearing-house gold certifi- cate differs from a Government gold certificate only in the fact that the clearing-hou.se, and not the Government, is the custodian of the gold. It is preferred over the Government certificate because it can be issued in denominations better suited to the needs of the banks. With these certificates the loan certificates have nothing in common. They are issued only in times of panic, to meet temporary emergencies, and are called in and canceled as soon as their work is done. In times of panic there is an unusual demand for means of pajTiient. Under the na- tional banking system of reserves, which permits the ccnmtry banks to deposit a portion of their legal reserves in the commercial centres, this strain is felt quite severely in the money centres. It is only to a limited extent that such emer- gencies can be met by restricting discounts. In preparation for a demand which can be foreseen, this usually takes place; but at the mcmient of the crisis, credits must be expanded and loans discounted freely, if the storm is to be weathered. Where free banking exists, this is usually done through increased note issues: but the banking system of the United States does not admit of such an increase. The clearing-house loan certifi- cate relieves the situation by substituting cer- tificates based, not on cash, but on securities for the casli ordinarily used in clearing-house opera- tions — thereby placing this cash at the disposal of the banks for the use of their customers. The clearing-house requires a deposit of se- curities with a committee, and issues certificates bearing a relatively high interest — in New York City, six per cent., up to a certain per cent, of the securities deposited, generally 7.5 per cent. It generally provides that any loss arising from the issue of the certificates shall be assessed pro rata, either upon the capital and surplus or upon the average clearings of the banks. Thus the entire credit of the associated banks is pledged for the redemption of the certificates. The inter- est charge makes it to the advantage of the banks to redeem as soon as possible the certifi- cates issued to them, and they rarely last more llian a few montlis. Tliis exi)edient was first tried by the New York Clcaring-Hou.se in I860, and has been repeated in 1802, 180,3, 1873, 1884, ISiU), and 18!);i. In the latter year the issue began June 21 and ceased September C. The issue, the largest in the history of the clearing- house, was iii4 1.400,000. The hist certificate was redeemed November 1, a little more than four months after the first issue. While, since 1800, these issues in Xew York have amounliil to over .$168,000,000, there has been no loss upon them. The example set by New York was pretty gener- ally followed by other clearing-houses in 1873, and such issues have since been authorized by other associations to meet a general financial stringency or a local emergency. BirtLioGRAPHY. Cannon, Cleariiifi - Houses (New York, 1900) ; White, Money and Banking (New York, 1902) ; Jevons, Money and Mecha- nism of Exchange (London. 1875) : Report of the Com pt roller of 'the Currency (1896). CLEAB LAKE. A body of water in Lake County. Cal., about 90 miles north of San Francisco (Map: ('alifornia, B 2). It is about 25 miles long by from two to six miles wide; there is a contraction in its southern part, which is known as 'Lower Lake.' It is situated in an elevated and picturesque region, which is a popular resort for field and water sportsmen. Lakeport is on the west shore, and Lower Lake at the southeastern end. CLEARNESS. A quality in painting, in which light and shade (see CuiAKOscrEO) is successfully achieved without a sacrifice of purity of color. CLEAKSTORT, or CLERESTORY. The upper part of any building lighted by a row of windows ; or, more strictly, the upper part of the central nave of a church, in which windows were cut above the roof of the side-aisles. The object of the clearstory is to give direct light to the nave. Clearstories appear in all early Chris- tian basilicas, and in a difl'erent form in Byzantine churches — as, e.g. that around the base of the dome of Saint Sophia. They are lacking in a certain class of early Romanesque churches with tunnel vaults and early groin vaults, especially in the south of France, Bur- gundy, and Lombardy, because the builders, who were then experimenting with vaulting, were afraid of its thrust, and did not dare to raise the spring of the main vault sufficiently above the supporting side-vaults to allow of the in- sertion of a line of windows lielow the spring. Such were San Ambrogio at Milan (groin vaults) , Saint Etienne at Nevers, and Saint Sernin at Toulouse (tunnel vaults). After the twelfth century clearstories were again the rule. CLEARWING. Any of the small moths of the family .Egeriidae, with transparent wings, the caterpillars of which bore into the stems of trees or plants, and hibernate there. Many of the clearwings are so small, brilliantly colored, and unlike moths, that they are easily mistaken for wasps or flies. The most common is the currant-l)orer (.Tlperia tipuliformis), imported to America from Europe, and sometimes highly destructive to currant and gooseberry' bushes. The peach-borer {f^anina exitiosa) is a pest in peach orchards.