, 1862-01-25

known as "Money Order Offices" The
success Of this experiment will depend upon
cheapness, simplicity, and honesty. The
last seems provided for with tolerable Ger
tainty. As to the second, there appears to
be no unnecessary red-tapein in filing up the
order. But nothing is said in our special
dispatch in relation the description Of
money which will be taken in payment of
orders, OF will he paid out in their redemp-
ton. If man pays gold, the order should
call for gold If he pays Treasury notes,
the order should be redeemed in Treasury
notes. It would add greatly to the public
convenience if bank currency were receiv-
able for orders, but this would he attended
by loss to the Government, and would open
q wide door for frauds The value Of bank
bills is not uniform some are worth
more than others they are current in
one place and uncurrent in another; they
are good today and worthless tomorrow.
Hence, the money order offices dare not
deal IN them, as the Government would be
constantly subject to loss from their depre.
citation and collapsing. We may therefore
take it for granted that nothing will be re-
ceivable but coin and Treasury notes.
The next thing to be considered is cheap
ness If the commission 10 be charged on Or
ders is felt to be too high, people will decline
buying them, and the law will be dead
letter. Our dispatch states the commits
sions as follows: An order between 81 and
$40, five cents; between $t0 and $50, if
teen cents; between $50 and $50, twenty
five cents. Is not quarter Of dollar too
high tariff for $31, except for great dis
tances? We think it will exclude three
fourths Of the business that might be done.
It is nearly one per cent, for transmission.
So also fifteen cents on $11 order
is a prohibitory impost. We cannot see
the justice or business wisdom Of charging
q commission Of five cents On q ten dollar
; order and charging fifteen cents On an cley-
| en- dollar order; Of charging fifteen cents
on $50, and twenty-five cents on s31. Any
/; express agent OF bank cashier could point
out Tie error in the principle adopted by
! the Committee. The true rule is to charge
! per cent. on the amount Of the order,
| Then the commission will be exactly IN
! proportion to the yalue Of the service rcn.
| lcEed.
! We would propose the following scale fo1
the consideration Of the Committee: On
! all sums over ten dollars, five cents, and
+! three mills per dollar on the excess over ten
dollars. For example, on $50 The commits.
SIGN would be five cents on the first ten
! and three cents Oh the second, making
eight cents; on $s5 it would be thirteen
cents four mills; on $50 it would he seven
teen cents In order TO avoid the fraction
Of q cent, let all such be counted as full
cent, SO that Oh c thirty eight dollar ordel
tie commission would he fourteen cents
To facilitate making change, let postag'
stamps. be a legal tender for all fractions 0
dime. But without this, any change cal
be made with three and five cent piece
where copper coin is not procurable.
4 commission Of three mills is as high Il
the business Of the country will warrant
), Unless the people perceive that money OF
ders can be procured cheaply as well a
easily, they will he "neglected'- use
commercial term. The scale Of charge
proposed by the Committee will not yiel
onc-half or one-fourth as much receipts a
that We have suggested. If the main pul
pose Of the Committee is TO add to the Po:
Office revenue, the commissions the
propose TO charge will defeat their object
; if their intention is to accommodate tl
public, they have missed their aim.
The telegram states that Postmastcrsa al
to be paid onc-third Of the amount Of th
commission on orders issued, and ont
. eighth Of one per cent. on the gross amour
paid" which would be giving the postma
r. tiers about one-half Of the gross reccip
from the business. This is altogethcr te
;, liberal, and more than can be afforded I
- the Department. Instead Of onc-third ar
: onc-eightl, nc would suggest twenty p
- cent on orders issued, and ten per cent. {
i orders redeemed, making 80 per cent. i
i stead Of nearly SO per cent, as propos'
- BY the Committee. The Post Office .
a. partment has need for al the profit til
If can be derived from the proposed system
X 4 properly contriyed and conduct
4 n1orey order system would be very uset
,s totlc public, and may he made the source
h, a handsome addition to the Post Off
. | TcYtOlc.