Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-12-15

/ expenses, SS2. 50, a balance renamed, June
| SO, 1864, Of S3,259.l2.
POSTAL MONEY ORDER SYSTEM.
| The act approved May II, 1864, authorized
| the Postmaster General to establish, under
such rules and regulations as he may find ex-
| pedlent and necessary, uniform money-or-
der system at all post Offices which he mag
| deem suitable therefor; :" and that this system
should be put into operation during the fiscal
| year ending June 50. 1854
| j superintendent and assistant have been
| appointed, one hundred and forty-one post
| offices have been designated as money-order
offices, and the operation of the system COM
menced on the first instant
| The maximum amount for which @ money
order can be issued is fixed by law at thirty
| dollars, the object of the system being to at
ford a cheap, immediate, and safe agency for
the transfer through the mails of snail sans
OF money. The tendency of the system is to
exclude money from the mails, the presence
OF which IN letters is the frequent cause of
| the loss OF correspondence, even the letter
| does not contain money. The limit of thirty
| dollars is believed TO be sufficiently large to
include all that class of remittances now sent
IN money through the mails, but in exception
al eases more than one order can be procured.
The average amount contained in each money
| letter received at the dead letter office during
the fiscal year 1862 was 81. So; during 1858,
it was S4.2O; and in 1864, S.. lS-showing
that, as rule, money remittances by mail are
made in small amounts.
! The mode by which safety in the transfer
OF money is secured, consists in leaving out
of the order the name of the payee or party
! for whom the money is intended. In this
| respect money-order differs from an ordi-
| nary bank draft or check. When a money
order is applied for, the postmaster will fur
nish the applicant with printed form of ap-
| plcation, in which the latter will enter all
| the particulars of amount, name, address, &c.
required to be stated in the mOnev -order and
/ advice. From the items contained in such
application the postmaster will fill up the
| money-oTder and also the corresponding form
| OF advice. The order, when completed, is
handed to the applicant, upon payment of the
sum expressed therein and of the fee charge
able thereon. By the mail immediately fol-
lowing the issue of money-order, the post
master transmits the corresponding advice to
the postmaster at the office upon which it is
drawn. The latter is thus furnished, before
the order itself can be presented, with the
necessary information to detect fraud, if any
| should be attempted.
money order is rendered invalid unless
it is presented to the postmaster on whom it
is drawn within ninety days from its date
| but the Postmaster General can issue new
order on the application of the payee, upon
| the payment of a second fee. The same
! course is to be pursued should the order be
| lost. In this case, the payee is to furnish
statement, under oath, that the order has
| been lost or destroyed, accompanied by the
| certificate of the postmaster that it has not
| been paid, and will not be paid if thereafter
| nTpSnptpi may DCfp
der to another party by his Endorsement to
that effect; but more than one Endorsement
! is prohibited. Persons, therefore, residing
at places in the vicinity of those designated
| in the list of mOney-Order offices can gener-
| ally avail themselves of this system.
In commencing the money-order business,
it has been deemed expedent to begin with
the larger Offices, and extend it to others as
rapidly as possible. Measures will also be
taken for its introduction in the army.
The establishment of the system in this
| country will no doubt lead to arrangements
for the interchange of international money
orders with the several foreign countries with
which We have direct postal relations
By the eleventh section of the act above
referred to, postmasters are prohibited from
depositing in any bank money-order funds of
which they have the custody. 1t is suggest
ed that the business would be facilitated by
enabling the postmasters having moneys from
this source to deposit in the national banks
designated by the Secretary of the Treasury
as repositories of the public moneys, to their
own credit, and at their risk and thereby re
lieve the department from the necessity of
furnishing vaults and safes. Substantial ad-
| Vantages would also result to the public in
terests by permitting all deputy postmasters
to deposit in these banks any public moneys
IN their hands, under like conditions and
such modification Of the law is recommended
as will authorize such deposits to be made
under the direction of the Postmaster GEN
| eral.
Report of the Secretary of Inc Navy.
The Secretary of Nays report shows the
United States Navy Dec. lst, consisted of
GIL vessels having tonnage of 5lO 1913 and
carrying 4,6l0 guns. This is an increase Of
SO vessels and l67 guns since Dec. 1863
The vessels constructed for the navy since
March, 1861, numbers 2O3, carrying ,63l
guns, not counting those which have been
constructed within the same period and lost
in battle or by shipwreck. The officers and
men now on duty number 81, OO0-officers,
6 5000; men, d, 900. There are six suuadrons
on duty-the West Gulf, Admiral Farragut :;
East Gulf Stribling, South Atlantic, Dahl
gren; North Atlantic, Foster; Mississippi,
Lee and Pacific, Pearson; besides the Po-
tomac Fiotilla, Parker.
The East India squadron as an organiza-
ton has been discontinued. The consump-
ton of coal in the navy last year was about
500, 900 tons The blockade extends along
coast line of 3,549 miles, a greater length
than the whole coast of Europe from Cape
!, North. The iron-clad feet has been ncreas-
ed to II vessels. They carry 275 guns, all
of heavy metal. The number of prizes cap
tured during the year was 324, SO of them
being steamers. The gross proceeds from
, sales of condemned prizes were Sl4, 1893, 250
and the expenses 81, 237, 153. The balance
Of $l3, l9O,84l was divided equally between
, the captors as prize money and the govern
ment as naval pension fund.
, The Navy Department has cost 1920, 647,
, POI in four years. OF this aggregate, $780,
733, 292 were expended last year. The
available resources for the fiscal year ending
June 80, 1866, are S119, 289, O59. The balance
on hand at the beginning of the fiscal year
, was $50 O32, 224. Mr.. Welle5 enlarges upon
the satisfactory condition of the navy, COM
mends it's officers for sustaining its discipline
and efficiency, and adverts with emphasis to
the extraordinary growth Of the service since
the first year of the war He contends that
the blockade of the port of Wilmington is
more difficult than any other on the coast of
the United States, and says the navy is ready
to attack Wilmington as soon as there is a
: land force to co operate.
The withdrawal of large part of our land
forces from the island in Charleston harbor
had necessarily put stop to serious demon