Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-08-04


'Tis beautiful to leave the world while
For the soft visions of the gentle night;
And free at last, from mortal care or guile.
To live, as only in the angels sight,
In sleeps sweet realm so costly shut in,
Where, at the worst, we only dream Of sin!
So. let us sleep, and give the Maker praise;
like the lad who, when his father thought
To clip his morning nap by hackneyed phrase
OF vagrant worm by early songster caught,
Cried "Served him right! it's not at all surpri-
sing -. = .' .a ..:
The wormswas punished, sir, for early rising!'
MONEY ORDER DEPARTMENT.
"Over s5l,OOO,OOO in hard cash passed
through our hands last year." said Mr.. Will
liam Plimley, the General Superintendent of
the Money order Department in the New
York Post-office, to reporter fews days
ago. "By our hands I mean the whole de.
partment. New York does about one-eighth
of the entire business of America. 1 can
safely say that the system now in vogue is as
perfect as we, can. nably expect it. to be,
no matter how much polishing we giveit.
"It seems incredible that this vast affair is
80 young in years. 1t was only sixteen years
ago that G. F. Mcdonald conceived and
started the idea of the Money. order Depart.
ment into life. Before that it was only by
the most elaborate care and lyxn.eyed pre-.
caution that even small amounts of money
could be sent from one point to another with
any certainty Of safe carriage but now its
safety has become such an assured fact that
people never consider the idea of losing their
money at all, but simply make out all order
and send it on its way. Who ever hears of
loss nowadays Mr.. Mcdonald, the origi-
nator Of the scheme, is now at its head. He
is the chief Of the money order system in
Washington. A recent recommendation Of
his in relation to the fees charged for sending
money through the Money order Department
is reduction from 10 to 5 cents on amounts
not exceeding S5 /; and on orders over So,
and not over $40, a reduction from 10 to 8
cents, and an extension of the limit of the
amount that may be sent in any one case
from $50 to 500. I am in favor of Chief
McDonalds recommendation, and think,
though I'm by no means sure, that Postmas-
ter James, now that he is in the Cabinet as
Postmaster General, will view it favorably
ALSO"
"What is the smallest amount you ever
made out an order for p
Mr.. Plimley considered a moment and then
touched a little electric button on the side of
his desk. This desk is curiosity. 1t has
row of eight or ten buttons down each side,
with bronze plate over each one, setting
forth in black letters exactly which clerk in
an indicated department may be expected to
answer. On the top is another long row sot
buttons, and at each end are more, eight or
nine being grouped together on one plate in
some instances. While the General Superin.
tendent talked to the reporter yesterday his
business went on as usual. He touched one
button and in moment clerk appeared
with bundle of checks and Immediately
withdrew. Mr.. Plimley signed two or three
checks. touched button and they were taken
away by another clerk. He went right on
and signed several more, touched third but
ton, when the third clerk appeared, and so on
through the whole interview. Mr.. Plimley
now pressed one of the mystic buttons and
| in half minute uniformed clerk stood by
his side.
whats the smallest money order ever
sent ?"
Zone cent, sir"
"Many of them?"
"Very few. They were probably sent for
joke Quite a number have been sent for
five, ten and fifteen cents, but people in
general fail to see the wisdom of paying fee
Of ten cents for sending fve."
The clerk bowed and withdrew, and Mr..
Plimley turned to the reporter and said ::
"The increase in the amount of money we
handle will interest if not astonish you. The
number of money orders issued during the
fiscal year was 7,240,538 for the whole United
States. This in money reached the enor-
NOUS sum of S100,352,81883 Over a hun.
dred millions passed in absolute safety through
our hands. The fees paid to the Post.ofice
Department reached the aggregate of $685.
45280. For the transaction of all this an
immense amount of correspondence is neces.
sary. We wrote nearly 10000 letters last
year"
"You spoke of the increase"
"True. If you are not tired of figures l
will give you some more. In 1879 we had
1851 1878 transactions, amounting in money to
s43,652,273.37. This was an increase over
1878 of 100,1l9 transactions and $5000000
The next year, 1880, showed 1851 ,095 trans
actions, amounting in all to $51 ,231 ,749 o.
This was gain over the previous year of
1920 transactions, and 81, ,579,475.6 The
work is constantly increasing. The average
of all orders is $13.
MEN AND BOYS AT HOME.
A large, very large part of some women's
work, consists in "picking up" and setting to
rights after the masculine members of the
household and it is often most unnecessary.
Why should not Mr.. B. hang up the clothing
he has laid aside, or consign his soiled hand
kerchiefs to the clothes basket, just as much
as Mrs. B., who has quite enough to occupy
her hands and feet, without any superhuous
tasks?
Why should the head of the household
have the sole privilege of dsplacing the
hearth rug and leaving it so? or why should
the father or brother with sublime indifer-
ence drop the read newspaper on the floor, for
some feminine hand to put in its proper
place?
Mothers tolerate with too much leniency
the carelessness of the boys. They walk pa
tiently up and down the house, in search of
stray hats, gloves, and the thousand and one
ct ceteras which Master Frank and Tom ought
to be obliged to find for themselves as pen
atty of leaving them out of their proper
places.
"IfI do not teach my boys now," said an
admirable mother, "they will be sure to give
some other woman trouble"
And why should not boys as we'll as girls
r IL II T.,