The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1892-10-20
LOST MONEY ORDERS.
Millions Of Dollars Left In the Gov
ernment's Vaults.


There IL on deposit in the sub-treas-
ury in New York city more than q, S,OOO,-
600 representing outstanding money or
ders. and of this amount more than
s2,OOo.ooo representing money orders
which are overdue, and which may nev-
er be presented for payment. Ten
years ago, says the Providence Journal,
in spasm of virtue, congress appro-
priated the money to pay the salaries
of ten clerks, who should check up the
books of the money order Office and pre-
pare list of money orders which had
not been presented for payment. 1t
was estimated then that if this list was
prepared the owners of two-thirds Of
this money should be traced and the
money could be restored to them. To-
day one solitary clerk sits in little Of
flee on the top floor of the post Office
department annex, checking up the un-
paid money orders. He is working
now on the orders issued in 1871; at this
rate he would not catch up with his
work in twenty years, and by that time
most of the owners of the money will
be dead and their heirs or executors will
be hard to find.
It seems strange, under the precau-
tionary system now used by the post
Office department, that such an enor-
nous amount of money should have &C.
cumulated to the credit of unpaid
money orders, but the chief accumula-
ton was under the original rules of the
Office, which were much more conserve
tive than those now in force.
If A sent a money order to B to-day
and the order was not presented for
payment the postmaster examining the
letters of advice received from other Of
fees at the end of month, and, find
ing this money order to have been un-
paid at the end Of the previous month,
would notify B that there was a money
order in his favor on file in the Office,
sent to him by A. If at the end of an
other month the money order was still
unpaid he would notify him again.
And If at the end Of third month the
money had not been claimed he would
advise the postmaster, who would noti-
fy A that his money order in favor Of
had not been presented and ask him
to urge B to have it cashed. 1t would
seem that these precautions ought to
insure the payment of money orders
within reasonable time, yet every
year hundreds of them remain unpaid
until they are invalid.
Men who go from the east to make
their fortunes in the new west frequent
ly buy with their savings money orders
payable to themselves at New York,
Philadelphia or some other eastern city.
They know that the money is secure,
because the money order cannot be
cashed by anyone else if it is lost or
stolen, and because the money can al
ways be had on application for q
duplicate by the original purchaser.
There is no savings bank more secure.
Even trustees have been known to in
vest small trust funds in money orders.
Possibly good proportion of the two
million dollar fund in the sub-treasury
is on deposit, and the original money
orders will be found in the course of
time in old stockings, in safe deposit
boxes and in desks. But great deal
Of it represents money orders lost and
forgotten. people are drowned with
money orders in their pockets; they get
drunk and tear them up" said Sixth
Auditor Coulter. Besides great many
people do not know that lost money
orders can be duplicated. They think
that lost money order, like lost
bank note, is gone beyond redemption.
And many people would not take the
trouble to apply for . duplicate Of an
order for small sum. Still some very
old money orders come in for duplics-
ton almost every week. A few days
ago three orders, dated 1859, came in
for duplication, and within the past
two weeks an order of the date 1866 has
been received. All these orders were
accompanied by formal applications.
Nothing is known of their history.