The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-08-16
PosroFF1oB SAVINGS FUND.
Purchases That Puzzled Postal omcials
Now Explained.

Purchases That Puzzled Postal omciiis
Now Explained.
One Of the queerest Of the many queer
things which have resulted from the slight
.remor affecting the po5sessors Of small
amounts Of savings is the surreptitious man
ner in which the government has been called
upon to act as a safe deposit institution for
money which has been withdrawn from ssv-
ings institutions and banks.
All over the country during the past few
weeks there has been an abnormal growth in
the postofice money order business, and the |
amounts for which the orders have been drawn |
have been much larger than usual. Careful
inquiry shows that persons are now taking
out orders payable to themselves and are
holding the same with the sense Of security
which results from confidence in the govern
ment.
In Philadelphia, at the central Office and in
all the district stations, the business is on the
increase, and during the week ten orders for
S1OO each were issued TO one woman who had
evidently withdrawn her savings from a
bank. The charge for each order was forty
FIVE cents, representing a charge Of $3.50 for
the care of the money. The order is payable
at any time within one year, and after that
new order can be obtained within period OF
five years on application to Washington. If
the order is stolen, lost or destroyed there is
little trouble in obtaining another, and, taken
all together the discoverer Of the new safe
deposit business must have felt a sense of Sc
curity which perhaps outweighed the loss Of
interest and charges for the transaction.
| At the district stations orders are being
takon out by both men and women, payable
TO themselves at the central office, and a. that
place near by district stations are iavorite
paving points designated. There is already
quite an accumulation of unpaid orders, al
though the business has not reached the mag
nitude of that being transacted in other cities.
The funds, however, are not allowed to com"
pletely stagnate, and any heavy surplus is
forwarded by the postoflice to the Sub'Treas-
ury at New York,
Although as a popular safe deposit, the
postofIice is but recent institution, there has
been one class who for many years h ave cared
for their savings in this manner. The first
use can be credited to members of what has
been dubbed the profession, actors and ac-
tresses, and also variety performers and at
taches of circuses. The dainty little soubrette
who is aware of the need Of surplus cash for
the rainy day, when on tour makes point to
visit the postofiice each day that the ghost
walks, and take out money order payable
near her home. In this manner, at the close
of a successful tour a nice little wad of money
orders is ready for conversion into cash.
The especial convenience Of the system to
theatrical people when travelling can be read
lily seen, and it is the only way in which they
prevent themselves spending all they receive,
but among the average citizen it has very
little to recommend it, and it is believed that
with steadily returning confidence there will
be corresponding return of the money order
business to within its normal limits.
For two years past the Shenandoah postofiice
has been a depository for travelling showmon
who purchase money orders payable to them
selves.
About eighteen months ago the manager Of
"She Couldn't Marry Three" secured several
one hundred dollar orders at the Sbenand9sa.h
postoftce, paying for them silver dollars and
half dollars. tbse receipts of performances on
the -tE6 nights preceding the arrival of the
company here. The following season the
manager here did the same thing, and the
same transactions by actors have been very
numerous.
The performers and many other employees
of tho Forepaugh Barnum and Walter L.
Main circuses exchanged nearly all the money
they received here as salaries for postofice
money orders.
But strange as it may seem our town people
have not "caught on" to the idea.