The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-02-17
VALUABLE MAILS.
UNCLE SANS -FOUR WAYS or
FORWARDING THEM.
Posta, Notes. Money Orders. Regis
tered Letters and the Special De-
Ivory.

clerk ut the branch Post Office. "How
much is ito cents?"
BY dint Of considerable question
ing, the clerk ascertained that the
customer wanted to send a small sum
of money in n letter. and knew that
the United States Government had
provided some means by which she
could insure its safety in its course
through the mails, but her mind was
in hopeless confusion as To the nature
of this device, for every friend she
had consulted had called it by IA diff
ferent name, and she had conceived
that all the names referred to the
same things. Ii took the clerk some
time to explain. lie told her that he
was not surprised AT her misappre-
hension, for hundreds OF valuable
letters passed through the local Post
Office every day whose writer's had
process other than the precise one
suited to their case.
"Iou can take your choice Of four
ways, ma'am, according to just what
YOU want, " said. If you are going
to send only II little money-less than
S5-and your only wish is TO avoid
ing ~inclosing coin or postage stamps,
or paper as soft and bulky as n green
back, which may be felt through the
envelope, we can give you n postal
note for 3 cents. This is printed on
n thin, stiff, paper, OF n size which
will lie Hat in an ordinary folded let
ter sheet. The clerk and letter ear
riers might handle your letters all
day and they would neve guess from
the feeling what was inside Of ID.
When your correspondent receives il
he a take IL to the post office and
get il cashed, or bank il rs he would
II piece of money, or Use il to pay his
grocer, or send it away in II letter
himself, for it, is good ut any post
Office i'm the United States, and in
anybody's hands, SO long rs it is pre-
scented for redemption within three
months from the day Of issue. But
this very convenience is the chief
drawback Of the postal note, for, IL
any dishonest person should get hold
of il il would be the same N money
i'm his hands.
IF absolute safety is what you are
most anxious to secure, We n give
you n money order. This is pretty
nearly M good as Il bank check. We
send from here a private letter Of adj
vice containing your name, and when
your correspondent receives your
order he can collect the money on il
only by telling who sent il to him
and by being himself identified as the
person i'm whose favor il Is drawn, or
else by endorsing it TO somebody who
is known at the Post Office. This,
the score of safety. But, more than
that, il your order should be stolen
' or destroyed, the Government holds
itself responsible, and, IL you comply
with certain requirements, will issue
YOU a new order. This Ia something
il will not do for you il anything hap
pens to your postal note. The bad
feature about the money order, how
ever, is that ii Ear be cashed only at
the one Post Office on which il Is
drawn. A five-dollar order would
cost you > cents, and IA ten-dollar
order y cents, IA fifteen-dollar order
10 cents, and SO on upward.
''Then, again, there is the regis
tered letter. You give your envelope,
sealed and endorsed in your own
handwriting. We know nothing
about its contents. You may put
only "a love letter i'm il, or IA one-thou-
sand-dollar Government bond il il
all the same TO us, and the price Of
registry is uniform for everything
= cents. This process has the advan-
| tage OF absolute secrecy, for you don't
have to take IA single soul into your
confidence. II has the further adj
vantage Of assuring you that what
ever you send reaches its destination
for we refuse TO deliver ii TO any one
except the person addressed, who
must either present himself in person
and be identified or give US his au-
thority in writing to deliver il to
somebody else, whose identification
we require in the same way, and who
ever receives il is obliged TO give us "a
written receipt i'm his own handwrit-
ing, which we send back TO you with
out expense. The safety Of the reg
istered letter il pretty well guarded.
Every Post Office official through
whose hands it passes has TO account
for il TO the one from whom he re-
ceived il; so that, IL il il lost, il can
be traced by our vouchers TO the very
point where il disappeared-even
into the hands Of the carrier who
took it out 10 deliver. Registered
letters do sometimes go astray, but
the risk attending the loss or theft is
too great TO make either carelessness
or dishonesty profitable.
Finally, If your great object is
speed, you may find it best TO use
the special delivery. We sell you a
peculiar kind Of t%en-cent stamp,
it's regular postage. The instant the
letter is taken out Of the box into