The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-04-07
new MgNEY>ORDERS.
Postal Notes Are to be Done
Away With,
And a Novel Kind of Money
Order Substituted.
RATES ARE REDUCED.
This Will Be Bad for Express
Companies.
RATES ARE REDUCED.


Some important changes are to be made
in the postal system July next A new
money order plan will go into effect by
which both large ard small sums can be
transmitted by letter, with absolute safety
what the present postal note does not do
and at rates much less than anything
heretofore devised Orders for So so or less
are to be secured for only 3 cents and or
ders for larger amounts up to 500 at
rates graduated up to so cents. The form
of the new order Is artistic and of co1ven-
lent size for handling. Ii should be popu-
lar from the start. 1t is engraved on steel
and serves IS a good illustration Of the
tendency of Uncle Sam in recent years to
be slightly aesthetic in issuing his govern
ment paper. The fees to be charged for
money orders are as follows:
For So. 50 or less, 3 cents; 50. so to So, 5
cents; So to SO, cents; SO to $50, 10
cents; $50 to $50, 10 cents; $50 to $40, Is
cents; $40 to S5C, s cents; $50 to SEQ, 20
cents; $50 to $75, 25 cents; $75 to 500, 80
cents
Compared with the above the present
rates for the issue of money orders arc
For So or less, 5 cents; SIS to SO, 8 cents;
SO to SIS, 10 cents; s15 to $50, Is cents;
$50 to $40, 20 cents; $40 to $50, 25 cents;
$50 to $50, so cents; $50 to $40, 80 cents;
$40 to $50, 40 cents; $50 to $780, - cents.
Bad For tho Express Companies.
This reduction of rates, especially
large orders for money, Will give the gov
express companies have charged less for
these sums and left the postofficc depart
ment to handle the Improbable smaller
business
The postal note has never been success
full, nor has it been safe Any one can get
one of these slips of paper cashed by sign
ing his narrc and presenting it for pay
ncnt ct Office authorized to pay, so that
the risk in sending it through the mails is
great as it would be if actual money
werc inclosed Its only advantage is that
it can be made out for fractional sum,
and it may be slightly more difficult of de-
lection as compared with ordinary money
when inclosclI in a letter.
At present Postmasters get ~ cents for
each order issued and the same amount for
each order p2id, and l cent Tor each postal
note issued and thrce-gUarters of q cent
for each note paid Under the new system
pOstmasterS viii receive q commission of
cents for each money order issued. Fourth
class pCstIrastcrs viii probably be directly
benefited by the change, and the remain
der of the So, coo postmasters in the coun-
try will be benefited indirectly by the in
crease that will Cfoubtlcss cnsUe in the vol
u1ne of the money order business. Post
office department officials estimate that
this increase will reach about 80 per cent
during the first year of the operation of
the new system
Most newspapers and business firms re-
ceiving their rernitt2nces through the
their patrons and mail customers that
money transmitted by postal note is Who'll
1y mt the risk of the sender. This is a very
wise precautiOn, but the new money order
has inEeniOusly cOntrived system of
coupons which serve as an effective check
both upon postmaster and purchaser, and
it will be exempt from all the present en-
barrassments and inperfcctions. Per
haps the perplexing problem to how
money may be sent by mail with absolute
cnfc. md eaT1 nfA=f hoe
at last been solved.
Uncle Sam Behind the Times.
The commission of congress chosen to
inquire into the matter has found among
other things that the devices used in the
administration of the money order system
have remained substantially the same as
when the system was first organized 80
years ago, while in Gil other lines of bust
ness activity the most radical revolutions
have been wrought. For 1 years past the
volume and amount of the money order
business have remained stationary the ag-
gregate amount of fees received being
something over a million dollars every
year, with but trifiing increase or dininu-
ton. The postal note business likewise,
which was put in operation some 10 years
ago, has had no growth for the past five
years to speak of, the revenues from fees
reaching only about $500, 600 year. The
cause of this failure of the money order
business to grow with the increase of the
due to the Anticipated and unpopular meth
DDS Of the administration. In fact, the
postal business of the United States is be
hind the times. and it has not kept touch
with the people. But these defects have
now been reInedied, il is believed, and the
new system promises to be extremely pop
/ lar.
Gossip About the Tariff Bill.
No great Roadway was made in the tariff
bill last week There is no telling how
| long this debate viii last in the senate,
but some Of the more sangIlinc Democrats
place the time at two weeks Republican
senators are inclined to smile at this csti-
mate, and some OF them 60 SO far as to say
that the bill viii be on the calendar until
dog days The Democrats, however, wish
to have the bill disposed of at the earliest
| practicable moment, but the Republicans
seem determined TO do good deal Of talk
much Of q problem as ever. The most
serious features of the bill, those which
| are giving the most trouble, are the sugar
schedule and the income tax. There is
| determined effort on the part of the east
ern clement of the Democratic side to de-
| feat the income tax, and the champions of
! the bill realize that if the Republican sen
ators also stand solidly against it it win be
defeated They allow that they viii lose
about 10 Democratic votes, but they think
they will set about an equal number from
western Republican senators and claim
that whatever course the Populists may
4 pursue when it comes to acting upon the
bill as a whole they viii stand solidly with
the committee for the income tax
oxford madras india
| Shirtings at
TOPEKA SHIRT M'Fe. Co.
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