The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-03-13
SAFETY IN THE MAIL.
THE FOUR SPECIAL MEANS OF TRANS
MlTTlNG MONEY BY POST.

rents?"
BY dint Of considerable questioning the
clerk ascertained that the customer want
ed to send small sum of money in let
ter and knew that the United States gov
ernment had provided some means by
W. III she could insure its safety in its
{ 80 through the mails, but her mind
was in hopeless confusion as 70 the nature
of this device, for every friend she had
consulted had called il by different
name, and she had conceived that all the
names referred to the same things. 1t
took the clerk some time to explain.
"You can take your choice Of four ways,
ma am, according 10 just what you want"
said he. "if you are going TO send only a
little money. less than s., and your only
wish is to avoid inclosing coin or postage
stamps or paper as soft and bulky as
greenback, which may DO felt through tho
envelope, we can give you postal note
for 3 cents. This Is printed on thin,
stiff paper Of a size which will lie flat in
an ordinary folded sheet. The clerk and
letter carriers might handle your letter all
day, and they would never guess from the
feeling what was inside OF it, When your
correspondent receives it, he can take 1t to
the postoffice and get IL cashed, or bank IL
as he would piece Of money, or use it 10
pay his grocer, or send it away in letter
himself, for it is good at any postottice in
the United States and in anybody : hands,
so long as it is presented for redemption
within three months from the day OF issue.
But thisvery convenience is the chief draw
back Of the postal note, for if any diShon-
est person should get hold OF il il would
be the same as money in his hands.
III absolute safety is what you are
most anxious TO secure, we can give you Il
money order. This is pretty nearly as
good as q bank check. We send from here
a private letter OF advice containing your
name. and when your correspondent re
ceiyes your order he can collect the money
on it only by telling who sent it TO him
and BY being himself identified as the per-
son in whose favor it is drawn or else by
iudcrsing it to somebody who is known at
the postofice. This, you see is decided
advantage On the score Of safety. But,
more than that, if your order should De
stolen or destroyed the government holds
itself responsible, and if you comply with
certain requirements will issue you new
order. This is something twill not do for
you il anything happens to your postal
note The bad feature about the mouey
order, however, is that it can be csshed
only at the one posrofice on which it Is
drawn. On account Of the additional Sc
curity surrounding the money order we
charge more for it that for postal note.
\ IS order would cost you cents and a
$40 order S cents, o S15 order 10 cents,
and so on upward.
Then, again, there is the registered
letter. You give us your envelope, sealed
and indorsed IL your own handwriting.
We know nothing about its contents. You
may have put only a love letter in it or
81, 600 government bond, it is all the same
to Us, and the price Of registry is uniform
for everything, S cents. This process has
the advantage Of absolute secrecy, for you
don't have to take-a single soul into your
confidence. 1t has the further advantage
of assuring you that whatever you send
reaches its destination, for we refuse to
deliver it to any one except the person ad-
dressed. who must either present himself
in person and be identified or give Us his
authority in writing to deliver it to some
body else, whose Identification we require
in the same way, and whoever receives it
ia obliged to give "a a written receipt in
his own handwriting, which we send back
10 you without expense, This makes a
good deal Of difference II you are making
payment 10 a slippery creditor or II you
are sendirT q bill to a debtor who might
want to make believe he had never heard
from you. In any such case you have his
own signature to confront him with. The
safety of the registered letter is pretty well
guarded Every postofice official through
whose hands it passes has to account for
it to the one from whom he received it, so
that if it is lost it can be traced by our
vouchers to the very point where it disap-
peared, even into the hands Of the carrier
who took it out to deliver Registered let
ters do sometimes 60 astray, but the risk
attending loss or theft is too great TO make
either carelessness OF dishonesty protita-
bic. The government does not hold itself
responsible to you, but the last postmaster
or clerk or carrier who Is found TO have
had your letter in his possession ia likely
to lose his official head, and if the evi-
dence of crookedness is strong against him
is liable to go to the state prison for a
term Of years.
Finally, If your great object Is speed,
you may find it best to use the special de
livery. We sell you peculiar kind Of II
cent stamp, which you put on your letter
besides its regular postage. The instant
the letter IL taken out Of the box into
which you drop it it Ia hurried into the
first mail, on top Of the whole pileof Other
letters, with the stamp sticking up, 20 as
to catch the eye Of every clerk who han
dies the package. When it reaches the
town TO which it is addressed, it is picked
out without an instant's delay and sent
to your correspondent by special messen
ger, so that il the ordinary carrier deliv
cries are infrequent It may reach its des
tination one, two, three or four hours be
fore 1t would IL left 10 take the usua
course. The messenger who delivers il
takes with him n book, in which the re
cipient Of the letter signs a receipt, noting
the hour and minute 30 that il any ques
ton ever arises afterward you Gun havI
the messengers book hunted up.
80, you see, we have something t,
meet every need, and the way TO maxi
sure Of the best results is to choose jus
the right thing. II you are sending some
thing whose value you don't care mucl
about, but which you are in great hurr!
to push through, don't register, but use tn
special delivery. If you are sending some
thing which you are in no haste about, bu
you want TO make absolutely sura will
your own eyes that the right person has re
ceived it, don't bother with money order
or special delivery letters, but use the reg
istry. If you are sending sum Of none.
simply and find 1t inconvenient to use
check or draft, but want to assure the sam
safety of payment and don't mind lettinI
the postofiice people know what you ar
doing, take out money order. If tn
amount you are sending is too small T.
worry about and all you care for is to sent
st in some form which won't tell tale
through the envelope, buy postal note.
l-Washington Star.