The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1895-03-28
A RED TAPE STORY.
A Man Who Hailed q Silver Half
Dollar to England.
What Tc Received for Ills Coin - He Is
Still Looking for the Paper lie
Tired to I:;y - A Tuany
ExDcrience.

Next time William Arnold wants
back number of some British
weekly be will inclose fve-dollar
bill in an envelope and rlail it to the
publishers. He has just had little
experience in foreign trade which
makes him feel that way. says the
Chicago Times.
Every Friday when he leaves the
bank down town he drops into q
news store and buys lot of tech
nical papers. His hobby is naval af-
fairs and be knows more about bat
tleships and cruisers than many a
naval officer.
In an issue of the London paper
E" not long ago, there was
long article descriptive of two new
fast steamers. The copies for sale
were gone whcn Mr.. Arnold called
at the news store Next day he
stuck half 4 dollar into a hole in a
piece of cardboard. He also wrote
a note to the London publisher ask
ing for a copy of the paper. Then
he covered both with an envelope,
put u tive-ccnt stamp on the corner
and dropped it into box hung on a
lamp post. The paper cost the Eng
lish equivalent to aquartcr, and Mr..
Arnold believed he was quite liberal
in remitting another quarter for ex
penses and postage.
A bulky letter with al English
stamp in the corner was dropped on
his desk By the postman the o:her
day. When he cut the end open
letter. square of English postage
stamps, and his own envelope
dropped out. The envelope was
sight. A big blue cross vas pen
ciled on its face, along with half a
dozen stamp prints showing various
figures and letters. On the back a !
little printed notice covered the flap,
1t read
Caution - Valuable Enclosures
should never be forwarded in unreg-
istered letters, as they incur serious
risk thereby, while if sent in regis
tered letters they are practically |
safe With the view of giving great
er security to such packets and to
protect the servants of the post Of
fee from temptation, all letters un-
qucstionanly containing coin, jewel
ry Or watches are registered, even
though no application has been made
for registration, and in such cases a
special registration fee of eight
pence is levied. This letter has been
registered because it contains coin
When he laid that down he looked
at the stamps. There were just clev-
en- of them, all stuck together, each
of the value of one penny. But the
letter was a revelation. After po-
litely informing Mr. Arnold that the
paper WAS out of print, the writer
explained: From the envelope
which covered your letter, and which
] now return, you will sec that we
had to pay one shilling and one
penny before we could get it from
the post oflicc, as it is contrary to
postal regulations in this country to
inclose coin in an unregistered let
ter, ard the practice of the post Of
fee is to register the letter compul-
sorily and charge special fee of
eight pence. Your letter was also
overweight. and the charge for this
was five pence, making UP, as above
stated, one shilling and one penny.
l send you herewith English stamps,
value eleven pence, as the balance of
the two shillings rcmitted by you"
Mr.. Arnold figures that he has re-
ceivcd for his half dollar:
One letter of explanation.
Eleven useless English stamps.
One beautifully marked envelope
One lot of experience.
He is looking for q copy of the
paper vet.