The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-13
YOUR UNCLE SANS HABIT.
Never Pays q Debt That He Can
Avoid.

Balance Accounts So Long as he Can
Avoid It-He VIII Cheat if He Gets a
Chance, and lake Any Advantage.
Claims Which Aro y yer Presented.
From the Chicago Times.
Washington. y. c.. Jan. 3-Our govern
meut makes money in divers scaly ways.
For one taing IT'S the worst hand to pay its
debts OF anybody, public or private. It
VIII cheat YOU every chance it gets. It
VIII refuse TO settle up at times Then 1T
VIII refuse 20 pay after its settled up. II
owes an sorts OF people for an sorts OF
things. 1t has never paid for the Dol
phin. II owes stm for the dome on the
capitol. il owes white men. negroes and
Indians. j. owes Americans and foreign
ers. Everything It can get OFT of paying
ia the way Of "a debt 1t invariably does.
Millions are due 20 people from the govern
ment on claims which have been passed
on. allowed, ana ordered paid. In my
riad Of instances the lucky fellow never
knew it, never found it out. Nor is he
notified by the government. Indeed, the
/ effort Of your Uncle Sam is TO keep him
in ignorance. and as "a result never be
called on for the money. 1t is al open,
iron rule in the treasury department that
n an omploye or clerk notify anybody that
( money for any cause IS coming to him
from The government the good-natured in
formant is to be instantly dismissed. So
ruch does the nation dislike TO pay its
honest debts thatit would incontinentally
/ deeaptate a clerk who opened the eyes
/ OF some ignorant creditor to the fact that
| money was coming to him.
There is one source of money making
! constantly flowing a profit to the nation
! which depends on the msfortunes of 9TH
ers rather than the concealment of active
/ dishonesty of the government This is
/ when money is lost or destroyed by pri-
vate individuals. 1t all goes to the public
/ credit,
Uncle sam can figure out pretty well
/ before the beginning of n fiscal year that
SO many thousand dollars Will be put to
/ his credit ON profit and loss account be-
/ fore the year Is over. The profit viii come
. from bonds and bank notes destroyed and
never presented for redemption, from
/ money-orders which are lost and never
I duplicated ami from stamps which are
/ not put TO the use for which they We're
. intended. These profits are never cast up,
, because debts of the government are sell
/ dom oullaWed. But they are as real as
/ though they We're credited to Uncle sam
u
/ 1t is no fault OF the government that this
/ profit accumuates Every effort is made
to find the man to whom the government
I is ind bted. and every reasonable oppor-
4 tuuity s given TO him to claim the amount
/ of the indebtedness. In the case of lost
or stolen bond, he has simply to prove
I ownership and give an indemnity bond
TO protect the government against loss.
/ Ia the case of a treasury note injured by
| FIRE he has TO send in the charred re-
/ mains, and the treasury experts Will de-
4 cipher as far as possible, the value OF
the pile ats original Value) and the money
( VIII be restored to him. In the case of a
money order, both the remitter and the
/ remittee are advised again and again that
the money remains unpaid. Stll, claims
against the government aggregating many
thousands are left unpaid every year, and
the total of even the last thirty years viii
run up far into the millions. Even in the
1 matter OF unpaid money orders the gov
| eminent has just made an accounting of
100000 earned in the last thirty years
and now turned into the postotiice depart
ment fund, probably never to oe repaid to
its owners.
The greatest source of unearned income,
Of course. is the destruction Of treasury
notes Nearly Sl500O.000 have been made
4 by the government up to the present day,
as nearly as can he estimated. by the
destruction of treasury notes. Two years
ago last August a lively controversy arose
between Mr.. Foster, then the Secretary OF
the Treasury, and some of the members
of the House ana Senate concerning the
amount of money in circulation at vari-
Gus times, as stated officially by the treas
ury department. A letter was addressed
by Representative John Davis to the Sec
rotary of the Treasury, charging that in
the treasury statements among other
things, no allowance was made for the
wasting and loss Of coin and the destruc-
tton of grc6nbacks and coin certificates.
Therefore he commended the statement Of
money in circulation was incorrect each
year by the amount of the notes and coin
/ destroyed. Foster, replying. said that the
department had no authority 10 deduct an
/ estimated amount of lost coin and notes
from the total OF its liabilities. He denied
that there had been any considerable loss.
and said that the total estimated at that
time for the period ending Jan I, 1891, was
less than Sl2b0u,0O0. Here is the statement
in detail OF the notes and certificates is
sued by the government. estimated to
have been destroyed beyond all possibility
OF redemption up to Jan. /, 1891: United
states notes, $5.4lO,54l; silver certificates
$HI 0W. gold certificates, 100000; national
bank notes, $685. boo Total $l2452 100
Huntington. the chief of the loans and cur
reucy division of the government, esti-
mates that not more than $1o00,000 or 81
100000 have been destroyed since Jan. l.
1891. The carelessness which prevailed
during the war period, he says was re-
spQnsibe for a large amount of the miss
ing money, and the destruction now. while
I il increases ia proportion to the increase
in the amount of money issued, is not so
great proporuonately as it was at that
time. 1t amounts probably to less than
$JeeQo9 every year.
As 10 the amount represented by unre-
deemed coin and abrasions of gold and
silver coin. that would be hard to estimate
accurately. 1t is estimated that 100000
WORTH Of silver coin is used every year in
the arts, and as the coin value of this ia
only about $4,000, the government makes
$4,000 by the transaction. There is about
$4,000 worth of abraded silver coin pur-
chased during the year at its bullion value
and recoined. and on this the government
makes the difference between its face
value and the bullion value, less the cost
of coming. The amount Of silver and
gold coin which has disappeared from cir
culation and which will never be presented
for redemption cannot be estimated. IN
the case OF the gold coin, there is no
3 ont