The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-01-12

Course of Years a Considerable Source
of Revenue.
Washington Star.l
The Government of the United States
makes many thousands of dollars every
year through the carelessness or mls1of-
tune Of people with whom it has business
to transact. Merchants sometimes MAKE
money in the same way. but the amount IS
inconsiderabie. If a merchant gives check
in satisfaction of an obligation ana Inc
check is lost the loss can he proved anu
the amount recovered by the man to whom
the check was given. Sometimes 1t happens
that man gives check which is destroyed
and which never comes to light. ana posi-
bly, the man to whom the check was Issued
never makes a claim for the money. But,
as was said. this happens so seldom That the
profit from this source is one to which no
business man would give any consideration
in figuring up the possibilities of season.
Uncle sam, on the contrary, can figure out
pretty well before the beginning OF a nsGai
year that SO many thousand dollars Will De
put TO his credit on profit and loss" ac-
co unit before the year is over. This proDt
will come from bonds and bank notes de-
sfroyed and never presented for redemp-
ton. from money orders which are lost and
never duplicated and from stamps which
are not put to the use for which they were
intended. These profits are never cast up
because debts of the government are sell
dom outlawed. But they are as real as
though they were credited to Uncle sam ON
the books of the treasury.
Of course it is no fault of the government
that this profit accumulates. Every effort
is made 10 find the man to whom tho gov
eminent is indebted. and every reasonable
opportunity is given to him TO claim the
amount of the indebtedness. In the case CT
a lost or stolen bond. he has simply TO prove
ownership and give an indemnity bond TO
protect the government against loss. In
the case of treasury note injured by fire,
he has to send in tie charred remains, and
the treasury experts will decipher. as far as
possible, the value of the pile drs original
valued and the money will be restored to
him. In the case of a money order, both
the replitter and the remittee are advised
again and again that the money remains
unpaid. Still. claims against the govern
ment aggregating many thousands ale left
unpaid every year. and the total OF even
the last thirty years will run up far into the
money orders the government las just
rnade,ar accounting of $l,3U0OC0 earned in
the last thirty years and now turned into
the Post O!fice Department fund, probably
never to be repaid TO its owners
THE DESTRUCTION OF PAPER MONEY.
The greatest source of unearned income,
of course, is the destruction of treasury
notes. Nearly S15,0f0,000 have been made
by the government up to the present Gay,
as nearly AS can be estimated. by the de-
struction of treasury notes. Two years ago
last August lively controversy arose be-
tween Mr.. Foster, then the Secretary OF
tho Treasury. and some of the members OF
the House and Senate concerning the
amount of money in circulation at various
times, as stated officially by the treasury
Department. letter was addressed by
Representative John Davis to the Secre-
tary of the Treasury charging that In the
treasury statements, among other things.
no allowance was made for the wasting and
loss of .oin and the destruction of green
backs and coin certificates. Therefore, ne
contended. the statement OF money IN clr-
culation was incorrect each year oy Inc
amount of the notes and coin destroyed.
Mr.. Foster. replying, said that the depart
ment had no authority to deduct an esf1-
mated amount of lost coin and notes from
the total of its Liabilities. He denied that
there had heon any considerable loss, ana
said that the total estimated at that time
for the period ending january ], 1924, was
less than twelve and half millions. Here
is the statement in detail OF the notes and
certificates issued by the government esti-
mated to have been destroyed beyond all
possibility of exemption up Ito January l,
1891: Enited states notes, S5,4Ip,5H silver
Certificates; SHIT, 00f; gold certificates,
s2oo, oao; 7ssafional nix notes. $3.50. 555.
Total, sass45sgalp.
r, Mr.. sle ialfiIl. on, IL chief of the loans
and cure ~ division of the government,
estimaiess tina not more than one or two
millions have been destroyed since January
l, 1891. The Scarelessness which prevailed
during the war period. he says, was respon-
sible for a large amount of the missing
money. and the destru ction now, while 1t
increases in prop ortion to the increase in
the amount of money issued. is not sc
grea: proportionately as it was at that
time. 1t amounts probably to less than
hnlf million dollars every year.
COIN AND BONDS.
AS to the amount represented by unre'
deemed coin { nd abrasions of gold and sill
YER coin. that would be hard to estimate
accurately 1t is estimated that 100000
worth of silver cCin is used every year in
the arts; and as the coin value of this is
only about 100000, the government makes
$4,000 by the transaction. There is about
SEX, 900 worth of abraded silver coin pur-
chased during 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 coin
ing. the amount of silver and gold coin
which has disappeared from circulation
which will never be presented for fedemp-
ton cannot be estimated. In the case OF
the gold coin, there is no profit to the gov.
eminent represented. In the case of the
s silver, the profit is 20 to 40 per cents on
each dollar, according to the value OF the
silver when the dollar was coined.
Of the issue of fifty million dollar IS worth
of bonds which has just been made certain
proportion will never be represented fol-
redemption The Treasury Department
could figure il advance, if the Secretary
1yisbed to do so iDst about what the profit