The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-02-08

! for collection. People who own large
| quantities Of government securities are
methodical in their handling of treasury
checks and deposit them for collection the
day they are received. But people who
have comparatively small sums invested
in bonds, and who have no good invest
mens in sight, frequently save the checks
of the treasury as a safe form of deposit.
They accumulate until the owner dies, in
some cases, and then the executor of his
estate sends them in in lump. Some
times they are destroyed, and then the gov
ernInent Is ahead so much. Often bonds
are destroyed and their value is not
claimed and the government has been the
gamer ny the carelessnesS of bondholders
in an enormous amount.
Government Profit.
It happens several times in each year
that a bond of date preceding the civil
war comes in for payment. In some cases
the interest has ceased for 80 years. At
simple interest alone tho holder would be
entitled to four times the face of tho bond,
but the government recognizes no claim TO
interest on money lent to II unasked, and
he receives only the face of tho bond. The
government has made a proGs OF 81. $780,
900 or more on bonds through the failure
Of owners to present them for redemption,
and it's profits on unpaid intorest must
amount to nearly as much. Yet every
reasonable effort is made by the treasury
to pay its loan debts, Provision Is made
for the issue of duplicates of both coupon
and registered bonds whom they have been
destroyed, or of "a registered bond " hen it
has been lost by the owner. If the owner
of registered bond comes to tho treasury
department and makes application for the
issue of a duplicate, Cling q perpetual
bond in double the amount. with accrued
interest, the government will issue du-
plicate.
In making application She claimant
must give the time and place Of Pr Shase,
the name of the person from TaO;1 he
purchased the bond, the amount paid for
it, the place of deposit from which IL was
lost, the names of persons having access to
this place, the afhdavits of other persons
having a knowledge of the ownership of
the bond and of its disappearance, the off
davits of persons as to the credibility of
the claimant, the number and denomina-
ton of the bond, etc. OF course an these
conditions cannot be fulfilled in every
case; but, SO far as possible, they must be
fulfilled.
When registered bond has been mutt
lated, the pieces are sent in with the af1-
davit. Bonds are torn by children some
times, or they are burned injured in
some other way. Sometimes they are de-
stroyed entirely, and on the presentation
of satisfactory affidavits, whether tho bond
is coupon or registered, the secretary of
the treasury will issue duplicate on the
terms / have named. In one case of rec
ord in the department. a bond was dupli-
Gated on plain showing that 1t had been
destroyed, and later it turned up in the
original. The owner had really believed
it destroyed, but it had merely got into
some waste and it was found at the paper
mill. In another case the treasury issued
a duplicate of bond which was found
later in bank vault and sent in for &C
count of the owner by the mun who
found it.
No popular" Loan.
The number of coupon bonds in the
present issue is larger than 1t will be
year hence, because as the securities acou-
mulate in the hands Of Investment pur-
chasers the coupon bonds will be ex-
changed for the registered bonds. Every
loan changes character in this way. Most
of these registered bonds are in the hands
of people or institutions owning large
amounts. No loan is really popular.
Only per cent of the registered bonds
outstanding in the name of individuals is
held by the 10, 600 people who have small
holdings. The remainder is with the big
capitalists who are secure Of the govern
ment's per cent when they would be
worried all the time about tho problem
atical 5, or per cent of a railroad COM
pany or some other business enterprise.
Most of the $780, 600, 600 worth of the
present bond issue viii be shipped from the
treasury to individuals or to the subtreas-
urieS where they are to be delivered to the
subscriber A comparatively small amount
will be taken from the treasury depart
ment by subscribers here and some people
will ship gold or gold certificates to the
treasury from not far distant points and
ask that the bonds be shipped to them di-
rect. But most of the bids opened call
for the delivery of the bonds at the sub
treasures in New York, Philadelphia and
other large cities. The bonds are put up
in heavy paper wrappers, sealed with the
treasury seal and delivered to the agent of
tho United States Express company, who
has an Office in the treasury building. His
company has the contract for carrying all
tho governments securities. The COM
pany will make about 81, 500 out of
the issue. The average government ex-
press rate for bonds is III cents on
each thousand dollars carried in the ter
ritory east of the Missouri river. The
rate for the coupon bond is 10 conts
and for the registered bond cents. The
risk in carrying registered bonds is very
small-almost nothing, in fact-and the
rate charged on them merely pays for the
labor of handling and transporting. But
if an express car should be robbed and
SIS, 900, 900 worth of registered bonds stolen
and destroyed, even a rich express com
pany would feel little bit embarrassed
when called on to give a perpetual bond
for $4,000, 900 for the issue of duplicates.
There is not much likelihood of any such
happening though. No bonds have been
stolen within the experience of the COM
pany now having the contract.
Gigantic Issue.
The largest issue of bonds ever made by
the government was in 1877, when S741,-
600, 600 worth were put out, but these
bonds were not sold or subscribed like the
present issue. Thsy were used in findings
loan then due which the government was
not prepared to pay in cash. The first big