The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-11-24

| Much OF the cash sent to them usually
comes in the shape of money orders,
which are rendered uncashablc By the
fraud order issued by the postofIicc
| department. This means that the
swindlcrs in closing up their business
find themselves in possession Of a
large number of postal orders which
are of no use whatever to them. Ac
cordingly they destroy them. Some Of
the amounts are returned to the send
crs, but quite a large proportion Of
the money is never restored to the
person to whom it belongs partly be-
cause individuals who have been vic
timizcd arc apt to be reluctant to ac :
knowlcgc the fact
This last remark is particularly true
OF the green goods business, where in
tending purchasers arc by no means
disposed to acknowledge their inten-
tion to buy counterfeit bills. As a
rule they prefer 90 drop the matter
and suffer the loss. Whenever los-
tcry company is raidcd or it's mail is
stopped there is harvest OF money
orders that are never claimed. The
profit Of the government from this
source is by no means so great as it
used to be. inasmuch as the principal
lottery concerns have been driven out
Of the United States, and those which
remain make very small use of the
post for their ncfarious purposes.
But all funds handled in connection
with the money order system are con-
sidcrcd by the government to be
moneys received in trust, and if un-
delivered the sender may always re-
cover them by submitting reasonably
credible evidence Of his right
In 1887 Congress made law re-
quiring the treasury department to as
certain the total amount of money or
dcrs unpaid up to that date. This, as
may we'll be imagined, was trcmen-
dons task. Accounts for more than
twenty years had to be gone over, and,
as a result, lists were prepared of the
sums concerned and Of the senders
thereof. These lists were never com
plctcd, because Congress put stop to
the work. 1t was realized that there
could be no satisfactory outcome Of
the business, and orders were given
that the account books should be de-
stroyed and should not be kept in fu-
ture longer than seven years. In lieu
of the account books, however, the
unpaid money orders are kept now at
tho postofice department, done up in
bundles which are labelled with the
names OF the postoffices in alphabet
cal order. Thus, if any Of them is
wanted, it can be produced at mo-
ment s notice.
Old money orders arc constantly
turning up at the department. Being
recognized as securities of the govern
mont they are quite commonly kept
and boarded by saving persons. Some.
times they are preserved in this way
for generation, and eventually arc
discovered by an executor among The
papers of q defunct individual. Not
seldom it happens that money orders
held back in this fashion arc forwarded
to Washington quarter of century
after the date Of their original issue.
OF course, under such circumstances,
they are yalucless or their face, doc
umcnt Of this sort being by law null
and void after lapse Of one year. But
1t is always possible in such cases to
recover the money by filling out
printed form, so as to get live war
rant on the treasury, payable at sight.
The government is still paying face
value for the old-timc postal notes,
specimens of which are constantly
coming in for redemption. It will be
remembered that these notes, unlike
money orders, were payable in such
way that they could be negotiated like
greenbacks or bank notes anywhere.
There was no security about them. 1t
was for this reason, indeed, that the
issue Of them was stopped June 30,
1894. They were particularly easy .o !
steal and get rid Of. Postal clerks
used to take them often, and en-
pioyeos who had access to the letters
of business firms found them readily |
negotiable. Great numbers of them
we're burned or otherwise destroyed by !!
pilfcrers, who mistook them for bank
notes by the "fcel' when they were |
enclosed in letters. For it was easily |
realized by any criminal Of intelli-
sence, amateur or professional, that
The spending of postal notes was cx-
tremcly apt to lead to detection.
1 oG ~