Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1897-11-11
MONEY By MAIL.
REASONS WHY BANKS PREFER
To REMIT BY EMPRESS.
RESULT or THE GOVERNMENT DECLIS
ING TO SHIP AT CONTRACT RATS
-TEcHNICALTTIEs OF THE IN
sURASCE COMPANIES.
ye,r Yort E-cstas Po.:


A novel feature IN the shipments =
currency TO interior points, Aad iarsiea-
larry to the south and " e-t. : .uaal
banks ihis fall, : tie great extent -
which the registered mail serve : b. ~
Used for thst purpose, instead % tie
money being shipped by express A. ws-
formerly h. general custom The reason
Tor this j. the Inability q the baak- T.
secure thi- year. throagh tie sas-.re4--
ury, the benefit OF tbe goyerameat-c5a-
tract r4te= t5g he exyres-aSe. A. n res4tt
OF that he bauks hare had TO pay 4at
are known bankers a. tDlae e4Pres,
companies, y hIcu are ta0 o. tHfee time
a. great a. the g0yesEalsnt-contrA rAtss,
or shlp their money ~ registered mai.
The course Of the treasury IN re-pect
+ to this matter has been e. pa ned lron
time to time IN the Eoeaing Posi-, lar
any explanations could be obtained.
Heretofore the treasury gladly gave 10 the
, banks the privilege Of shipping currency
al the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS rate~, CT
rather, shipped the currency for the
banks al the government rates ii return
for gold deposits. A clause, however,
vas inserted IN the contract with the
express company when it MAS last made
by " hieh such privileges should only be
afforded to the bank vi hen the treasury
needed gold. T he discretion ia the mat
ter apparently rests with the secretary OF
the treasury, and he has seemingly de-
| decided hat the treasury does not want
gold now. Consequently the banks CAN
not have the benefit OF the government
contract rates for expresssge, although
bankers generally seem to think it would
be better for the treasury always TO take
gold " hen II can wit bout loss.
The treasury ruling, however, has not
helped the express company very much,
because nearly all the country banks to
which money is remitted, and which have
to pay the costs OF transmission, direct
their New York correspondents to ship
the money by registered mail and insure
its safe delivery in one other OF the
companies which make speciality of that
business.
The cost Of postage and insurance j.
much less than the u usi express charges
. at what are known as bankers rates.
Few New York bankers, however, would
remit money in hat way, unless they were
directed to do SO by their spUndenis.
They would rather snip it by express, even
though it cost more 10 do 30. because
they consider it the safer way.
II money is lost by an express company
during transmission, the loss is promptly
made good, whereas, bankers say, it takes
long time, and is a troublesome task, to
recover the amount when the money is
lost in the mails. The government is not
responsible; it only promises TO take
greater care of a registered package, for
which the registrat ion fee OF eight cents
Is charged; it cannot or does not guaran-
tee its delivery or REIN bursement in case
of loss. The cashier OF large national
bank which ships many thousands OF doll
lars every day TO its correspondents all
over the United States, in speaking of
this matter to-day, said
The conservative banker still prefers
to send money by the weIl-known express
companies; but to save expense, since
the government refuses to remit for the
banks any longer at governmeHt-contrsct
rates, the country banks are apparently
willing to take the risk oftransmission by
registered mail, with the guarantee of an
insurance company's policy for its safe
delivery. Notwithstanding, however,
the registration and insurance, the risks
of sending large sums of money by mail
are very great.
"A package of currency which is for
warded by the registered mail department
of the postal service has no distinctive
mark indicating its value; pencil re-
ceipt is given for it just the same as for
an ordinary letter or package of merchan-
disc. The package OF money is thrown in
with packages OF merchandise OF all sorts,