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

which are rendered uncashable by the
''fraud order" issued by the postoffice
department. This means that the
swindlers 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
ers, but quite large proportion OF
the money is. never restored to the
person to whom it beloDgs-partly be-
cause individuals who have been vic
timized are apt to be reluctant to ac-
knowlege the fact.
This last remark is particularly true
OF the green goods business, where in
tending purchasers are by no means
disposed to acknowledge their inten-
tion to buy counterfeit bills. As a
rule they prefer 20 drop the matter
and suffer the loss. Whenever lou
terry company is raided or its 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 nefarious purposes.
But all funds handled in connection
with the money order system are con-
sidered 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
ders unpaid up to that date. This, as
may well be imagined, was a tremen-
dous task. Accounts for more than
twenty years had to be gone over, and,
as aresult, lists were prepared Of the
sums concerned and of the senders
thereof. These lists were never COM
pleted, because Congress put stop to
the work. It 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
the postofice department, done up in
bundles which are labelled with the
names Of the postoAiees in alphabet
cal order. Thus, if any Of them is
wanted, it can be produced at a mo-
ment's notice.
Old money orders are constantly
turning up. p.atthe department. Being
recognized as securities Of the govern
ment they are quite commonly kept
and boarded by saving persons. Some
times they are preserved in this way
for generation, and eventually are
discovered by an executor among the
papers of a defunct individual. Not
seldom it happens that money orders
held back in this fashion are forwarded
to Washington quarter of century
after the date Of their original issue.
Of course, under such circumstances,
they are Yalueless on their face, a doc
ument of this sort being by law null
and void after lapse of one year. But
it is always possible in such cases to
recover the money by filing out a
printed form, so as to get live war
rant on the treasury, payable at sight.
The government is still paying face
value for the oldtime postal notes,
specimens Of which are constantly
coming in for redemption. 1t will be
remembered that these notes, unlike
money orders, were payable in such a
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 to
steal and get rid of. Postal clerks
used to take them often, and en-
ployees who had access to the letters
Of business firms found them readily
negotiable. Great numbers of them
were burned or otherwise destroyed by
pilferers, who mistook them for bank
notes by the ''feel" when they were
enclosed in letters. For it was easily
realized by any criminal of intelli-
gence, amateur or professional, that
the spending Of postal notes was cx-
tremely apt to lead to detection.
All Of the nostsI notes thus de-