The evening times., 1899-06-17
| some FACTS ABOUT
TIE NATIONS BONDS
Safeguards of the Registered
Government Securities.
Cranks That Worry the Register of
the Treasury.
Packages by Express-LOans That
Were Never Redeemed.

"All records of all the loans of the Gov
ernment are kept in this Office said AS
| sistant Register of the Treasury n. L.
Chew to a Times reporter this morning.
And the record is most interesting one.
We have a memorandum of every regis
| tered bond ever issued, the name of the
person to whom the bond was issued, ard
the name of the person who presents the
| bond for redemption. You see, the regis
tered bond is the safest OF all bonds, for
! the reason that no one can collect tie
, money except the person entitled TO il. In
other words. ii is pay to my order bond.
Sometimes registered bonds change
bands dozen times within a month. Fre-
quently big batch of registered ones VIII
be sent to New York one day and within
| two days afterward they are returned fof
| transfer to another party
do registered bonds ever get lost?' en-
quired the reporter.
Yes, we often receive notice from own
ers of these bonds stating they have lost
them. We make a note of il, and con
\ tinue TO send the interest TO the owner OF
the security. and when the bond natures.
| if it has not turned up in the meantime,
the rightful owner. in whose name the
| bond was issued. by giving an indemnify
| ing bond, will be paid for the lost one.
! Now. this practice does not hold good with
coupon bonds, for the reason that the cou-
, pom security Is practically the same as cur
rency, and no record is kept of its trans
fer between individuals. II coupon bond
is burned or otherwise destroyed. the own
er. after proving ii. can only get relief by
going to Congress"
| Speaking OF the bond issues during the
! lGy tCr ,1ipts Inu ba oh,
war loan. Assistant Register Chew stated
| that the s265, coo. GOO worth issued during
| the Cleveland Administration made in tie
neighborhood Of 800 packages. In other
words. not more than 500 people received
! the entire loan. while the Spanish war loan
Of S2e0, ,G00. 900 made 240 600 packages, rep
resenting just that many holders OF bonds.
Speaking of letters added the Assist
ant Register. I'VE get our share. Some OF
them are very amusing. but most of them
| are letters OF enquiry. For instance. we
get letter from a correspondent asking
il his grandfather or grandmother owned
any bonds. He has been informed that
there is a big bundle of bonds in the
Registers office waiting for him We an
swer that he Is mistaken: that his grand
father or grandmother never owned any
bonds. But that does not end the CORE
spondence. The enquirer writes another
letter saying Ne KNOWS Tue DOHCS are EeTe
and he wants them. We answer that letter
and repeat what was said before-that 20
such bonds are here. There is one fellow
who plays that he is an owner of bonds to
perfection. Every now and then there
comes addressed to the Registers Office an
express package heavily sealed. and mark
ed '$50. 900 Government bonds" The pack
age always comes C. o. D. and the express
age varies from s. TO SIS. because the send
er sometimes reduces the size OF his pack
age and marks 1t $l0.9e0.
When the package is opened it is found
to contain nothing but brown paper. and.
Of course, the express company foots the
loss of collection. The Registers office
never pays any c. o. D. on bonds sent in.
Six times during the last three months
these bogus packages have been received.
Sometimes they come from New Jersey.
New York. and Pennsylvania. 1t is evil
dent that the fellow puts up at frst-class
hotel which he works on the strength of
sending in bonds for redemption.
The other day a young man came in
here and wanted a $500 per cent bond
one of the Spanish war loan-redeemed.
He was informed that it could not be done,
but that if he would take 1t to a broker
he would receive face value for it.
II was learned that of the loan issued
during 1861 and 1876 known as the
seven thirties, there are nov outstanding
$3.50, 900. Ii is presumed that this amount
was destroyed by fire or otherwise. Should
any of these bonds turn up they will be
redeemed