Evening journal., 1899-08-25
NEW MONEY ORDER.
1t is to Make Its Bow TO the
Public on Labor Day.
A SUBSTITUTE SAVINGS BANK

- A - 4 AAAA LII ~ % W AAA1Al AlIa
NEW FORM SEEKS TO OBvIATE.
EXPLANATIONS BY sUPERIN-
TENDENT METCALF.
Washington. Aug. 25.-"We have
now got something which comes ar
near to the bank check in size and
shape as is practicable" said superin-
tendent Metcalf, speaking of the new
form OF money order which is to make
its bow to the public on Labor Day,
The form of order now in use was
prescribed by law, so that we could
not deviate from it till the last postal
act restored to the department the
discretion it formerly enjoyed. Acting
on that privilege, We have adopted this
new style, and shall introduce it as
rapidly as the exhaustion OF the old
stock will permit We could not very
well begin at an earlier date, because
our current printing contract lasts
until September 3.
There has been considerable com
plant from banks that our money or
ders were not uniform with the com
mercial paper they had to handle in
large quantities, and its odd shape
gave the tellers considerable trouble
A complaint from such a source is
important, because IS per cent. of our
orders are now collected through the
banks. This department has practi-
cally a membership OF the Clearing
House in eighty cities, and our orders
are cleared there the same as ordi-
nary bank paper, 1t took some little
time to get the mercantile community
used to the idea Of collecting these or
ders through the banks, and remem-
Der visiting one populous city not Sc
many years ago, and seeing armed
messengers go from one of the leading
business houses every morning to the
post Office carrying a days accumula-
tion Of money orders in big bags. II
was q God-send to that concern tc
show it how to turn its postal business
into the same bank channel through
which the rest Of its business went.
Nobody who has not looked into Il
has any idea how extensively oul
money orders are used, not only in re
tail trade conducted through the mails
but in newspaper subscriptions ant
the like. We have now got so thai
we print, for very large patrons, blanl
application for money orders, with the
name, and address of the patron and
the name of the city post Office oi
station at which the orders are to b,
payable This saves time for a pur.
chaser or subscriber, reduces tn,
chances of error to a minimum and
enables the dealer or publisher to sent
out these blank applications with his
advertisements, thus making a pre-
paid order as convenient as possible h
his prospective customer. This is un
doubtedly a great stimulus to trade
One religious weekly. of large circula
tion, for instance, used $4,000 Of thes,
applications in a single day.
AS A SAVINGS BANK.
Another very great use which hai
come to be made of our money orders
is as a means of depositing savings
A person who distrusts banks, or findi
it inconvenient to patronize them, viii
take his savings to the nearest pos
office and buy a money order payable
to himself. The difference between
our system and that OF the ordinar!
savings banks is that the bank usual!
allows a depositor interest for the us
of his money. while we chapse hin
for taking care of it. The charge
however, is for an indefinite period
We have had money orders presente'
here which were thirty years old, AM
such a period as five years is not at al
uncommon, although the average lif
of a money order is only six days. Tn
most aged orders are usually presente'
by executors or administrators Of es
tates. having been found among tn
papers Of the decedent. One womal
who had been using the money orde
system for her savings, and who ha
accumulated thirty orders in fiv
years. being in need of the none
lately, presented the whole thirty a
once. and we gave her one warran
for the entire amount.
"The growth of the money orde
system in popularity has exceeded al
Expectations. The increase of ou
business in 1898 over 1897 was, il
round numbers. s16.OOO,OOO. We hav
not the figures for the last quarter O
1899 but If they maintain the ratio @
the first three-quarters they will sho'
an increase of 500, 5000 over 1898. A
fast as practicable we have extende
the use Of the system to smaller an
lsmaller communities, until we hav