The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-05-13
POSTAL G1ECk As MONEY
NEW PLAN PROPOSED TO FACIL-
TATE SENDING MONEY IN
THE MAIL
FRACTIONS OF A DOLLAR
New System Includes the Issuance
of Small Scrip in Amounts TO
Suit the Demands
of Trade.

United States are not money order Of
fees. Such offices are among agricultural
communities, where it is especially incon-
venient for the citizens to secure safe
money TO send in the mail.
1t is proposed to reprint all 81, 81 and
s. bills now in existence, and have their
faces provided with blank spaces. The
notes to be printed in the highest style of
art employed in the national bureau of
engraving.
Each treasury note, coin certificate, sill
yer certificate, or other form of currency
of 81, 81 and IS denomination, will be re-
placed with post check note of like de-
nomination, based on the same founda-
ton, and existing under the same law as
the note retired, thus in no way changing
the present financial system Of the gov
eminent.
This money with the new face, will
pass from hand to hand in the ordinary
transactions of the day. Then when one
wishes to send money in small amount,
81 for instance, by mail to subscribe for
magazine or newspaper, pay bill, or
transact any of the mulutudlnouS pieces
of business necessary by letter, he Will
take a 81 bill from his pocketbook, write
on It's face the name Of the person or
firm to be sent to, the city and state, and
affixing a two-cent postage stamp in a
square indicated (one-cent stamp for the
fractional Bills, sign mis- initials in ink,
with date; the initials and date to cross
and cancel the stamp.
Thus the piece of currency which, up to
this time, has passed from hand to hand
as negotiable money, has been instantly
transformed into a personal check on the
United States government for 81, as safe
for transmission as any piece of ex-
change.
This is inclosed in a letter to the person
or firm desired, and when received is de-
posted, with other checks, in the bank
or. can be collected by the receiver upon
identification at bank or postoffice
The tedious and inconvenient trip to the
postofIice to secure money order is done
away with, and a convenient, safe and
instantly available form of transmissible
money is supplied with which the Ameri-
can public can transact business by mail,
which now aggregates, in the small sums
represented by inclosed postage stamps,
silver pieces, money orders, express or
ders and other inconvenient and some
times unsafe mediums, upwards of $1,000. =
coo, 900 per year.
The farmer who desires to send a small
sum through the mail will not be required
to wait until visit to a money order
postoffice, which is not always convenient,
money The business man desiring to pay
a small bill by mail has access to the
means at once, by taking from pocket
book or cash drawer a piece Of money of
the required size, and by few strokes
Of the pen can make it into check on
Uncle Sans treasury, safe and conyen-
lent.
The one who desires to subscribe for
paper or magazine can do so at once, With
out waiting until a convenient time, when
a troublesome trip can be made to the
postoffice, and frequently an annoying
wait, often consuming more time than the
sum to be sent represents.
Business houses receive large sums in
the aggregate in stamps, silver coin,
checks on inland banks Costing 10 to rs
cents to collect, and bank notes, yielding
no revenue to the government. One large
Chicago publisher reports the receipts OF
upwards of $3.50, 900 per annum in postage
stamps alone-about $1,000 per day. Two
commercial houses report daily receipts Of
about $4,000 in small sums, most of which
consists of stamps, silver, small checks
and paper money, not yielding the govern
ment fee These facts regarding few
large houses are repeated in thousands OF
cases by smaller houses throughout the
country and seem to Indicate that If
convenient form Of money was in the
hands of the people, which could be in
stantly made use Of practically the en-
tire sum of money sent through the mail
in small amounts would pay fee to the
government, yielding a much larger sum
than is now received by the government
for the proportionately small number or
postoffice orders purchased under the
present inconvenient system.
The average fee is 5 99-100 cents, Of
which the government pays out cents,
or more than one-half the fee in com
missions, an aggregate of nearly sou OOO
per annum. This sum would be saved IN
it's entirety If post check money was used,
for each man is his own clerk, fills in and
stamps his own remittance and does not
require the assistance of a postmaster.
The aggregate amount of business
shown by domestic money orders is $zll,-
213, 1924, probably not more than one
fifth "a conservative estimate) of the
amount of money passing through the
mails in small sums, represented by
postage stamps, coin, paper money and
small checks, upon which the government
receives no fee. These illegitimate meth
DDS are very unsatisfactory to the sender
and annoying to the receiver. They are
employed, not from choice, but from ne
cessity, inasmuch as no convenient and
safe method now exists.
With post check money in the hands of
the public 1t is probable that all small
sums would be RENTED in that way, ag
gregating upwards Of 81, 10000 per an
num- and while the fee on each remit
lance would be much less than on the
present money order Ga saving to the peo-
ple), the total fees on the total amount
of small mail remittances would yield the
government a large increase in present
revenue to which must be added nearly
$500 COO per annum saved in commission.
While an increased revenue and saw
ing in expense are two important items,
they are not so important as safety and
convenience to the people and the re-
moVal of what is now a serious embargo
upon business.
1t is generally admitted that the paper
currency in use during and following the
Civil war was the most convenient small
money we ever had, so long as it remain
ed comparat lively clean. Instead of car
rying about a load of silver, these small
bills can be laid smoothly in an ordinary
pocketbook and carried without inconve-
niece in sums up to $40 or more.
Congress has been asked to authorize an
issue of $50, eco in fractional bills of the
post check form, in denominations of o,
TO- Is. Is and so cents, in place of that
amount of large notes now in circulation;
this fractional currency to pass current
from hand to hand when left with the
blank spaces unified. These can be trans
formed into checks, payable to payee, and
will require a one-cent postage stamp for
the government fee when so transformed.
The continual retirement and reissue Of
post check bills will insure a clean and
crisp paper currency and remove the OBJ
lection to the present money, from san
itary point of view. Because of frequent
reissue, Bank of England notes are uni
versalIy clean and can be readily written
upon by pen. The United States govern
ment will receive an ample and profitable
fee for the reissue of each post check
note.