Evening star., 1901-04-18
A TEMPTING ACCUMULATION.
What the Government Does With I'm
claimed Money Orders.

claimed Money Orders.
what becomes of all the money orders
which are never presented for payment? 81
asked Washington business man Of a
postal official. Every few days We receive
letters from our customers saying that
they have forwarded orders for goods, but
the orders have never reached our hands.
And this is true of very large mail order
house in Washington"
'"They disappear in various ways" was
the reply. Some are burned or torn up
instead Of the receipts, and this is particu-
larly true of international money orders
where the receipts are of the same size of
the order, only white in color. Some are
sent in letters which are not addressed at
all, or are incorrectly addressed, and these,
together with thousands of other orders
find their way to the dead letter office. u
timately most of these letters find their
way back to the remitters, or duplicates
are applied for.
'The British government utilizes as a
source of postal revenue all of the money
in Its hands which is not paid out to meet
money orders upon presentation, and de-
riveS about $4,000 annually therefrom. Our
government does not attempt to derive any
profit from this source, and the money is
turned into the treasury, where it is held
in trust, as 1t were, to meet these obiga-
t1ons. The government has no desire to
claim or confiscate this money, and it will
order at any time upon presentation, upon
satisfying itself, in the instance Of a long
lapse Of years, that there has been no pre-
vious payment by duplicate or otherwise.
In Great Britain, l believe, this money be-
comes forfeited to the government after a
certain number of years, four, 1 think. The
British government evidently proceeds up
on the theory that If holder of a money
order, or the sender, does not seek to cash
the order within a reasonable time, the
government can put it to good advantage
by applying the amount to it's own use.
Such a practice undoubtedly facilitates the
business of the governments end of the
contract, and is strictly legal If authorized
by law. In nearly all money transactions
there is limitation upon the validity of
any voucher which represents cash as to
its time for presentation. Even a note pay
able without date is barred by the statute
of limitations in the various states
There is today an accumulation of over
$2, 900 in the treasury of these un-
claimed money orders which has been grad
ually piling up year after year during the
thirty-five years the government has been
conducting a money order business. With
ca ch individual order the government has
made special effort to effect payment to
the payee or restore the amount to the re-
mitter, and, failing, can do naught but
keep the amount. The fact that $1,000 du-
plicate orders are annually issued would
appear to indicate that the American peo-
pie are extremely careless in the handling
inals go or how they are disposed Of would
fill volume.
'oThe government has issued 1000 600 900
In money orders, and has paid every cent
OF this great sum except the s., SOC, 900 I
have mentioned. A single order may be
issued up to 800 in amount, and the aver
age Is about $3.50. the smaller offices issuing
the great bulk Of orders and the larger Of
fees cashing 95 per cent of them.
Travelling men, actors, circus men, rail-
road employees and others. whose business
requires them to move from place to place.
are very fond of buying orders payable to
themselves. They cannot spend an order
as bill and no one but themselves or
the indorsees may secure the amount Of
the orders they are just that much ahead
when they get into the next town. making
themselves their own bankers with the
government as depository. Sometimes an
q ctor or a circus man will present dozen
orders at the close Of the season which he
has bought from time to time, and their
amount represents savings which otherwise
would have been spent"