Daily camera., 1901-06-05
WITHOUT AN OWNER.
Two and q Half Millions in Un-
claimed Postal Orders.
Mysterious Disappearance Of Many
Orders That Have Been Trans
Mitted Through the Mails-A
Rich Accumulation.

what becomes of all the money
orders which are never presented for
payment" asked u Washington bust
ness man of a postal official, reports
the Washington Star. Every few
days we receive letters from our GUS
toners saying that they have for
warded orders for goods, but the or
ders have never reached our hands.
And this is true of very large mail
order house in Washington"
"Thoy disappear in various ways"
was the reply. "Some are burned or
torn up instead Of the receipts and
this is particularly true of interna-
tional money orders where the re-
ceipts are of the same size of the or
der, only white in color. Some are
sent in letters which are not ad-
dressed at All or are incorrectly ad-
dressed, and these, together with
thousands of other orders, find their
way to the dead letter Office. Ulti-
mately most of these letters find
their way back to the remitters or
duplicates are applied for
"The British government utilizes as
source of postal revenue all of the
money In its hands which is not paid
out to meet money orders upon pres
entation and derives about $4,000
annually therefrom. Our govern
ment 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 II were,
to meet these obligations. The gov
ernment has no desire to claim or
confiscate this money, and it will
pay its obligations in the form Of a
money order at any time upon pres
entation upon satisfying itself in
the instance of long lapse of years
that there has been no previous pay
ment by duplicate or otherwise. In
Great Britain, ! believe. this money
becomes forfeited to the government
after certain number of years, four
l think. The British government evil
IDENTIFY proceeds upon the theory that
il holder OF money order or the
N'h "p'S NV S''N w thsI tht VI
der within reasonable time the gov
ernment can put II 10 good advan-
tage by applying the amount to its
own use Such n practice undoubted-
~ facilitates the business of the gov
ernmcnt's end OF the contract and is
strictly legal II authorized by law.
In nearly all money transactions
there is limitation upon the valid
ity Of any voucher which represents
cash as to its presentation. Even
note payable without date is barred
by the statute of limitations in the
various states. @
There is to-day an accumulation
Of over $500. 900 in the treasury OF
these unclaimed money orders which
has been gradually pippg up year aft
"r year dariag she IS years the gov
arnment has been conducting
money order business. With each in
lividual order the government has
made special effort to effect pay
nent to the payee or restore the
mount to the remittcr. and, failing.
an do nought but keep the amount.
The fact that !o.cIa SbPiicate orders
are annually issued would appear TO
INDICATE that the AmeFiean people are
extremely careless Ia the handling
of these money vouchers, Where the
originals go or how they are disposed
OF would fll a volume.
''The government has issued $4,000
600. 900 in money orders, and has paid
every cent OF this great sum except
the 2.5o0, 900 l have mentioned. A
single order may be issued w ~ $IOc
in amount. and the s,erage is about
$3.50. the .mallrr offices issuing the
great bulk of orders and the larger
offices cashing - per eaa,, et them.
Travelling men, ac,ers. circus men,
raiiEaad employees and others. whose
business requires them to move from
place to place, are very fond of buy
ing orders payable 70 themselves,
They cannot spend an order as a bill
and as no one but themselves or the
indorsees may secure the amount of
he orders they are just that mvch
ahead when they &c, i.to the next
town. making themselves their own
bankers with the government as a
depository. sometimes an sstor or a
circus man vii. present dozen or
dest ~ tbs e1ose of the season which
he has bought from time 10 time, and
their smpun, represents savings
which atherwlse would have been
spent"