The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-04-02
NEW PLAE FOB EAIE7NG HONEY.
4 PROPOSE: f.Iw !'!3..i ShoGid be
.S,:nltrG tO:..'.

troduced in the Senate by Mr. McMil-
Ian, and in the House by Mr.. Gardner,
provides for printing the one two and
live dollar bills in the future with
blank spaces on the face. These bills
Of course pass from hand to hand be-
fore the blanks ale filed. When 1T is
desired to send Cne in the mails the
blanks are filled in with the name OF
the payee. his city and State. a 2-cent
postage stamp is placed in another
blank space and cancelled with the
initials OF the sender in ink, the name
of the sender is signed on the back,
and. presto, his money has suddenly
ceased to exist as currency and has
been transformed into check on the
United States government, having all
the safety Of any bank check, and
ready for enclosure in his letter.
When the payee receives this check
he treats it just as he would any other
check ck-indOrSes it, goes 10 the near
est bank or post Office and deposits it
or has it cashed.
The paid check finally reaches the,
Treasury Department, When it is re-
placed by d new one With the spaces
untitled. This keeps the circulation
at par. No change whatever is made
in the financial policy of the govern
ment the only change being in the
character of the printing on the bills
Of five dollars and under. The bin
also provides for the issue Of sI5,000,-
900 OF fractional currency, with blank
spaces similar to the larger denomina-
tionS, in place of an equal amount Of
money of larger denominations, pre-
sumably twenty and fifty dollar bills.
The provision under the new system
for a continual reissue inSureS clean
money both in the fractional currency
and in the larger bills. The govern
ment fee on the five, ten, fifteen,
twenty-five and fifty cent pieces is to
be one cent each.
Perhaps in no better way can the
reader come to understand the press
ing need for postal currency than to
recall the times without number when
ne himself has been deSirouS Of send
ing a small sum OF money through the
mails with safety. Always in such
cases comes up the barrier, and only
the persistent one will carry out his
purpose by using stamps, coin placed
in holes in pieces of pasteboard, or
risking loose money. The average
person will not eIpend the valuable
time required fora journey to the post
office for money order. Only the
pressure Of necessity in the eabsence of
simple conveDients system brings to
the money order system its present
patronage. Statistics show that from
ten to twenty times henumber of let
ters received by business houses, pub
fishers and others who do large busi-
ness through the mails, contain
stamps, loose money or some other
representative of money, than contain
money orders, a clear enough mark Of
the disapproval Of the public.
While is not thought that, if adopt
ed the proposed system would entirely
supersede the money order system,
because for amounts over $50 the
money order would be slightly cheaper,
it is thought by the advocates Of the
pending bill that such.a system Of post
checks would prove a great con-
yenience to those desiring to send
small amounts Of money through the
mails, and would result in gain to
merchants, publishers and business
firms who now receive such remit
tance in the form of stamps (often
torn and mutilated), drafts on small
banks, or loose coin in letters always
temptation to postal employees. All
of these forms of remittance entail
some loss, in many cases to the receiver
and to that extent, perhaps, a creditor
is unjustly defrauded, innocently it,
may be, by the debtor. Under the:
new system these troublesome and
unfair methods of making remittanceS
would be done away with, owing to
the simplicity and convenience Of
the post checks, and the cost of send
| ing the remittance would be placed
where it properly belongs-with the
sending debtor or the person making
the purchase.
The main difficulty with the present
money order system is that less than
half the post Offices in the country
are money order offices, and even at
these such evidences Of money can
only be obtained at the expenditure OF
much time and trouble and during
certain specified hours. With post
check note in his possession one has
but to fill in the blank spaces for the
purpose, attach postal stamp, cancel
it, inclose in an envelope, place in
mail box, and the transaction is hnlsh-
ed. Unquestionably the intent OF
the postal authorities is to extend and
increase the usefulness and popularity
Of the rural free delivery service. The
adoption Of the post check notes Will
affor a most convenient and safe
money for the agricultural communi-
ties, to whom banks, with their facii-
ties and safeguards, cannot be utiliz-
ed with convenience. 1t is claimed
by those who have Investigated the
subject that the revenues of the Post
office Department would be very
materially increased by the adoption
of the post check sytem.
A somewhat unusual feature OF the
post check proposition is the fact that
the inventor is a successful business
man, who has for years realized the
urgent necessity for simpler way of
making smalls remittanceS in the
mails, and who has devoted great
deal Of his time and means to the
perfection of the idea, and offers, in
case of it's adoption, to turn the
patents, and all rights under them,
over to the government free OF any
cost or charge whatever. He considers
that should the system be adopted
the consciousness fhaving accomplish
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