The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-08
POST CHECK BILLS.
SAFE AND NEED
 ED.
Statement of c. W. Post Before De-
 partment Committee.


 tive of a manufacturing enterprise, my
 attention was directed to the loss of
 business caused by the difficulty cus-
 toners experienced in sending small
 sums of money to us. Our manufactur-
 ed were sold by merchants throughout
 the country and in our advertisement
 the public was invited to purchase of
 merchants, or, if not thus obtainable to
 order directly of the factory. In many thousand cases the intending purchaser
 found the merchant with his supply of the article exhausted, or, if the pur- chaser lived in the suburbs of city, or
 in the country or at an army post, or
 any similar place remote from stores, he could not readily purchase and there l fore sought to secure the goods by mail Our mail contained quantities of post | age stamps, frequently mutilated or l stuck to the letters, loose silver, paper | money and small checks. It was a seri-
 ous matter to turn the great quantities
 of postage stamps into money, To get
 rid of them we were accustomed to en-
 close ten dollars or twenty dollars in
 stamps Gall we thought the payee would | ottiilNtJs Nll'I llIhlIlS Itlllll ldDNt lb pay
 our own bills; but the bulk of these
 stamps was sold to brokers or mer- chants at a discount of from three 10 six
 per cent. In many cases soaking was required to free the stamps from the | letter paper. Then followed regum-
 mingf.
 l This experience of one firm is multi | piled by thousands The less on stamps the loss of money in the mail, and the heavy discount on small checks, do not constitute the chief objections to the present conditions
 The extraordinary barrier to the tran saction of business is the first consider ation Of letters that contain small remittance about nineteen out of twen- ty contain stamps, silver, loose money or small checks, and the twentieth con- tains a money order. We are, there fore. cnmpelled to realize that some thing forces the public to adopt these unsafe and unsatisfactory forms of re- mittance, and that only the very per sistant ones remit at al The great majority of people who might do busi ness if remittances could be made easily prefer to go without rather than
 
 loss of time incident to securing a money order. Newspaper and book pub fishers particularly feel this hardship on business. Their letters are filled with stamps and loose money, but their efforts to secure subscribers or to in- duce old subscribers to pay, meet with poor response because of the inability of the public to secure a safe and con- venient substitute for money to mail 1 The present business of the country, represented by the small mail remit tances, aggregates as nearly as can be | estimated, more than two billions of | dollars annually, notwithstanding the | difficulty and unfavorable conditions, It | is safe to assume that under favorable [ conditions and with greater convenience l for the people the volume of business 1 would be largely increased.
 When a farmer or farmers wife de- sires some small article from the store or to subscribe for the local paper or to | transact any item of business requir- ing the expenditure of small sum of he or she is estopped until such time as a journey can be made either to personally perform the duty or to se- cure money order to safely convey the The conditions are parallel with the period antedating the trolley car, telephone and rural free delivery of mail, when the transaction of any bus- ness away from home meant travel, ex- pense, time and frequently hardship. The modern rule of practice is to tele- phone and not to travel to send and receive and not personally go and come. Public servants are doing the er- rands of the people, and doing them more perfectly and economically than was done in the old way. The perfec- ton of the general service rendered by the postofflce department is a matter of national pride. There are, however, two features of the postal service that never nave been entirely satisfactory to the officials nor to the people, and which never can be made satisfactory until he assistance of the United States treasury department Is invoked. I refer .o the inability to prevent robbery of etters containing money and stamps md to the failure to supply the public with convenient and safe money to send through the mail
 No form of money order that requires . Journey or an effort to obtain, will yer meet the demand of the people. 1 They ask the treasury department to so print the msall bids (such as are in laily use), that they can instantly be afely sent when the need arises. This ct by the treasury department will perfect the service of the postoff1ce de- ,artment and rid it of the two unsats- 2 actory and imperfect features. It will J ,e easily understood that when it is ( ,nown that no loose money or stamps i 70 through the mails, the incentive for ( will not exist. r Important changes like the one sug- I 'ested demand time, conference and ( onference careful consideration. The | ,ostl currency system has been under ! publishers and q variety of business h. | erests, and many conferences with J government officials have been held T with the object of devsng and perfect 0 ng system that will supply the re- | uirements of the people and not inter- c ere with the satisfactory working of II he departmental machinery. The as- istance rendered by the prominent of cials of the government and their evil ent desire to work out a solution of l ! hepro blem has been a source of satis- action to the people, and tends to re- ute the charge sometimes made that V