Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-09
MILLIONS OF CHECKS
How Uncle Sam Registers and
Files Interest Slips.
HIGH INTEREST RATES
DEFEATING EFFORTS TO DE-
FRAUD THE q. s. TREASURY.
The Largest Series Of Single Payments
Ever Made by the Government to
an Individual Bondholder.

Written for The Evening Star.
! There are a great many persons In this
! country who have no idea of the system
| that Uncle Sam keeps with regard to the
| interest checks that are paid quarterly on
| registered bonds. There are numerous in
! stances, incidents that happen almost every
| day in the registers office of the Treasury
Department. that go to prove this asser-
| ton. A man will write to the Office saying
| he has not received his check for interest,
payable, perhaps, eight or nine years ago,
and that he would be much obliged II the
| department would make him out another
| check for the amount. The clerk to whom
| this letter is referred-for every one re-
ceives the most courteous attention-goes
| to his books, finds what is called the report
number. and then goes to the file room,
where all of the old checks are kept, and
ninety-nine times out of hundred. or, 1t
would be more correct to say nine hundred
and ninety-nine times out of thousand
| picks up the check which the gentleman
AYERS he did not receive, Endorsed by him
and returned to the Treasury Department
! as having been paid to the individual in
question. There are very few times that
| the department is found to have skipped
any of the thousands of holders of United
States securities i'll the shape of registered
| bonds. The system by which this accuracy
| is possible is not a complicated one. except
| that it deals with numbers embracing the
third period.
System Not Complicated.
The loans of the government are in two
forms-registered and coupon. OF course,
In the case of the coupon bonds no such rec
ord is kept, because 1t is not needed, since
the holders of such securities have only to
clip off their coupons and have them
| cashed: but in the case of the registered
| bonds an individual account with every
| holder of any and all such securities ever
issued by the government is kept in the Of
| flee of the register of the treasury. When
the time comes for the quarterly payment
the registers Office prepares the schedule
which is then sent to the treasurer's Office
where the checks are drawn. The checks
are then sent out, and are returned in good
time to the registers office after they have
been caShed. Checks are not always cashed
in, however, at that time many persons
who are careful with their money holding
them. and perhaps sending them to the
treasury for payment years after the origi-
nal quarterly payment. When an old check
OF this description comes in it Is referred to
the registers office in the same manner that
a complaint would be- or is and the matter
Is carefully looked up to see that there is
no possible chance Of the government pay
ing interest twice. When the checks are
hnally returned to the registers office the
number is entered in books for that purpose
oHu tIc CHeChS themselves are then tagged
and placed in the file room, so that it is a.
matter of a very few minutes for a clerk
who is familiar with the routine to find any
check that has ever been presented to that
office.
The books of the registers office IN TO
| the end Of the last fiscal year, June 80
| 1904 show that there are now 5000 291
| checks registered and filed away for pos
| sible reference. These checks aggregate a
sum of 1921 1853, O1776, this sum being the
total amount of interest paid out by the
government on registered bonds up to that
time. During the fiscal year ending June
30, 1904 there were 204 $50 checks received
at the registers office for registration and
filing, aggregating an amount Of $780,
| 9SS51. AS an instance of how persons
retain checks made payable to them for
| interest and do not cash them until years
after the payment Is made, one of the
checks under the funded loan Of 1881 for
| 1925 was turned in just sixteen years after,
| while four aggregating 1894 under the
continued loan of 1881 and sixteen aggre-
eating $9,S75 under the loan of 1882 were
received seventeen and sixteen years re-
spectively after they were sent out by the
| treasurers office There have not been any
| checks under the first four loans received
at the registers Office for some time.
Defrauding Uncle Sam.
| There are more ways than the one out
| lined in the beginning of this article to
which persons resort to defraud the gov
| eminent in the matter of bonds and checks.
| Half bonds are received at times. the other
| half 1t is alleged, having been destroyed by
| fire or some other destructive agent. Then
| during the course of years come along the
other half, the sender-often the same in
| both cases-alleging that the other half,
| previously redeemed at the department, had
] been destroyed in some manner. But the
| trick always fails, and the deception is al
ways found out, so complete Is the system
now in use.
1t is practically impossible to pass a
| forged check through the department 1t
| Is often the case that checks come in with
| signatures that are Immediately questioned,
| or with imperfect Endorsements, or, per-
| haps, with forged Endorsements. Then they
are Immediately held up and sent to the
| registers office, and comparison Is made
with the check issued under the last prev
| ious quarterly payment. Should, however,
| the check be inadvertently passed by the
| treasurer's office it rarely. and 1t may be
| said never, gets through the auditors office,
through which 1t has to pass In routine on
| its way to it's final resting place in the file
room of the registers Office. when a check
| is caught In this way payment Is fmmedi-
ately suspended and the paper Is sent back
| to the bank that paid out the money on IT..
| This. of course, is all connected with regis
tered bonds, the holder of a coupon bond
handling the coupons that have matured
| lust the same as he would so many treas
ury notes.
! A Lucky Individual.
With all the precautions however, the
| ,,o,,arnment was caught mapping once.
When a bond is certified as having been de-
| stroved by its holder the government re-
| ouires a bond of indemnity to protect itself
| from paying the same twice In the sixties
| three bonds for $500 each, issued under the
act of February o. 1862, per cent loan,
| were reported as having been destroyed
and afidavits substantiating this claim
| were filed with the department. The bonds,
of course, were made good by the depart
| ment and substitutes were In good time
| cashed in at maturity. Shortly after this
| date. however, the original bonds, which
| had never been destroyed at all. as sworn.
| turned up and the substitute bonds having
/ been destroyed, as was the practice then,
| and not saved, as they now are, there was
| nothing for the treasury to do but pay the
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