Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-01-08
MONEY ORDER BUSINESS
What the United Stst.s Govesnnent Does n This
 Growing Braneh

In government circles one of the Ji-
 visions in the office of the auditor for
 the pOstoffice department is called the
 greatest banking institution ill the
 world without capital. It is the diyi-
 sion that has 10 do with the money
 order business of the country If it
 can be said that this great banking ilI-
 stitution has any capital at all the
 amount may be placed at s10OO0,OJ,
 for that amount is always in the
 hands of the various p0stmasters.
 credited 10 the money order fund. The
 average daily receipts are S1 .4o00b.
 In short. the people of this country
 daily deposit in the hands of the vari
 ous postmasters that amount each day
 in the year and take money orders in
 exchange. In the course of single
 letter your correspondent can only
 give glance at the tremendous mon.
 ey business of the postal service.
 Something more than 31.0D0 postnlas-
 ters sell and pay money orders. vet
 the amount lost by fraud. or by de falcation of the postmasters. or those
 having charge of the work. is exceed ingly small. During the fiscal year Of
 1905. 55.SS5.J6l money orders were issued ill this country of which B. 1222. .463 were domestic. and 2.163.GgS foreign. These orders represented. domestic S4Ol ,31G.2li. and foreign S42.J3.24s. During the same period the government paid domestic orders calling for x4t4. .334.91i and foreign S7,1D.GsJ. Ii will thus be seen that we sent 10 foreign countries in money orders s35.352.:J56 more than we re ceiyed.
 The domestic money order business was established in 1884 and the for eign in 1s61. the first treaty being with Switzerland. The United States now has direct exchange of money orders with fifty countries.
 Great care and circumspection are used to prevent the payment of du- plicate orders. but such double pay ment frequently occurs. If money order is lost or destroyed the remitter or the payee can have a duplicate is sued on making the proper showing under the rules of the department \ double payment is where both the original and the duplicate are paid. During the last fiscal year 1.3T2 double payments amounting to S1.6l3 wcr. made.
 When a money order has remained unpaid for one year from the last day of the month of issue. 1t is called in valid. and the amount of the order is placed in the treasury of the United States subject 10 the call of the holder of the order. There is now in the treasury the very large sum Of s2- oJJ010 of such money. During the fiscal year 11.1I. orders. representing .9G4 became invalid. T he amount accrTiing from invalid orders is in creasing very rapidly. as will he seen by the figures for the last five years: 1901. S.a.61s: 1912. Sl24Gs1: 19G3, sl2a.es: 1904 sIT5.s;s: 1905. s23T.- y;4.
 In 1ghJ the government expended for money order blanks SI.2.51.,. The government received in fees for dc- nestle orders issued. S,.2I3.3sp. and on foreign. including gain on ex- change. S-stJ. .sau1. the gain on exchange being S1G.229. The postmasters were allowed commissions on domestic or ders sy13.24G and for losses by fire and burglaries. s1s.Ts; leaving a hal ance to the credit of the government If S22.2.3i1. The commissions on foreign orders issued were S133gr, New York. Pennsylvania and Illinois lead in the order named in the i>sIl- ance of international tlouey orlcrs. he amounts in Ig5 being respective Iy. ss.I2i3So: s4.T5a.55i and si.oiI.-
 The remitfanss~ t0 Italy is far in excess of those io any other foreign country. amounting in 1aos to sg.34s.- ,i3 against S1-gs.3s2 to Great Brit sin. sgGJ1.alI to Russia. x4.4O1!O !O44 io Canada. x3.-rs5152 io Hungary and S3. .442.alJ to Germany. The fransac- ions between the United States and Jther countries appear .o t-e recipro- -7tei in the case of Canada only. the mounts Issid on canssiizn orders and he~e dravsu a-sainsf Canada heinz lery nearly equal Italr. that drgw from us nearly nine and hsIf mil ians. returned o.lIv Ssss.1sf. and ;reat Britain issued against us only n 4ssssls as against tho nearly ss.- ss,ssn drawn Isr H~ in her favor.
 The amount I,ssI in IIliE-,is on d. nestle orserS in 1s.n was several millions in exe-~~ of that EsaH in Ssw T0rk Icing sf1 szo.z1s h she fgrrn@- tate. zsd szs44zs5 tn fbe latter. Tise next state fo Neu York was {. .s = =. -