The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-06
shoulder. and they rarely make a mistake.

shoulder. and they rarely make a mistake.
"Of course they frequently have to take
chances on paying an order. All sorts OF
identibcations are given. We arc often
requested to pay a man 500 on his face
when the average man wouldn't pay 30
gents on It..
Perhaps the oldest case that has ever
come under my observation was that OF a
circus mar who presented s., 200 worth of
orders here one day, which, following q
mailed while on the road to his New York
address. He hadn't a friend. a letter. a
pin or anything else with him TO prove him
self the payee. .
last, Here's a picture of me and m dogs
the Dog Faced Man.
And he handed me a picture OF six bull
dogs snarling like sixty, and a man with
tousled hair, contorted mouth, ferocious
tossed up his hair and threw a fit; There
could be no possible mistake. He was
Mike the Dog Faced Man all right and we
felt justified in .aking a chance, Mike got
bis money. .
Sometimes, OF course, the clerks do get
caught, | remember one case not. long
ago that cost two clerks s75 apiece although
no one about here believes to this day that
they should have been made to stand tho
loss: a.
lockbox lost his key. He went along for a
month saying nothing about his loss.
THE man who found the key promptly
put II to use. He found some money orders
In the box and presented them for pay.
ment. Asked TO identify himself he showed
orders were paid, This kept up for several
weeks.
FINALLY the original owner of the key
showed up and was very indignant about
the payment Of his money orders TO the
wrong man. His loss was made good,
but the money had TO come out Of the two
clerks pockets. That was a case where
the payee was clearly culpable and should
have been obliged to pocket his W loss,
- a matter OF fact, 1t costs US twenty
clerks and S25 600 n year to correct otner
peoples errors and help the mail order
houses Of New York to keep their books"
The foreign money order business APP
proximates siOo, 0 5000. annually, n third
OF the total business OF the division. one
reason for this IL that New York does the
money order business with Europe Tor
the whole nation.
True, the foreign orders are sold all over
the country and the buyer need tn ke no
further heed except to send the order to
the correct address in Europe His money
however, Ia not forwarded.
OF the orders duplicates called advices
are made and one advice Of every Euro
pean order issued in the United States is
sent TO Mr.. Elliott's department at the
New York Post Onioe. Here q record Is
made OF the orders, the foreign destina-
tons are looked up and verified and then
they are bundled up and shipped by the
first steamer,
Fifty thousand q week went over during
1864 third to Great Britain, France
getting the next largest allotment and
Russia getting 5000 a week near the end.
The order demanding payment and the adj
vice directing the foreign Government
10 pay 1t usually go on the same steamer
10 quickly is the work done.
There remains the payment Of the order
with money from New York, The New
York Post Office has twenty-six bankers
ON its list, pr vileged to sell 1t foreig n ex-
change up to u certain amount liked by
the Postinnster-General. Each hands in
bids every day.
These tell the total Of exchange allowed
them and the amount already taken, also
the price at which they are willing to sell
the remainder on London, Paris, Basle,
Rome or st. Petersburg. These bids Mr..
Elliott takes up in person every day.
BY selecting the lowest bidder on each
city and his lowest bids against himself.
a lower proportionate rate often being
offered on one city than another by the
same man. Mr., Elliott finally buys the
whole amount OF foreign exchange at the
lowest possible prices. Checks for the
total amount OF exchange purchased are
then sent to the bankers here and they
place the amount ~purohaSed TO the credit