Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1908-01-11
WHERE ARE TRE R0NlS1
MilllOnS OF Dollars In the Unitet
States Treasury Awaiting Claim
ants.

ants.
In spite of the supposed tightnesA
q HsOney and lack of cash through
out the country, there are millions OF
dollars waiting In the Treasury vaults
for claimants, writes the Washington
correspondent of the New York
Tribune. These claimants have mere
ly to appear In person or send the
proper documents to receive the
money.
According to the last monthly re-
port of the Division of Loans Of the
Treasury there was no less than S5,-
S22,9bO awaiting the pleasure of
holders of bonds which matured on
the drst Of last July. These bonds
ceased to bear interest at that time,
and there is nothing to be gained by
the holders Clinglng to them. The
total issue called in by the Secretary
OF the Treasury under a circular,
dated April 2, was $36,121,45O. The
bonds are known in the department
as the 1907 As" and are held by
owners all over the world. 1t is sup
posed that the great majority of them
will come in for redemption some
time, but 1t may be generations be-
fore the big pile OF IS, 900, 900 is re-
duced below the 100000 mark.
Some of the bonds will never come in,
for they will be lost or destroyed,
and the rightful owners, either
through ignorance or other causes,
will not set on foot the proper meas
ures to recover. their money. Half a
hundred yeafssSfr0 now theirs may
be $4,000 or 100000 still unac-
counted for, and the venerable clerks
in the department will stroke their
snowy mustaches as they speculate
over the mystery of the lost bonds.
OF the funded loan of 1891, due for
redemption in 1900, there is $4,000
still unpaid and unaccounted for, and
of the Ave per cent. bonds called IN
by the Treasury in February, 1904,
$4,000 has not yet appeared.
at is safe to say that the greater
proportion of the bonds will show up
in time, but you and ! will be gone
before the account is settled" said
G. N. McGroarty, chief of the loan d.
vision. mot nearly as many of these
bonds will be lost as you might sup
pose. AS a rule the owners are per-
sons of means who purchase them for
investment, and even after the inter
est on them ceases continue to hold
them for various reasons. Perhaps
In nf of
present and will wait until they run
across a good Investment before they
convert the bonds into cash. Per-
haps, again, they have been in the
habit of collecting the interest on the
bonds at long intervals, once in six
months or a year, and have not yet
gone over the papers in their safety
deposit boxes, and do not really know
that the bonds have ceased to draw
interest. When they finally wake up
to the fact that these bonds have quit
bringing in steady income, they will
write to the Treasury asking why the
interest has stopped. The Secretary
will inform them of the facts in the
case, will quote the April circular,
and in due time will receive the bonds
for redemption. Another very fire.
Quent cause of the temporary disap-
pearance of bonds is brought about
by the death of the owners and their
estates going into the hands of ex-
ecutors. Until the courts order the
executors to wind up the affairs of
the decedents the bonds they are
holding must remain in their custody.
OF course, at rare intervals, we hear
of the loss of bonds by accident. A
mail train may be smashed up and
the envelopes carrying them from
person to person may be lost in the
debris. A steamer bearing the owner
may go down and the bonds be lost
with his belongings or his person.
Thieves may steal them, with other
Valuables, and throw them away
when they find they cannot convert
them into ready cash without run
ming the risk of detection. In such
instances as these the original owners
or their legal heirs may always re-
cover the face value of the lost bonds
and whatever interest is due them
by making proper application and
oath to the Treasury Department, &C.
companied by an indemnity bond of
twice the amount involved.
"Once in a while we run across
some grewsome relics in the bonds
sent in for redemption. A few months
ago we received a package of bonds
from the West that had been flshed
from q river with the remains of
their dead owner. The owners body
had been in the water for months and
was scarcely recognizable and the
bonds were scarcely more than a
mass of horrible smelling pulp. They
had to be examined, however, and
passed upon, but before they could be
handled they were sent to one of the
Echemists in the department, who
fumigated and disinfected them thor
oughly. Even after the heirs of the
dead man had received their money
the bonds had to be kept in the vaults
of the division-as all bonds called in
are carefully preserved for future
reference-so this particular package
was sealed in an alright jacket and
put away with the rest. Once in a
while we get number OF bonds that
have been taken from the clothing of
a yellow fever or typhus patient, and
we have to do more fumigating and
disinfecting before the clerks are al
lowed to handle them.
"All bonds sent in for collection are
recorded very carefully md AFtv
years hence you might come here and
find out through whose hands they
passed from the time they were is
sued until they were returned for
conversion into cash. In lawsuits
over the division of estates the de-
partment is frequently called upon
to give the history of bond. The
court may wish to know just who had
1t at such and such time in order to