El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-12-05
Millions In Money Orders
In Rural Districts Farmers Use POST
office Orders i'm Lieu OF
ExchHnge and Checks.

ASHINGTON, d. c., Dec. s.
w There are more than $4,000
postoffices in the United States
where people without a checking ac-
count in a bank may go and buy eN-
change in the shape OF postal money
/ orders. The people avail themselves
of this facility to the extent OF some
$4,000, 600 money orders year Inc
] system was established just nalI
century ago, and since then more imam
/ a billion money orders have been IS
sued The amount of money annually
transferred through this system
amounts to about $500, 0OO, 900, with an
other $1O0,00O,000 for the foreign
money order business
4 graphic idea of the size of the
money order system OF the country
may be gathered from the statement
that although the average fee for Issu-
ing money orders is less than cents,
the total receipts of the postOffice de-
partment from these small fees alone
amount to about S5,OOO,OOO year me
postmasters at third and fourth class
pcstoffices are allowed a fee of cents
for each order they issue, and on this
basis they made nearly million ana
a half dollars last year
Receipts Heavier in Small offices.
As a general rule receipts exceed dis
burSements on account Of money or
ders issued and paid in the smaller
: pOstoffices of the country, while IN the
large offices the value of the orders
redeemed is much greater than the
value of those issued The department
never will allow n money order TO ran
Of payment when offered for redemp-
tiOn and yet il does not desire to keep
any considerable amount of money
in the hands of pOStmaSters for this
business. To meet the situation it gives
to the postmaster of the New YORK
| pOstoffice a sort of clearing house
status. PostmaSters VINO have many
payments to make are given letters OF
credit on him, with the limit of which
they may draw for funds When they
draw he Immediately notifies the de-
partment and the appropriate book
( keeping entries are made. In this way
the postmaster of every city is assured
always OF sufficient funds to pay AL
orders that may come for collection,
and yet the department is saved the
necessity of having large sums OF
money tied up and not working
Sends Much Money to Europe.
In the international money order
business each country RENTS at fire.
quent intervals to the other countries
OF the money order union, sufficient
money to cover the excess of orders
issued by II over the ones drawn on
it. As the United States is the home
OF so many foreigners who send money
across the ocean to the kinSpeople
back home. the United States is con-
stauuy issuing more orders payable
at European offices than European Of
4 fees issue payable at American Of
fees The result is that the post Of
I renting money to Europe to cover
( the balance
These remittances are made through
bills Of exchange, and total of a mill
lion and a half dollars a week goes
abroad in this way The pOstOffice de-
partment buys the exchange under
/ conditions Of keen competition Dar-
ticlDated in by about 80 New York
( banks, with the result that il al
ways gets most favorable terms. The
discounts IT gets on exchange over
and above the premiums that have to
be paid to countries where the boot is
on the other foot, afford the postal
service a profit Of nearly q half mil
lion dollars year.
It has been recognized for a long
time that the restriction Of the money
order system against payment at any
I other office than that uDOn which il
is drawn has been the principal handi-
Z system This has put il at a disad-
vantage as compared with the bank
ing system of the country. and the
! purpose of the department to make
money order pays bic at any pOst0ffice
{, viii make that form of transmitting
! money more popular than ever among
( those who do not carry bank accounts
or who wish TO transfer money to re-
mote places 1t is expected that the
present fiscal wear will see this in
novation established in the money or
One OF the difficulties that hitherto
have been encountered in the handling
Of money order business has been the
difficulty of auditing the money order
( accounts of the $4,000 postOffices of
/ the country. To overcome the trouble
OF checking order by order. by the
/ hand process, which required much
time and gave no little room for
/, troublesome mistakes, a new mechani-
cal audit system was devised. Under
( this system each office is given
serial number. composed OF five fig
uIes. and by the use of punching ma
chimes cards with holes punched in
them are made to tell to tabulatins
, machines the name of the office is
suing the order. the number of the
/ order. the face value of the order.
and the fee received by the post
master for issuing it. Every one %
the hundred million money orders has
its own punched card and by ma
chinery these cards are assorted by
the holes that have been punched in
them until those OF each Of the 10000
postofficeS are packed by themselves
and arranged SerialIy.
Registered Letters Decrease.
With the extension of the money or
der system to thousands of additional
pcstoffices. there is a slight tendency
for the use of the registry system to
fall off, with the result that the num-
Der of registered letters sent through
the mails today is approximately only
third Of the number of money or
derS sent. The total amount of matter
registered amounted to $4,000. 600
pieces in 1912. of which nearly 10000
coo We're registered letters. The state
of New York does nearly one-fifth of
all the registry business of the coun-
try.
The bulk OF the registered mail o.
the country is handled in pouches
carrying rotary locks, keys to which
are possessed only by pOstmasters and
others having direct occasion to open
them. A nOuch cannot be opened with
out changing the number indicated on
the lock. which registers each success
sive opening just as a sDeedOmeter
REGISTERS each successive mile trav-
eled.
When one OF the pouches is made
UP two postal employees put the reg
iStered letters into it, making a trip
licate list of them as they do so. and
writing the number indicated by the
numbering machine in the lock, on the
three lists. The pouch then is locked
End sent forward to its destination.
When it reaches there the clerks
whose duty il is TO oDen it note the
number indicated by the lock. and IL
Il corresponds with the number on the
list enclosed with the contents, they
know that the lock has come through
unopened. But if they find that il
registers a higher number they know
that some unauthorized person has
tempered with II. and the fact is fl
hally placed in the hands of the post
office inspectors.
Ho l.