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Show MONEY BY MAIL. Some Steps in the Transaction Explained. Ex-plained. (Washington Star. 1 "I have been sending money through the mails for a score of years, but I confess there are kinks in the transaction trans-action . especially asAto repayments of orders, and that mysterious thing which is called an 'advice,' which I have been quite unable to untwist," said a gentleman to a clerk in the money order division of the Washington Washing-ton City postoffice the other day. "You are no stranger on that proposition," prop-osition," replied the clerk, ','bu.t the practice, once understood, is not difficult. diffi-cult. On the question of the repayment repay-ment of a money order the public confuse con-fuse the domestic with the foreign or international orders. That is where the trouble lies. The differentiation is important, and may be clearly explained. ex-plained. "A domestic money order will be repaid re-paid to the holder upon presentation at the office of issue. It is good for twelve months from the last day of the month in which the order is issued, or is a 'live' order for that time. Should the order be not presented by that date, it becomes 'invalid,' but only in name. The postmaster cannot rep;iy upon presentation a domestic order which has become invalid by reason of age, so he applies at the department at Washington for what is termed a 'warrant.' 'war-rant.' This warrant is issued in the building opposite the Star office upon receipt of the application therefor, and in due and short time he receives the warrant without cost to him. "The same process obtains if it ia th payee who wishes to secure payment, of the order and has failed to present it within the prescribed year. Therefore, There-fore, remember that it makes no difference dif-ference how old your money order may be. as the term 'invalid' is a departmental depart-mental phrase and in nowise affects the actual validity of your order. A United States money order is like a government bond in the sense that it is always good at the department for its face value, if it is proved never to have been cashed, whether it be a year or a decade old. "No, postmasters cannot issue duplicate dupli-cate orders, as -where the original order or-der is lost, burned, etc.. and they must apply to the department for such. The public should remember that it takes , anywhere from one day from postof-fices postof-fices close to Washington to five days from those on the Pacific coas.t for the application to reach the department, a day or two to issue the duplicate, and then the journey back to the applicant. If you are the payee of a lost order you will receive your duplicate as expeditiously ex-peditiously as the mails will transport it. "It is the foreign or 'international' orders which cause the public to ask so many questions when it comes to repayments, re-payments, as the process of repayment is necessarily more complicated. International In-ternational orders are not repaid as are domestic orders. If you desire an international order repaid take it with you to the office of issue, or send it there by mail if you are a resident of another place. The postmaster then makes formal application to the department, de-partment, who in turn is obliged to make request upon the postal admin- j istration of the countrv UDon which I the order is drawn for permission to I repay the amount of the order to the remitter. You see, even though you j have the original order with you in this country, the advice has gone abroad, and it may be paid there to the payee by duplicate. This is guarded against by various methods, and if the order has not been paid abroad by duplicate the foreign country authorizes repayment repay-ment in the United States, and takes credit for the payment in the postal accounts between the contracting countries. coun-tries. "The procedure is much more complicated com-plicated than in the repayment of a domestic order.. Recollect, that it takes time for the mails to cross and recross the ocean, and the period usually consumed con-sumed in getting your money back in the instance of a , British or central European country is about six weeks, and from -Japan. Hongkong, the Australian Aus-tralian colonies. Cape Colony "and India, In-dia, about three months. We have, had people come in and ask for their money on an international repayment in two weeks, or scarcely time for the fast mails to go over and back. "The 'mysterious advice,' as you I term it. is an open book to the post- I master, as it is a closed account to the I public. The advice is for the protec- lion of all concerned, of course, but pri- i marily for the department. Once it was written separately, but now that the carbon process is in use the writing writ-ing of an order and an advice is one transaction. The advice is on white t-.-.y.t. 4U ...Acf-n thA f..i mil inf light blue, and the public do not see the advice. The annoying discrepancies discrepan-cies which formerly resulted by reason of carelessness and errors on the part of postmasters and their clerks have to a great extent been done away with, to the mutual satisfaction of both the public and the department. "This little piece of thin white paper is a silent detective, and has defeated many a fraudulent attempt to beat Uncle Sam on money orders, and as the public do not know what it contains and how it is done, I wilt let them in the secret. "It is practically the duplicate of the order in all respects, except that it has thereon the name of the remitter and the address of the payee. The name of the payee appears on the order. These latter facts are added to the advice after aft-er the clerk hands you the order. The order is sent to your friend in your letter. let-ter. The postmaster sends the advice to the paying postmaster by the next mail. When your friend presents the order for payment the money order clerk hunts up the corresponding advice, ad-vice, which has arrived in the meantime, mean-time, out of the files he keeps neatly arranged at his elbow. He asks who sent the order with his eye fixed on the tell-tale advice to see if your answer agrees with the name of the remitter live, as you are the payee, and if the address you furnish him does not agree with the address oh the advice you at once become an object of suspicion. If, however, you speak your little part correctly, and otherwise convince him that you are the person to whom the money should be paid, you get it. "You may feel annoyed by the questions ques-tions he puts to you, and perhaps deeply deep-ly grieved if he refuses to pay the order or-der at all upon the ground of 'insufficient 'insuffi-cient identification.' But you will be less harsh in your criticism when you understand that were he to pay the amount of your order to the wrong person it would come out of his own pocket or that of the postmaster. Hence, for the protection of both the public and the government, practically a bank identification is required. "Were this not the case the losses would be heavy, and all sorts of schemes and games would be resorted to by sharpers to defraud the govern- |