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Show THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU Not aU news is bad. Every now and then something comes along that gives us the chance to report a story with a happy ending. It seems that a fellow of average aver-age means received a bonus of $150 from his employer. He decided de-cided to put half of it into United States Savings Bonds, and use the other to buy a gadget for his hobby a home tool shop. With the $150 in his wallet, he headed first for his bank, where he bought a $100 Series E Savings Bond for $75. He put the bond in his wallet with the remaining $75, and went next to the hardware store to make the other purchase. When he reached for his wallet to pay for the item, it was gone. Somewhere between the bank and the hardware, the wallet had been lost. This fellow never knew whether his pocket had been picked or his wallet had bounced out as he walked. Neither police efforts nor a newspaper ad ever turned up the missing wallet. While in the bank a few weeks later, he told his sad story to the teller who had sold him the bond. "You know, of course, the government will replace the lost bond," the banker told our unfortunate un-fortunate friend. Why, no, he didn't realize that. Anyway, he didn't even have the serial number to identify the lost bond. But the banker persisted. He provided the proper form and our skeptical friend certified his loss and applied for relief. The Treasury Trea-sury Department checked its records, re-cords, found the bond in question had not been offered for redemption, redemp-tion, and issued a duplicate to the owner. The Treasury reports it received a nice reply from the grateful bond owner. "Why, that makes Savings Bonds even better than - cash," he had written, "to say nothing of the interest they draw." Replacing lost bonds is just one of the many services the Treasury offers the 40-odd million individuals indi-viduals who own Savings Bonds. Each year thousands of burned, mutilated, and destroyed bonds are replaced without charge. On occasion the Department's legal unit goes into court to protect the interests of co-owners and beneficiaries bene-ficiaries upon death of the original bond purchaser. Someone has called Savings Bonds "absolutely indestructible." It's an appropriate label. No safer investment can be found anywhere, yet they return a substantial, sub-stantial, guaranteed interest These are facts about Savings Bonds that are not generally known, even among people who buy them regularly. The story should be told over and over, until everyone is familiar with the many virtues of United States Savings Bonds. |