The Postal Note Law

The law autliorizing the three-cent 'postal noto" dirocts that its provisions shall bc put into operation by the Postmaster-Gcneral within six months after the date of its approval by the President. The act was signed on March 3, and the postal notes raust, therefore, be ready for the public by September 3, 1883, at the latest The Department officials are not ready to state preciscly the time at whioh thcy can be issued, bnt there .soems to be no good reason why they shonld Dot be available at tho openinöof tho new fiscal year, July 1, as the new law requives little' additional machinory. Some time will be consumed ui ovviLioiiig iui )LOLjus;ua ior ino ncw blankg, etc., that aro ueeessary, whioh howover, aro to be furnished br the Publio Printer and the Bureau of Engravine and Trinting. if thoir ostimates aro below thoso received f rom private persons. TUE POSTAL KOTE PE5CKIHED. A model of tho proposed postal noto is printed on tho back of tho reports of the committoes of both housos. It is about as largo as a grecnbaok. At the right hand aro two columns giving the months of tho year, and tho dates of twelve years beginning with tho present. At the left hand are three columna nf figures. One reprosentina: dollars, is numbered up to 4; the seconíi. representing dimes, ís numbered up to 9; the third, representing cents, is also numbered up to 9, and eaoh series ends witü a cipher. The note is for sums less than $5. The postinaster at the office iseuing the note will punch the rnonth and the year, the nurnber of dollars, number of dimes and number of cents in their respective columns, thus preventíng any alteration of the amouut or date. By this system the postal notes can be issued for anv sum frora 1 cent up to 84 99. No written application will be uecessary. Tho note will be bonght liko a postage stamp and -vill le payable to the bearer at any timo withín three months from the last day of the month f íerilQ T'Iirt nf ti, - . „ t - form stating the office at which it is issued aud the office to whioli t is sont. When paid the person obtaining paymont puts his signature npon the note. SLIGIIT DECEEA8E IN SECUKITT. Itis uot claimed that the postal note furnishes the same elements of seeurity as the postal order now in use, where vritteu application is made and where the seuder s name is privately forwarded to the office where the order is to be paid; but it is bolievod that its convenlenco to all classes of poople will be so great as to ronder the docrease in securïty of triüiDg iniportanoe. It is ou umi ie win laice tne piace lor transuission of moncy through tbt mails of tho oíd fractional curreñey. Since that was withdrawn thero has been no safe and agreeable way of transinitting small surus oxcopt by postage stamps, which are not regarded with favor as currency, or by the cumbersorao process of the postal oi-der. Tho postal note system has been ín use in Great Britain just two yearswith great popular aoceptance. The last annual report of the British PostmasterGencral shows that 4,462,920 of these postal orders, amounting to L2 006,917, had been issued in one year. Tho averaffe time they wero in circuí ation was six days, showing that there was no foundation for tho idoa that they vrould be devoted to permanent uso as SETERIOKITÏ OVER THE BRITISH 6TSTE3I. The United States postal noteis, howerer, better aclapted to popular uso in several respects than the British postal nota. The note, costing 3 cents, can be issued, as already statca, for any sum trom 1 cent up to 84.99, while the British notes oan be issued only fortenfixed amoimte from 1 shilling to 20 shilling, no prorision being made for intermedíate sums. Our postal note will roquiro only a single blank form, while the British systeru calis for ten differen oían. ïur iuö MjnjrrRaes oí oraers. me fee for the lowest Britisü postal note is a half-penny; for the highest, 2 penoe. The fee for United States postal note will be the same in all cases up to $5- S cents. The new rates for postal orders vhich are to sonie extent reductions on existing rates, are asfollows: For orders not exceeding $10, 8 cents; between $10 and 815, 10 cents; between $15 and 830, 15 cents; between 830 anc 840,60 cents; betweon S40 and $50, 25 osnts; between $50 and $60, 30 cents, between $60 and $70, 35 cents; between 870 and 880, 40 cents; between $80 and $100, 45 cents. No nioney order is to be issued for a greater sum than $100.