Country telegraph offices do not, as a rule, transmit money; that function is left to the offices in the larger centers. THE METHOD One wishing to "wire money" will find at the telegraph office suitable blanks; they are furnished gratis. On lines provided for the purpose and properly indicated, as in a postal order form, write the name and address of the person to receive the money, with the amount. This paper, properly signed, is handed to the clerk with the money to be sent and the fee for transmission. The fee is double that charged for an ordinary message of the same length. If, for any reason, the person to whom the money is sent cannot be found within forty-eight hours, the money is returned to the sender, but the fees are retained, as the company is not to blame for failure. The receiver of a money order, if unknown, must identify himself as he would at a bank, and he must receipt for the money. If the person to receive the money is an entire stranger in the place to which the money is sent, the sender knows it, and he provides for the situation by signing, on the reverse of the application, an order to the distant operator to pay the money to the person named within, without further identification. When a telegraph operator receives a money order, he at once seeks out the person to whom it is sent, and pays the money in accordance with his instructions as to identification. THE TELEPHONE The telephone, local and long distance, is fast superceding the telegraph as a medium for speedy business communications. Its use is not confined to large cities as at first. Nearly every village is now in communication with the outer world through the telephone. The world has just awakened to the needs of its food producer, the farmer. In Norway, which is not a rich country, the telephone has been introduced on the farms. The rates are low and the benefits are inestimable. On our large farms, in the West, telephones have been in use for some time as an essential part of the machinery. Now, there is a move on foot to make them available for every farmer in the more settled regions. While business can be conducted over the telephone, as if the speakers stood face to face, yet such transactions not being recorded, will not stand in law, if one of the parties should dispute the other's word. CHAPTER XV BUSINESS BY EXPRESS There are two kinds of expresses, viz.: local and general. The names describe the provinces of each, though a general express may do a local business. All express companies are common carriers. The carrying business done by our express companies is enormous. They have their own special cars attached to passenger and fast freight trains, and their goods are given special departments in water transportation. If living between two towns, it is always better to have your letters and express business done through one office. INSTRUCTIONS