Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-07-01


nav US n visit for the purpose of carrying
on their trade with mgre faci.ny' equA'
profit ard far less hazard, than they are
able to do at home. The immense null
plicstion Of Banks all o,ersonr country
and of course. Of Bank notes, furnishes
the coanterfeiter with an oPpoTtu'
Of exercising his skill, which cannot be
found in country differently S'taa'ed'
There are persons. indeed. who have
made it their business to study The fhy
sornomy of bank notes, who are abe
generally to detect the bad ones upon
inspection. Blu, this is MT the commune
ty. They cannot spare the time neces'
sarv for this purpose. nor, it they cou'u'
would they, i, a multitude Of instances,
have any standard by which Trey eou'd
tr, the suspected note, and, Of course
! they let them all pass without even a.
tewpt;ns an examination. And when
NO ,ake ;nto consideration the endless
variety which exists in the bank notes.
we can. OF wobder that people 10 gene
raj sheuld b. unable to distinguish the
f, Sc from the true. Let any person e1'
amin. the sample card now exh'blt'hg 10
the Tontine Coffee House OF this CITY,
taken from a single adept 10 the VEGA
ton, and he Cannot bat be struck win
the Justice Of these len@ks-That card
| di plays no less than sir'ssa or seren'
Teen SORTS of counte feitcd bark notes OIL
as many different banks Several Of
these however, are branches OF one bank
and they all have the Same device. hs'
beyond this, the figures are all 'sr'"u''
and the number might be encreas'd u
an extent almost commensurate with tie
number If ba'fks-and, indeed, the same
bank has frequently different devices.
No person can fail TO discover the con
fusion and difficulty which tins state oil
things must necessarily produce in the
minds Of the people at lag. The en-
craving Of many OF them is not only in
grniously. bu, elegantly, executed but
we believe not 80 well done, in anN IN
stance, as to have escaped coun'eTif'sbs
| In the bills aforementioned. there arc al
least a dozen different figures in the de.
vices.
We made some remarks on this Sub
| iect a twelve month ago and We arc
more aud more csn~ineed OF their
Justice. A large proportion Of the sPu'
rious notes are alterations from a lower
to a higher SUN. This species OF coun'
terieiting might. we ale persuaded. oe
almost entirely prevented, or II attempt
ed, would be easily AMI ProuPtl. de-
tected, BY common people as we'll as the
more skiIul by the general adoption OF a
simple plan in the form OF the notes lie
duce all Bank notes 70 three sums-hve
dollars, ten dollars, and twenty dollars.
or three other sums that may be more
convenient, and fix ON siuge figure Tor
a dcvce-.ay the Goddess ot Lib rty ;
q Tor the twenty dollar otes, pla this
figure in the middle of the bill, for the ten
dollar notes, place it On the RICH, hand,
and for the Eve dollar notes, on the left
hand. Ibis arrangement being once
understood, and it wou d be easily learn.
ed and remembered, the moment bill
should be presented with transposit.on
of figures, It would be detected.
We see not why all banks might net
advantaseously adopt the SAGE device
Tor their notes and then the detection
would take place with regard to all coun-
terTeits, because the necessary know
ledge would be attained with equal ease
for all, as for one.
That this subject is highly late
resting to individuals, as well as to
Banks, must be acknowledged by all
for, FIRST ard last, it is probable almost e.
very individual las experienced loss by
having had {, unterftit Totes, imposed up
Oh him ; and the suffice requires the
exertiou Of legislative attention here as
wel! a. in g. Britain.