Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1857-01-08
CONTEMPLATING

The success and daring which characterize
the practice of counterfeiting bank notes is IKE
ting the moneyad sircies profoundly. frs
class bank down town with all its officers appri
sed of the existence of q very dangerous counter
felt, has actually taken in and paid out large
amount of the spurious money without discove
ring its real character. So ably indeed had tn,
scoundrels initiated the genuine paper, that th'
most careful scrutiny with a microscope coult
detect no difference the mere accident of the en-
craving upon the false being found by measure
ment slightly smaf Ter than upon the real note
atfording the only ciusDo the imposition; clue
by no means unitorIaIy secure las it is well known
that different qualities of paper shrink more Of
less, producing perez ptibe variations in the size
Of bills printed from she same plate. The result
in this instance was obtained by aid of photogra
phy-the sun, with the aid of half dozen earth
~ accomplices constituting the gang of counter
feters, ard detying the ordinary scrutiny of the
detector.
The invention of Daguerre was long ago APP
piled to the imitation of bank bills. 1t only re-
Quired that the original should be printed in or
binary ink upon ordinary bank paper to insure
an indstinguis liable fac simile; and in the hands
of a skiul operator it became just easy to pro.
duce a portrait of a thousand dollar bill as OF
John or Mary at two shilling gallery. Fortu.
nateiy for the banking interest there were diff
eulties in the Photographic art which even the
1t has proved impossible, thus tar, to produce
any color but black, if that be color, in the i'm
itation, so that if the face OF the genuine bill
any other tint obtained, however slightly, it
would come out black i'll the counterfeit, thas 4
posing the fraud Hence to print portions of the
bill in blue or red is the common expedient thus
far successful so far as photography is concern
ed. The bank we have alluded to made the mis-
take of omitting the tinted safeguard perhaps
through an ill,judged economy, and is thus ex-
posed to serious loss.
Another new trait of the craft has been devel-
oped more recently. Men ofapparent respecta-
bitv, as exchange brokers, of sufficient credit to
possess accounts at careful banking institutions,
have been found acting as manufacturers, or, at
least, sellers OF spurious paper, of any needed
kind or amount, just as their neighbors sell news
papers or prints. You had but to call at the coun-
ter for a bad bill on the Morris County, Corn E1-
change or any other bank TO get it quite as crisp
and bright and elaborate as you could of the
Cashier of these institutions, with the advantage
of paying for them only one shilling on the dol
lar. 1t SO happens that in some circles very con-
fused notions prevail as to the obligations of
rality in regard to moneyed corporations. II is
deemed virtue to blk the conductor of car out
of his fare, and no harm to any body to burn a
shop about the owners ears, in order to realize
the insurance. Hence, these vendors of plausi-
bic but spurious bank bills have found abundant
customers, VINO nave CuOSeE 10 run the FISK OF
punishment. in the many chances of escape pre-
scented by the goed-looking counterfeit, and ha-
wing no scruples whatever on the score of disho-
nesty. The demand thus ascertaneG will natu-
rally command supply, and. in all likelihood,
we shall have hi hy respectable capitalists here
after investing their money in bad money, as
highly respectable capitalists invest their money
in adulterating drugs, poisoning our liquor
and counterfeiting saleable trademarks
The defeat of these gentry is in the hands of
the banks In the present state of the dspuerre-
an art it is sufficient to be at the additional ex-
pense of adding some vivid color to the mono
chromatic black. Lest, however the persever-
ing ingenuity Of roguery should succeed in dis
charging the that before photographing the bill
and restoring 1t to the counterfeit presentment,
a variety of coloTs, dispensing with the black al
together, would be desirable and no doubt prac-
ticable TO the artist Even this advantage will
doubtless be overtaken in time by the adroit i'm.
itator. Then the only resort will be one repeat
eddy urged upon the attention of the banking
community, but rejected because of the confu-
sion il makes on the face of the Professionally
that each bank have its own plates, engraved
from designs made for it exclusively; and each
bill have, as first tinted impression, filling its
whole face, a scene or landscape engraved by an
artist Of first rate celebrity the usual letters and
figures being subsequently added. To the bust
ness of counterfeitng no really skiful artist ad-
diets himself-not only from principle, but also
because the inducements TO an honest pursuit OF
his profession, exceed those held out by knaverv
and have none of its hazards The only securi-
ty lies therefore in diversity of color in the avoi-
dance of dies and designs common 10 hundred
banks, and IN minute elegance of workmanship,
defying the imitation of coarse hands. These
guarantees are expensive; but let any one exa-
mine the endless contents OF counterfeit detec-
tor to decide whether they are net worth the cost