The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-07-20
Facts about COunterfeiting.

The following interesting facts in refer
ance to counterfeiting are embodied in the
report of the Geographical and Statistical
Society of America for October, 1868:
Out of ], I,3S9 banks in the United States
only 263 have escaped the attempts at i'm
itatiOn by one or other of the many species
of frauds and out of this 253, at least l43
are not worth counterfeiting; so that in
round numbers, out of 800 bank notes
Issued but loo are not counterieited. The
rule is that the better the bank the more
the cOunterfeits. All the New York city
notes are counterfeited except three, andof
these two are closing institutions and one
does not issue any notes The only State
(besides Iowa, which has but one bsnk)
whose bank notes are not counterfeited is
FloIi1R. The reason Is plainly because the
genuine notes OF the four banks In that
State are all of doubtful value. Sc in all
the seeded States, where the paper cur
rency is much deprecated, counterfeiting is
at low tide. Maryland has only four
bank. note issues not counterfeited out of
80, and ofthese four one is at heavy dis
count. The great State of Massachusetts,
with her l82 banks, has only seven whote |
issues are not counterfeited. And yet
Massachusetts is the emily State where there |
is an association for the prevention of |
counterfeiting. OF the 1876 banks in New |
York State the issue of only IS are not |
ccunterteited. After deducting from the |
list of banks whose issues are not counter
felt the "wild- cat, the 'shsky," the clos
ing, the closed, the worthless, those not yet
in operation, and those which are new, the
list of uncounterfeited bsnk-notes grows /
small and mot beautifully less. The total
number of kinds of counterfeits in circula.
tiOn is 5,9O2, so far as those most interested
in keeping the record can determine. How
many thousand of each of these kinds, or
of many other kinds, are in circulation, is
known, of course, only to the origfnators of
the frauds. But the analysis of the differ
ent species teaches us q wholesome lesson
as to the facility for frauds which our pa
per money presents to the counterfeiter-
But very small proportion of our bad bills
is composed of Limitations" or bona fde
counterfeils of the genuine notes. This is
accounted for by the difficulty of producing
in the same way that the orig
iDsls are manufactured. Even of the 46I
Limitations" out of 5,9O2 different kinds of
fraudulent notes, the greater majority are
set down as 'bsdly done" 'poorly exc
cuted, "engrsving coarse" &c The
frauds are, however, effected in msny
other wsys-viz, by alterations from one
bank to another, or from 3 lower 70 a ,
higher denomination; by spurious notes
we'll engraved, but unlike tie genuine ex-
,ept in name by photography ylithOgraphy,
Sc. The alterations" number highest on (
he list, and count up 3 03O varieties out of /
he total number of 5,9O2 frauds, or more ,
han half OF our bad bills consist of altered
notes. One cause of this multiplicity of
he altered notes is the remarkable SINH
arity of names occurring among the
'Snks in this country. We ind "a "Union"
'snks, of which eight are in New York
tate; SO 'city bsnKs," of which four are
d New York State; % "farmers' banks, I
which seven are In New York State O
here are eight peoples" banks, six s
traders" banks IA FARMERS and mechsn-
=" banks, 10 "m sTket" banks. Then we
ave ''mechanies' and manufacturers II, 3
mechanics and traders" 'mechsnics' j:
nd farmer" "mschanics' and merchants" T
mechanics and planters" b inks Gd LibitltRl
nd sll those titles trsnsposed. Likewise !.
farmers and citizens" "farmeTs' and
"faImers' and merchants" II
farmers and mechanics" "!armers' and &
zchsnge banks, all tending to confuse by ?
le similarity of title, especially since the
anne of the State is often placed in an OBJ ;
ure corner of the note, so ss not to at o
act attention, and give poor bank the o
eneft Of the circulation of good bank of a
@ l@sasRRe sRg RsRe 20 uTBRsu T5BRu yhaB1 aB1a& n &sE- 5Y4ESsE
i'll naturally revert to our land of milk
I'D butter, and he may take the note, not /.
linking that there is al Orange Bank in
ew Jersey, and sn Orange Bank in YER
ont, OF, perchsnee, an Orange Bank in d
Eashington, d. G. So, in the pslmy days d
!. the Washington shiDplssters, bogus
an ks were started with names similar TO {
10 best city banks, by which means many b
tizens we're swindled, they having sup
osed on taking the bills, that they were a
king city money. The evil was greatly 4
eightened by the fact that the same en- ?
rsvers who engraved the good money s
keWise engraved the bad, SO that in many i
sses it required the closest scrutiny TO dis
nguish the good from the bad so close
as the resemblance, in fact, that when
le bogus banks collapsed, the bad money :
as easily altered SO IS to be more Ike the :
ood by simply changing the name OF the :
tate. This is indeed, one OF the most
.uitful sources OF "altered" notes, and bad
otes of popular name being available l
,r frauds on good banks of the same name
I