Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1872-03-07

cy furnished through the banks is III
good condition. To fail in this is moi
reputable, and scarcely decent. Wher
an honest citizen receives as the reward
of his industry a note with the seal of :
great nation upon it, he may reasonably
ask that that note shall be legible ant
shall not fall in pieces while he place
it in his pocket. Large portions of oul
present bank note currency, especially
in the West, are much worn and mutil
ated-some of it to such a degree that i
cannot much longer answer the pur
poses of currency at all and to thi'
must be added the consideration thai
when the notes become much worn
there is great difficulty in distinguish.
ing between the counterfeit and genu.
inc, as the finer tintings and shadings
upon which experts rely, become oblit'
Grated. 1t may be said that mutilated
notes may be returned to the Treasury
under the present law and new notes
substituted for them. This is true. The
present law makes it the duty of the
Comptroller of the Currency to receive
worn out or mutilated circulating notes
and deliver new ones in place of them.
But it does not make it the duty of bank
officers to return their worn notes. II
is a voluntary matter on their part, and
as the exchange is attended with some
expense to the banks, the law does not
furnish sufficient motive to secure a
good currency. But this bill authorizes
the Secretary of the Treasury to pre-
scribe rules under which bank officers
shall forward to the Treasury all notes
which are no longer suitable for circu-
lation to receive new notes i'm place of
them.
But more important object of this
bill is to protect the people against
counterfeiting. Some of the bank notes
now i'm circulation have been counter
feited in such manner as TO give the
officers of the Treasury Department
some sOlicitude. This fact is brought to
light in the note of the Secretary
of the Treasury which l have
already read. Dangerous counterfeits
exist, and we have reason to fear that
there will be more of them. New
plates and new printing will of itself
put the counterfeiters at fault for long
time. But more important protection
against counterfeiting is found in the
fact that, should this bill become law,
the Secretary of the Treasury will feel
to print the new issue upon
the special fiber paper. This paper has
now been used for nearly three years in
printing the legal tender notes. The
result of this experiment has been most
Thus far few attempts at
have been made, and
those so imperfect as to be readily de-
tected by persons of average expert
ence in the use of money. The manu-
facture of the special fiber paper re-
luires large apartments, machinery
moved by steam, pure spring water,
and, altogether, such an aggregation of
buildings, material, and workmen as
would excite suspicion when employed
for dishonest purposes. Counterfeiter
therefore, cannot engage in this busi-
ness without detection, even if we were
to suppose them to have capital enough
for the purpose.
The objects of the bill, then, are such
as will abundantly justify us in enact
ing it into a law.
But you will wish to know what all
this will cost. In reply, | would state
[ hold in my hand note, addressed by
the Secretary of the Treasury to the
hOnored chairman of the Committee on
Currency, inclosing two esti-.
mates of the expense of new issue of
uOUCs~OllC
the basis of two printings, and the 9TH
er upon the basis of three. These pa
pers l desire to have appended to my
and printed in the Globe. The
total amount of the first of these esti-
mates, which is based upon two print
ings, is, in round numbers, 1896, ,0O0- The
amount of the second estimate is ST.
226, 900. In the cheaper estimate, the
printing process by which the tintingis
applied is omitted. This omission would
save $240,000 to the Treasury, and, it is
believed, would detract nothing from
the value of the currency, as the tint
ing obscures the finer shadings of the
black lettering, which are an impor-
5ant safeguard against counterfeits.
Both these estimates are based upon the
plan which has already been practiced
by the Secretary of the Treasury, of
having one printing done by the bank
note companies, and the other by the
Treasury Department, the two thus act
ng as check upon each other. In a
note written by the Secretary on the
25th of January last to the distinguish
ID gentleman who was then chairman
Of the Committee on Banking and Cur
rency, this paragraph occurs:
"My own opinion is that one impression only
hould be made by the bank-note companies rs
check, and that the rest of the work should
,e done in the bureau, the saving effected by
ioing all the work here, in my opinion, being
# very little Importance Us compared with
he security of making one of the bank-note
and the bureau, checks mutually
ipon each other"
This check is valuable as a safeguard
against errors of all kinds rs well as
against dishonest practices.
We may conclude, then, that the ex-
)ense which would be properly incurred
N making new issue of national bank
notes would be about $9SG,OOO.
But you will ask, who are to bear this
large expense? 1 reply that the bill
leaves this matter where the present
law leaves it. Section forty
1ne of that law begins as follows:
"SEC. A. And be n further enacted. That
he plates and special dies to be procured by
he Comptroller of the Currency for the print
ng of such circulating notes shall remain un-
Ter his control and direction, and the expense
incurred in executing the provi-
sions of this act respecting the procuring OF
such notes, and all other expenses of the bu-
reau, shall be paid out of the proceeds of the
taxes or duties now or hereafter to be assessed
On the circulation, and collected from associa-
tions organized under this act. And in lieu OF
all existing taxes, every association shall pay
to the Treasurer of the United States, in the
months of January and July, duty of y OF
per cent. each half year from and after the LIST
lay of JAN, 1864, upon the average amount oi
per cent. each half year upon the average