The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1873-04-17

| ssos 10 Q NtAhC ~ kCk N.Y. Ill
would try some less dangerous plan G
operations. Considering the mayni
tude Of the danger. the signs that
ring of forgers is 1t work, aud the i'm
mense disturbance to business create,
by single success OF the kind, /
would be worth while to incur so ligh
an additional expense. 1t would not
OF course. prevent an accidental or iso
lated forgery; but it would prevent ,
grand operation, ard this il gain, u,
u must be remembered that the chan ce
OF forging bills tempts men who wou Id
not risk time, energy and capital t.
manufacture few bank notes. Theil
work would not repay them. and II i.
q business operation intended to re.
coup men who have money to waste
that the recent forgery 10 90 formiia.
/ BILE.
whether any new mechanical pre-
cautions against forgery can be adopt
ed W. must leave to engineers aud
men Of science, but we greatly doubt
1t. The world has had great interest
for many years in devising . note that
cannot he forged, aud has not found
one yet. Special papers may no doubt
be manufactured for special firms. a.
one is manufactured for the Bank OF
England; but any paper can be imita-
ted, and we could hardly protect pri-
vate personages as We protect the bank
by making 1t high penal ofiense to
initiate or possess their paper. It is
difficult to imagine q paper which
could not be initiated. unless II WAS
made by substance procurable only
by few persons, Or colored with q
dye, the secret of which had been
carefully preserved, and no such paper
or dye is yet before the world. The
Marwartees of India use paper for
their acceptances which is very ingen-
ious, but which would scarcely baffie
European skill. 1t is = very fine tis-
sue paper, almost without weight. and
its speciality is this: No one can write
on II Marwarre fashion without Mar
ware ink, any other kind wetting the
fine paper into pulp No skill can
come over this ditficulty without the
ink. but in England the experts would
discover the secret Of the ink In an
hour and the Msrwarre method OF
holding the paper and pen In a day,
and In week produce q "hoondee" or
bill Of exchange that would pass mus
ter everywhere except with the accep-
ting Arm. The paper Of the Bank Of
Bengal, too, is very good. in that it IL
entirely beyond imitation except by
very first rate eDgravers possessed Of
tools a. perfect rs those Of the agents
employed by the bank itself The pa
per only looks cloudy, but under q
strong glass is found to be covered
with lines Of microscopic characters,
which could not be produced by hand,
or without machinery equal to that
employed, or we imagine without .
very peculiar ink, an ink that will
not run. But all these means are with
in the range Of forgers like those now
at work, men with brains, money and
the disposition to use b,th for fraud.
and no other improvement appears
practicable. They use cypher drafts
in some countries, which cannot be
read except with the key, but they
are useless agents against men whose
art is not to interpret, but TO copy ex-
actiy. The only protection they would
afford would be that the fDrger, not
knowing the figures, must reproduce
some bill exactly. rs he would not
know the sign which varied them
But then neither would the ordinary
customer. Any signature can be imi-
tated. and no substitute for signature
understood by the discounting world
has been devised. Stamps and seals
are as easily forged as signatures, or
more easily, and so are watermarks
when the reward is large enough to
pay for the machinery. There may
be remedy in science, but as yet 1t is
quite invisible.
It would be an unpleasant thing for
the bankers, and indeed for the world
If science took the other
side, but 1t is quite possible thing
science to discover means Of
lnfallibly initiating or reproducing
any written or printed document, what
would become of our present system Of
credit? Clearly, bank
notes would be impossible, bonds pay
able to bearer mere shares, acceptan.
ces, invitations to fraud, aud every
heck paid out danger to the payer
Or the bank with which he dealt.
Nobody who has watched the advan-
,es made by photography of late years
,an deny that this Is conceivable, and
yet II 1t happened what would the city
people do: Would they run the risk
and charge percentage, as they prac.
ticai!y do now rs to many forms Of |
fraud: Or would they pass laws linn
ting the right Of negotiations to in |
,truments drawn on a particular pa
per, protecting everybody by the prin-
.ipal protection Of the Bank Of Eng
aud? Or would they devise entirely |
new methods Of representing credit,
~ the Jews Of the Middle Ages did?
The latter would be the course as to |
bills. the agency OF the telegraph be-
ng called into operation; but for bank
notes the plan ultimately adopted
would. We suspect. be to use some new
material. a new metal, for example,
which 1t would be possible under
strict laws to monopolise. and wait till
science had made another advance,
and obtained the power of initiating
these too. The speculation is OF no
more practical value than one on the
result of the discovery Of the phiioso
piers stone. but it has, like that spec
an interest for minds which
10 not believe man has yet arrived at
The permanent perfection Of all things.
suppose science. which so long helped
her, In freak declares war on the
Bank Of England d'-London Spectator,
Ma, ch 9th.
Minister Sickles notified the Span
sh G0yornment that Amorica oon