Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-07-29

Counterfeiting has increased to such
an extent tbatit is claimed the Govern
ment will shortly have to take some
more vigorous measures than IL has
ever taken yet toward checking II. The
une drawback the officers OF the Secret
Service have 10 encounter Is the small
ness OF the appropriation which Com
gress allows for this particular work.
A less SUN is appropriated for this pur-
pose now, IL is said. than has been al
lowed heretofore, despite the fact that
counterfeiting has increased just as the
resources and capital and population
Eof ths country have increased. The
sufn granted amounts 20 about $50, 500
annually. Persons who are familiar
with the extent to which counterfeiting
is carried on in this country and have
had long experience in the cndeavor TO
break il up declare that S250,000 q
year would not be any too much TO paw
for securing more perfect means and
facilities for protecting the National
currency COuuterfeiting, by all ac-
counts, was never carried on with such
perfect system as it is now The work
the Counterfeiters turn out in many in
stances surpasses the work produced by
the Government, and so perfectly
have the counterfeit notes been exc
cuted that they have been taken by eX-
perts for good money. The latest
counterfeit out is a 500 bill upon the
National Exchange Bank of Baltimore,
printed from retouohed plate of the
National Bank of Commerce OF Pitts
burgh. The only way in which this
bill differs from the genuine is in the
superiority of its Workmanship. Al
though this counterfeit was originally
on the bank of Pittsburgh, as above
| mentioned, the plate can be easily modi-
| tied so as to counterfeit the issue of any
| National Bank. Not only is the en-
/ craving of superior character, but the
/ bill il printed on an excellent quality Of
counterfeit fiber paper. There is not
I the slightest clue as to the locality
/ whore or the persons by whom this
work is done, nor is there any knowing
/ 10 what extent the Government issue
has been counterfeited in this single
case. The only way in which the mat
/ ter can be remedied, it is claimed, is
/ for the Treasury Department TO call in
/ all the notes OF this denomination and
series, thus Withdrawing from circu-
lation the counterfeit as well rs the
l genuine.
4 GROWING QUESTION.
II has been for some time advocated
by persons who have interested them
selves in observing the extent to which
/ counterfeitng is carried ON in this
country that the Government viii be
forced to take some steps soon that will
insure the suppression of the business,
not temporarily, but permanently.
Some months ago a proposition was
made by Tom Ballard, the skillfdl and
notorious countcrfeiter, now serving a
term Of thirty years in the peuitentiary
at Albany, New York, TO impart TO the
| Government process 10y which money
could be made that could not he coun-
forfeited, provided in return the Gov
ernment would, after satisfying itself
as 10 the genuineuess and success of his
plan, set him at liberty The offer was
made in good faith, and some effort was
| put forth BY the publishers of several
papers devoted to the subject of couu-
terieit detecting to have the proposal
taken up. An interview was arranged
TO come off between George w. Cast
lear, the head Of the Bureau of Engray-
ing and Printing at Washington, and
Ballard, in the Albany Pcntentiary,
but through some hitch or other il was
never carried out. Ballard has several
times since that renewed his PROPOSE
ton and endeavored through parties
who interested themselves in his behalf
outside to get the matter to the Gov.
ernment's attention, though without
success. Despairing of everything
after this, be made two attempts Ia
commit suicide, but failed in both. He
has asserted positively and persistently
since his Imprisonment that there is q
way by which money can be made
that no man living can counterfeit.
AS Ballard is known TO be one OF the
finest, most skillful, most ingenious en-.
gravers of the country, in prison oI
out of prison, there are many persons
who think the Government would do
well to give him a hearing. Again, II
has been suggested that the Govern
ment should offer reward of suiii,
ciently liberal proportions for design
for bank notes which it would be i'm,
possible TO counterfeit. There are
plenty of ideas in the heads of the en-.
gravers, il is claimed, by which such g
design could be produced, but nobody
wishes 20 give away their ideas with
out recompense. At the Treasury
Department, II is understood there is Z
belief that there is too much engrav,
ing on the Government notes. Instead
of so much of this kind of work. il is
proposed 10 substitute a system o.
scrol-work for either the back or face
OF the bill The more intricate thi.
work, the more assurance OF the in
ability to make a perfect counterfeit.
SOME SPECIMEN CoUNTERFEITs.
Some counterfeit bills are executed
with such mastery skin, with sucl
faithfiilness TO the smallest details o