The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-06-08
THE SPURIOUS BONDS.
The COunterfeiters in COllusiOn
With the Bureau of En-
craving and Printing.
lNew'YorkESun.I

lNo"'1OfkaaSun.l
Whatever may be the outcome of the
present investigation at the United
states Treasury regarding the spurious
issues of Government bonds, it Is now
known that other plates than those from
which the bonds found on d, yl were
printed are in the hands of the danger
Gus gang of cOunterfeiters and fOrgers
who for years past have defiPd justice.
Different plates have from time to
time been surrendered to the Treasury
as condition of immunity when the
holders of their cOnfederates were ar
rested or indicted. They were consider
ed more valuable than the Imprisonment
or punishment of the criminals. But it
seems the stock has not been exhausted.
The cOndOning of these felOnies has
operated as a stimulant to new crimes,
and has extended the business of the
class engaged in them. The officials of
the Treasury, in dreading to make an
exposure of facts that could not always
be concealed, have given indirect en-
cOuragement to the very crime they
sought to prevent. The escape of plates
from which false issues of bonds and of
other Government paper were made from
the Bureau of Engraving and Printing,
makes it certain that there must have
been cOllusiOn between some of the per-
sons employed in the Bureau and the
professional cOunterfeiters. The sever
est tests Of the highest skill outside this
Bureau have demonstrated cOnclusively
that these issues were printed from
plates exactly similar to those used for
the Treasury, and absolutely indistin-
guishable from them when compared by
the best experts.
The Bureau of Engraving and Print
ing, like the Government Printing Office,
has long been a sort of political hospital,
where the friends and the peculiar favor
ties of members Of Congress are nOuT-
ished at the public expense, with much
unsaVOry scandal. A loose mode of ap-
pOintment, and too often the bad ante
cedents of the appOintees, have exposed
the Treasury to such costly experience
as is now made known unwillingly.
This danger is constantly imminent
while the existing vicious system is per-
mitted to continue, and to taint the in
tegrity of what should be eunimpeachable
securities.
1t is now an open secret that Govern
ment bonds and Treasury notes have
been largely cOunterfeited and success
fully issued. 1t Is also known that such
bonds were printed and uttered from
plates Identical with those of the Bureau
of Engraving and Printing. And it is
believed, though not yet established,
that copies of the plates for silver GER
tificates are in possession of the counter
feiters' combination.
These are serious matters. They have
naturally perpleXed the present Secre-
tary of the Treasury, though they did
not occur under his administration of
the department. Some of them have
just come to light, and Judge FOlger is
striving to unravel the mystery by fol-
lowing the threads that have fallen into
his hands.
The question naturally rises to every
lip: How were these cOunteTfeits and
fraudulent issues that were redeemed
at the Treasury provided for without ap-
prOpriatiOns by Congress? Who redeem
them, and to what extent? How did
the books of the Treasury balance with
out any statement of this redemption
| Why was the truth concealed from Con-
| gress?
No satisfactory answer may now be
| given to these pregnant inquiries. But
| the day is not far distant when full
| exposure must come from a change of
Administration. The long career of
! fraud, of corruption, and of robbery by
the Republican party is drawing near to
its close. When the collapse comes,
there will be nothing left of it but re-
| cord of shame and of outrage unparal-
| leled in the history of free government.
And the names of some conspicuous
| leaders who have grown into great
wealth from office holding will go down
in the history of these times blackened
with disgrace!