The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1888-11-02
ABOUT PAPER CURRENCY
DIVERSIFIED FORMS OF MONEY
IN FOREIGN LANDS.
y Bank of England Note-Russia's
Many COlored Circulating Med
fum-Uuffed States RilIS

unlimited States Bills.
1t is surprising, says the Gle5e- Dsm0.
erlt; How many different kinds OF
paper are used for currency in the various
fore On countries. Each nation seems to
have its own particular kind or brand Of
paper A Bank of England note Is
printed on Irish linen water lined paper,
plain white, with rough edges. You will
notice in short time after handling how
the paper lacks the smooth. oily feeling of
our own bank notes. Then, again, there
IS an absence of any coloring except
black and white. The smallest notes IS
sued by the Bank OF England are Of the
value Of - or S2j. The old fashion Of
sending these notes from one country TO
another was TO cut the note into two
parts and send the pieces in separate en-
velopes, but that is largely done away
with. All such notes finally find their
way back 10 the Bank OF England, where
they are retired for good. They are
never reissued, as the bank only sends
out new, clean notes. The average life
Of a Bank Of England note Is about three
weeks. \ Bank Of Ireland note does
not differ much from Bank of England
note, except that it has a more elaborate
scroll work
The note with blue and black letter
ing together with numerous symbolical
pictures, is a Banque de France note. It
Is made OF plain white paper, and could
be easily initiated. The smallest note
issued by the banque is for 20 francs or
=, while the largest is the 1000 franc
Now, the German bills are printed
in greea upon paper good deal lighter
than our gold certificates. The Aus
trian currency is printed much the same
The German bills ran ge in denomina-
tion from i've marks, or Sl25, 10 10, 900
marks. or about $2iO of or money. Very
few notice at first glance that the Aus
trian bills are printed in German on one
side and in Hungarian on the other
This Is done to accommodate the two
predominant classes of Francis Joseph's
sub Gets. The paper of an Austrian bill
IS very light colored, but quite thick and
tough. II has none of the fine lines nor
the silk fibre marks which are the char
acteristics Of our Treasury notes. The
smallest Austrian note is of the value Of
1000 forms, or sis5 in our money.
The Italian 1000 lire note is an elab0r-
rate affair The paper is plain white.
but the printing is done in pink, blue
aud carmIne. A finely engraved Wig
nette of King Humbert and scroll work,
which will compare favoraby with the
best Of any country, appears in it.
The smaller Italian bills are about the
same size Of our old fractional currency.
They vary in denomination from one
lire, or 20 cents, to 10 lire or about 81
in our money
Perhaps, the most gorgeously colored
bank note Of any European country is a
Russian 100 roublc note. 1t has almost
every color Of the rainbow, barred from
top to bottom, as though it had been
thrown through prism. The 100 rouble
bill Is quite large being four by ten
inches in size In the centre is portrait
of Catherine l. The paper is not of an
fine character. while the let
tering IS done with dark light brown
ink. The , and 10 rouble notes are
much smaller and almost free from any
elaborate display OF colors. The note
mostly used IS the ) rouble, or about
81. p in our money"
Curiously enough, some people will
not take paper money. The French aud
Germans almost always ask for coin. and
say that they donot want the paper bills.
The Austrians and Hungarians are lust
the opposite. They generally prefer the
paper money of their own country to
coin. The Americans usually want coin.
As one traveller said not long ago: "Gold
is good for its face value all over the
world, and | can get it exchanged if |
want bills The Italians who 90 back
to sunny Italy are not very particular
They would Just as soon take lire notes
as lire coins.
The United States notes beat the world
But, about twenty years ago, the
Treasury Department adopted a special
paper, the distinctive feature of which
was narrow localized line of short blue
fiber running the entire length of the
sheet of paper in such a manner as not
to lessen its strength or interfere with
the printing.
Examine the paper of a United
States note under glass and yOu will
see that these iibers have the appearance
OF coarse, black hairs, of all lengths and
shapes, scattered promiscuously all over
the surface of the note This kind of
paper IS known as the Wilcox patent.
A few years ago the governmen. adopted
another feature of the fiber paper with
two silk threads running lengthwise
throughout the surface. There Is now
law against person using or adopting
this kind Of paper for anv obligation or
security, except under the authority of
the Secretary Of the Tresury.
we make more money and better
money than any other people in the