Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-10-23
MUTILATED MONEY.
How, When and Where the Gov.
ernment Redeems It.

LII ~ l. 4A1A Il LII
How, When and Where the Gov
ernment Redeems It.
Average Life of n Circulating Bank-Note
Money Transformed Into Trinkets
Advantages of Silver Money
Over Gold Coin.
What becomes Of the old, ragged, dirty
and torn paper money and the worn,
Clipped and defaced coinsi Greenbacks
and paper currency Of the various kinds
have certain life, which, being ended,
their days of usefulness are considered
passed, and they are then withdrawn from
circulation by the Treasury Department
and fresh and crisp new bills take their
place. The average life Of bank-note or
Government note is q matter hard to de-
termine, says the st. Louis Republic. This
depends entirely upon the hands into which
1t falls and the number of times it Is
passed out into circulation. Should 1t
come into the possession of miser and go
into his strong box, its life would be, of
course, much longer than if in steady use,
but upon an average a note Is in circulation
only six or seven years. Bills of small de-
nomination, ones, twos, fives and tens, are,
Of course, worn out more quickly than those
of larger amount. A $50 bill would be care
fully folded and put into a pocket-book,
where one would be crumbled up and
go into the vest pocket, along with the
metal coins.
Under the rulings Of the Treasury De-
partment all sub-treasuries and designated
repositories of the United States are re-
quired to lay aside all currency that has be-
come worn to any great degree and for
ward the same to the department in Wash
lngton. This is at once sorted as to issue
and denomination and a proper return
made to the sender. All National Bank
notes are separated from the others and
when q sufficient amount is collected it is
returned to the bank issuing the same and
it is left to their discretion whether the bills
shall again be put in circulation or not, and
if the officials of the bank think the notes
too badly worn to again be put afloat they
are returned again to the Treasury Depart
ment at Washington and the institution is
given credit for the amount
All money of this character, when with
drawn from circulation, is destroyed. First
the issue, the denomination and the num-
Der and class are carefully noted in books
kept for that purpose, and in the presence
OF officials named for this duty the notes
are thrown into macerating machine, and
the whole cut into the smallest possible
pieces. After they have been so thoroughly
mac.rated as to preclude even the possibil-
ity of their being put together again, the
residue is sold to firm in Washington who
press it under hydraulic pressure into odd
shaped little trinkets and charms which are
sold to curiosity-seekers who delight in the
possession of an article which may have
represented thousands of dollars at some
previous stage of its usefulness
1t Is frequently the case that in some ac-
cident parcel of bank bills is but partially
destroyed. An end may be charred off in a
fire or in hundred ways a bill may be
made unfit for circulation Should three
hfths of the original bill be preserved this
may be sent to the Treasurer and it will be
redeemed without question, but when there
is less than three-fifths, but clearly more
than two-ffths of the original proportion
remaining, they are redeemable by the
United States Treasurer only at one-half
the face value of the whole note.
Should there be a loss of more than two
ffths of the entire bill the Treasurer will
redeem the same at face value if the frag-
ments are accompanied by an affidavit of
the owner or of other persons having
knowledge that the missing portions have
been totally destroyed. The Treasurer, of
course, exercises his discretion in the re-
demption of mutilated currency so as to
protect the Government against fraud, and
one of his rulings in this regard Is that all
affidavits shall be sworn to before q notary
public, the person whose signature appear.
on the instrument making oath that the
statements are all true. Should the Treas
urer decide that the evidence is not
sufficient to protect the Government
against fraud, he will refuse to
redeem the fragments and will re-
turn the pieces to the owner. All sub
treasures are authorized to redeem all
notes which contain not less than three.
fifths of the original bill. The consignee
must pay the cost of transportation for the
return Of the sum allowed in the redeem
ing Of defaced or mutilated money Of any
character.
Silver money has an obvious advantage
over gold coin, in that the former is redeem
able no matter the amount of abrasion that
may appear, while gold coin that has lost
more than one per cent through abrasion is
considered mutilated and is receivable for
only the actual value by weight The gold
coins coming into banks or to the sub
treasures when found light in weight are
stamped on both sides with the capital '.L,
denoting that the piece is deficient in value.
With silver coin, although 1t may be worn
perfectly smooth, If it shows no evidence of
having been tampered with, it will be re-
deemed at face value. All minor coins made
Of the baser metals, five, three, two and one
cent pieces, are redeemable if they are not
so defaced as to be readily identified. These
rulings are made by the Treasury Depart
ment, and not being part of any act of
Congress they may be changed at any time,
when one Treasurer takes different view
of the matter from that of his nredecesaor