Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-29
UNCLE SANS NEW MONEY.
About to Issue the Most Beautiful Bill Ever
Printed.


VNHE MOST BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF PAPER
l. money ever produced by the United States
treasury is the new 81 silver certificates first
proofs of which on cardboard were shown a
STAR reporter privately this morning at the
bureau of engraving and printing. Although
they we're Endorsed on the margin in Secretary
Fosters handwriting as approved" they had
not previously been exhibited to any one save
few high officials in the department. Super
intendent of Engraving CASTELAR, regards this
new promise to pay as his chef d'euvre and
gleefully defes the counterfeiters to initiate it
with success. Their difficulty in performing such
a task would unquestionably be greatly increased
by the circumstance that the distinctive paper
directed by law to be used in future for the
printing Of all Of Uncle Sans negotiable Sc
curities is to be employed as a material for the
certificate in question for the first time. The
first batch Of il has reached the treasury. and
within a few weeks people will be carrying
around in their pockets 81 bills of fresh device.
Ii is not true. as has been reported, that new
designs have been adopted for the certificate
mainly because there is plausible counterfeit
of the present one in circulation. This fact
has had influence in the matter, but the change
is made chiefly for the reason that the face of
the old bill is not satisfactory, and it is thought
Just as well to substitute new picture at the
same time with the introduction of the dis
tinctive paper. The portrait on the face Of the
present certificate of Gen. Hancock is not well
adapted to its purpose in the arrangement Of
light and shade. so that after passing through q
few hands it gets dim and is practically effaced.
1t may fairly be said that paper money of small
denominations requires more careful execution
than is necessary for larger bills inasmuch as
il must go through much more wear and
tear. Two-dollar bills, it is thought. have quite
as much handling to suffer as those for 81 each.
because they SO convenient in making
change, and manufacturers use them to great
extent in paying OF.
The new 20 silver certificate Is really a work
of art in the highest sense. In the middle of
its face is oval portrait of the late Secretary
Window. with his name beneath, which in point
of hfe-like quality and effectiveness of execu-
ton Is unequaled by any other production of
the sort printed on treasury securities since
the manufacture of paper money in this
country was first begun. The rest OF the
design consists merely of the conventional le-
gend gracefully drawn in lettering, with fig
ure In each corner, surrounded by some cur
licue of the geometric lathe.
OF geometric lathe work the back is wonder
Nothing SO elaborate in this sort of mechanical
engraving, which is the despair of the counter
feiter, has been produced hitherto in the manu-
factnre OF paper money In any country OF the
world. The counterfeiter will find this new
certificate a more difficult subject for imitation
than he has ever yet encountered People have
| asked, why shonld not the counterfeIter him
| self procure geometric lathe?" So he could
very easily, but to reproduce with its aid the
Patterns he would initiate is an impossibility as
absolute would be that of undoing the lock
OF Formulation safe without the formula II
you Will for moment gaze upon the compli-
Gated concentric and eccentric devices on the
reverse side OF any United States note or certi-
| fcate, considering that they can only be repro
duced by arduous copying with engraving by
hand. you will perceive under what difficulties
| the luckless forger of Uncle Sam promises to
pay is compelled to labor. Certain newspaper
| reports have circulated the notion that this un-
happy victim OF mania for imitation can ease
his toll with Photographic and other processes
but the fact is that he finds all such assistanc e
of little use.
The back Of the new certificate is engraved
with view TO showing as conspicuously as pos
sible the two stripes of silk fiber each about as
| wide as ones thumb that run across the paper
| on which the designs described are to be
printed, dividing the length Of each bill into
three parts. For this purpose portions of the
| surface are left white. In the middle is an
/ oval containing a legend, on either side of
which Is an elaborate piece of lathe work with
/ q big figure in the center and little ''twos''
J scattered about at points where the lines con-
verge There are other features of the design,
| including some very difficult small lettering,
/ winch are intended to embarrass the counter
feiter.
STAR reporter saw a ream Of the distinctive
| paper at the Treasury Department today. 1t
looked somewhat like fine quality Of note
paper. foolscap size, with two bands of closely
scattered red and blue fbers running from top
| To bottom. Each sheet was intended for the
printing OF four certificates or notes The
hbers are merely silk threads, bought from a
New York importing firm by the contractor
! who works for the treasury cut into lengths
| Of quarter of an inch and run through the
paper sheets. No little difficulty was found at
iirst in making the process satisfactory and
the government pays somewhat more for the
material than 1t used to for the plain article.