Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-17

| 7uot auu ycs lllo "uOlo OF tQem WOulu not De
accepted today in payment for bag of -four OF
box Of soap. This is because confederate
notes and bonds, which compose the collection
described, are worth at present nothing more
than their value as waste paper, save in so far
as certain specimens are in demand by collect
ers Nevertheless the volume is extremely in
teresting by reason of the fact that it repre-
| eeuts the most complete existing assemblage Of
the ''shinplasters" put in circulation as prom
ises to pay by the government of the south dur
ing the war Of the rebellion.
| HISTORY IN MONEY.
Looking over the pages of the scrap book,
the various issues Of currency being arranged
| In chronological order, one follows from start
| to finish the history of the greatest civil con-
fict\that the world has ever seen. The story
OF nation is always told most interestingly by
Its money. Two years after date the confed-
crate states promise to pay" reads the inscrip-
ton on the earliest notes, but very soon this is
| replaced by a more conservative legend, setting
tho date OF payment at ''six months after the
| rathcation OF q treaty Of peace between the
confederate states and the United States" and
this latter form holds up to the end of the war
The money is patterned pretty closely after
| Uncle Sans, but the clear lines of steel engrav-
ing are feebly initiated by the processes of pho
tolthography. Why this method Of printing
was employed is quite an entertaining anecdote
| in itself
THE FIRST SUPPLY OF CONFEDERATE NOTES.
1t will be remembered, perhaps, that Charles
G. Meminger of South Carolina on taking Of
flee as the first secretary OF the confederate
treasury made q contract with the American
| Bank Note Company of New York for a supply
OF paper notes for 81, 600. $500, 500 and $50
The order was filled. considerable quantity of
the currency being shipped to Richmond and
safely delivered. The goods being found salts
| factory the bank note company was requested
to send on the engraved plates. This was DONE
but the United States government was on the
alert and succeeded in capturing the plates on
board of the vessel which was conveying them
to Richmond few years later this matter
was brought up in Congress very effectively as
| an argument against employing the American
Bank Note Company to print United States
money, its action in lending such services to
| the confederate government being denounced
as disloyal
| RIVALRY FOR CONFEDERATE CONTRACTS
| Now. at the time when the war began, the
American BANK Note Company had branch es-
tabiishmentat New Orleans which was conducted
| by a man named Schmidt. Subsequent to
the event just described plates for 800. $50.
$40 and IS notes we're engraved there and
| printed from. This did not last long however
! Blanton Duncan. lieutenant colonel of q Ken
lucky regiment, started a private establishment
| at Richmond for producing paper currency by
photography. obtaining contracts to supply the
confederate treasury. Other shops were set up
later on for the same purpose, and the rivalry
| for government contracts being very great
they all united against Schmidt. At that period
any northern man residing in the south was an
object of suspicion and hatred, being regarded
as an enemy and presumably abolitionist,
| which term signified everything that was detes-
table and discreditable to manhood Accord
| ingly the governor of Louisiana. Welding to
| public sentiment. swooped down upon the
branch office of the Bank Note Company and
| confiscating all the material in the shape of
plates, tools, &c, distributed it among the
photographic printers.
HOW THE NOTES WERE SIGNED.
! About half dozen Of these photographic es-
adjustments at Richmond and at Columbia, S.
c., continued to print paper money for the
confederate treasury up to the close of the war;
From the beginning to the end OF the conflict
| not far from 81 500 900 900 in shinplasters of
various denominations were turned out and put
| into circulation. Looking over the curious
| scrap book described one notices that each note
| is actually signed in pen and ink with the names
| of the treasurer and register of the treasury.
| the serial numbers being put on in like manner
This was accomplished by employing clerks to
sign for those officials. They were arranged to
| work in pairs. one signing for the register and
| the other for the treasurer. The numbers were
added by third person. At the beginning this
labor was performed by men. but they were in
such demand for fighting purposes that women
were substituted later on Altogether 244
| women and 6S men were engaged in this task
during the rebellion. They did the signing and
numbering of the notes by sheets, which were
Afterward cut up.
SUPPLIES FROM GREAT BRITAIN.
One complaint that was made against Schmidt
was that he was horribly slow, and this was a very
serious matter where there was an immediate
necessity for almost unlimited supplies of a
negotiable medium. The photographic estab-
lishments imported the paper and other
material in immense Quantities by blockade
runners from England. They also obtained
from Great Britain their workmen, nearly all
| OF whom were Scotchmen. The firm of Keat-
inge i Ball, at Columbia. survived all the other
money printing concerns and toward the end
ofsthe war they had all the contracts and we're
the official engravers for the confederate treas
ury. Their factory DESTROYED by Cen
Sherman on his famous raid Of 1865 In 1864.
because Of the continued quarrels among the
different people who did the printing of the
currency, the treasury appointed an officer with
the title Of superintendent, whose duty it was
to conduct dealings with the photographic en-
gravers and to superintend all matters respect
ing the production of the paper currency.
| When the confederate government was on the
point of falling, the gentleman who occupied
the position of superintendent asked the secro-
tary Of war whittier the printing Office and ap-
paratus should be removed, and the latter re-
piled simply: ITO HI"
| EXTENSIVE CoUNrERFEITINa.
AS if there had not been other causes suffi-
cient to depreciate the value OF the confederate
currency that government was still further en-
barrassed by the counterfeiting on an enormous
scale Of its issues Of paper money Gangs of
accomplished forgers in the Bermudas and in
the north devoted much attention to the pro-
duction in immense quantities Of fairly accu-
rate limitations Of the notes and bonds of the
southern states. 1t is certain that these crimi-
nails actually employed the services Of lithog-
ruphers in the money-printing establishments
which supplied shinplasters for the support Of
| the rebellion, and in this way they were able to
secure Impressions made on paper matrices
from the original photographic stones Thus
they had no difficulty in reproducing the bonds
and notes by the simplest mechanical means in
fac simie, tho only difference being that the
counterfeits were apt to be little bigger than
the originals by reason of the stretching of the
paper matrix.
CHECKS TO CONTEMPLATING Now
similar fraud was attempted only two years
ago in tho bureau Of engraving at Washington,
one Of the workmen slipping through his press
sheet of tin foil which took an absolutely per
feet impression Of the engraved plate of q banl
note. From this, had he succeeded in getting
away with IL without detection. satisfactory
reproduction Of the true plate could easily have
been made. Happily no repetition of this per.