Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-04
EASY TO COUNTERFEIT,
A Published Picture of the Column
bian Half-Dollar II Illegal.
INNOCENT VIOLATION OF TIE LAW.
It Is . Crime Nowadays to Engrsys Q
Monogram on Q Dime Piece.
MAKING MONEY OUT OF PAsTEB0lRD
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE prspArcz

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DISPATCH
WASHINGTON, Sept 3.-The attention
Of Chief Drummond, of the Secret Service
of the Treasury Department, was directed .
few days ago to the published pictures In
the Chicago newspapers of the design for
the Columbian half-dollsra He has taken
under advisement the question whether the
publication of these pictures Is violation
Of the law against counterfeiting. In the
case of any of the ordinary coins of ths
United States there would be no doubt; but
Mr.. Drummond wanted to give the law re-
lating to the Columbian coin special e1-
animation.
"At the time the new design for subsidi-
ary coins was adopted by the Mint, news
papers were warned not TO print pictures Of
them. Many of them did print these pic
lures and the Chief of the Secret Service
simply gave warning to them not to repeat
the offense. There was no attempt to prose-
cute them. But some day test case will
have to be made as IN example to other
publishers The law is broad enough to
cover anything almost. At the time IL
was passed Senator Edmunds said that the
spirit of the law covered anything that
would suggest q coin or piece of currency
to the mind.
The Government Takes No Risks
"People have no idea how easy it is to
deceive by counterfeit representations of
coins and currency" said Chief Drummond.
"We had the case Of New York news
paper which issued some bonds as an ad-
yertisement of its circulation few years
ago. They were marked 1000. An emf
grant in Glasgow gave all the money he
had and all he could borrow of q friend
81, 900 in all-for one of these bonds to sew
in his belt to bring over. We stopped these
bonds under the old law. One of the OBJ
jeets Of the new law was to prevent the
making of cuts and dies for the printing or
stamping of imitation money-toy money.
We have on hand now more than 80 sets Of
dies used in making this money
'eThe idea that the law exemplifies Is Just
this: No one has right to do anything for
his own qualification which is going to cost
you or 1 dollar. Now you or 1 or any
one might be deceived by one Of these
tokens, and accept it for genuine money.
So the law SAYS that it shall not be made.
II does not seem likely that anyone would
be deceived by the representation of q half
dollar in q newspaper cut But to make
that cut, the newspapers must stereotype
an engraving and make in metal a repro
duction of the coin. That would come un-
der the prohibition against the making of .
die, hub or mold. And beyond that, the
publication Of the picture is distinctly for
bidden-"
How Newsbovs Turned q Penny.
Mr.. Drummond hunted out q scrap-book
which he has filled with devices which come
under the ban of the law. Among them
were education coins" so marked, but
made in very good imitation Of the money
of the United States Theu there was Q
s'dollar knife" which was to all appearance
q silver dollar. out of the side OF which
came q knite-blade. There were devices in
all materials representing the smaller coins,
and there was one correspondence card
which had an American cent or penny"
stamped on it in relief; and under this the
words, For your thoughts.
1--WE had complaints from that card"
said Mr.. Drummond, "that boys were cut
ting out the imitation of the coin, putting
two Of them together with little slbe-
tween and spending them in the shops for
1-cent pieces We suppressed them. Here
is . representation OF q cancelled postage
stamp. No harm in that, you say. But to
make that print ths publisher had to en-
grave the stamp and then the eancelling de-
sign and print them separately on the card
on the card in exact imitation of the United
States stamp without any cancellation mark
on It Here are other contraband stamps
used in the designs of scrap-book pictures.
And here is q catalogue of old and valuable
coins. Under the new law the cuts of these
coins cannot be printed in catalogue.
Extreme Cases Covered by the Law.
In room Just behind his Office Mr..
Drummond has q pile of boxes and bags
reaching nearly to the ceiling, all filed
with innocent advertising devices which
are violations of the law against counter
feiting. One of these is package Of
"Guarantees" issued by a well-known Bos-
ton bicycle house. Only 20 Of these got out
before the whole issue was con6scated by
the Treasury Department, and the 20 were
called in. The guarantee was intended to
be an insurance of the life of . new style
bicycle. On the back was beautiful de-
sign, in excellent general imitation OF tho
back of 500 bill. In the corners were en-
graved the figures $3.50" The plates,
which cost more than $4,000, were de-
stroyed.
Another violation was by cash register
company in Syracuse, and the informants
against the company were the officers OF q
rival concern. This device was an imita-
tion of three quarter dollars punched to-
gether. The imitation OF the coin IN the CEN
ter was so good that it could have been
sawed out of the design and used as q
25 cent piece without much danger of i'm
mediate detection. The device was In
tended for use on the handle of the cash
box of this company. 1t was designed be-
fore the present law went into effect, and
the company had the opinion OF good at
torney that the design was not In violation
of existing law. The cash register COM
pany could not have used even genuine
quarters for this purpose.
Monograms Engraved on Dime Pieces.
"Here Is the point of that case, said Mr.
Drummond. "You have no right to cut
out of dollar some 40 or 30 cents' worth OF
silver and fill the hollow with cardboard
and glass, leaving the coin to all appear
ances q silver dollar-so little changed that
a servant might steal it off your mantel and
pass it at a store for q dollar. In other
words, you have no right to gratify your
taste for curiosities when that gratifcation
may cost ME q dollar Now here is
a silver dime with monogram engraved on
one side. l could take that into q store,
put it down on the counter with the coin
side up and pass il for 10 cents without any
difficulty. But it is not worth much more,
perhaps, than cents We went into the
place where they were doing this work and
saw them shave the face on coin before
engraving 1t. What do you do with this
silver?' we asked. we use 1t In silver