St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1893-03-04
OLD BILLS MADE NEW.

uncle Sam 10 = Very Honest Old
Gentleman.
0e WIN Give Crisp New Notes for OLD end
Aeealseed Currsncy-Evsn Money To-
tally Destroyed II Sometimes
Aade Good BY Hin.
HE amount of money in tho shape
OF bank notes and bills that are lost OF
destroyed every year is enormous.
Nearly al of this is clear gain to the
government Ifa man throws ! TWEEN.
V-dollar-bill into the fire with Z lot OF
paper, and realizes too late that flames
are no respecters Of persons or papers.
ne may tell OF it a rather rough Joke
On himself, but he gives it up - lost
nine times out of ten. and pays no moro
attention to it II he saves . small
part OF the bill he may perhaps think
1t worth something and goes to inquire
about It If he does he stands . good
chance OF recovering his entire loss
The law upon the subject is quite
plain. and one that people ought to be
Informed upon The paper issued by
the government and called money ID of
course merely . makeshift A gold
certificate for ten dollars Is merely .
promise on the part OF the government
It Washington to pay the bearer ten
dollars in gold when he presents that
certidcate ~ tho treasury Office. II
that certificate Is never presented and
no demand is made for the gold it rep
resents the gold remains in the vaults,
and the government is ultimately that
much ahead. When bills become worn
or In any way unfit for circulation the
treasury or any of the sub-treasuries In
the country arc not only willing but
glad OF the chance to make IN ex-
change. and thereby put good bills in
circulation. United States notes, frac-
tional currency notes, gold certificates,
silver certificates and treasury notes Of
1890 are all redeemable BY the United
States treasurer. The assistant treas
urers 1t the different sub-treasury
Offices arc also authorized to redeem
these bills, provided the bill retains
three-ffths Of it's original proper
ti0nA II. however, more than two
1ifths of tho bill is gone the assistant
treasurers have no authority to act,
and the matter must 60 before the
treasurer. If two-ffths Of the original
proportions of the bill remain and
possibility exists that the remainder Is
still in existence, then the United
States treasurer will redeem the mutt
lated currency at one-half the face
value.
There are circumstances. however,
under which the entire sum lost will
be made good by the government il
the treasurer is thoroughly satisfied
that the bills have been entirely de-
stroyed. This fact has to be made
clear by the party asking for the re-
dcmption OF the destroyed money; .
detailed description Of the circum-
stances must be given; Il must AL be
sworn to. and the good character Of
the person making the application
must be satisfactorily shown by some
officer with seal Even after all this
Il done, the matter il still left discre-
tionary with the treasurer as to
whether he will make the loss good or
mot The wording Of the law closes
with the provision that ''The treasurer
will exercise such discretion under
this regulation IS may seem to him to
protect the United States from fraud"
These provisions do not refer to the
national bank notes, which, when less
than three-fifths Of . bill remains,
mcst be presented to the bank of issue.
The main reason for this law allow
ing the redemption of mutilated cur
nothing by it As already stated. the
piece Of paper is simply . promise to
nav. and il this evidence Of . nations
Indebtedness is entirely destroyed the
as , matter Of honesty,
win give the owner q new evidence Of
the same Indebtedness. The former be-
in1 destroyed. there would be no pos
sibility Of the government having to
nav the same debt twice. The same
reason applies to the redemption of
bill with . part torn Oh. It can be re
deemed 1t its face valuo only when
clearly three-iifths remain, and If any
one should present the other part
(which 4 less than three-fifths) he
could get nothing 1t al for it unless
showin9 clearly and satisfactorily that
TIE first portion had been destroyed. In
this way the government protects itself
entirely. and at the same time does
vhaA e can to shield its creditors and
protect them from loss
Very few people know the law on
khe subject, the general opinion being
~ when money is too badly used up
a he hepE in circulation Il 10 practi-
ca1lv uaelcss. A man came into tho St
r0nis sob-treasury not long since and
.howed : number Of badly used-up
SIN, . be asked IL they were worth
.rvthine. The officers were busy =
- t;uae. .nd, q the bills were quite
hedly rautilated. be was told to como
1eck e Eve o'clock and the msster
-ruld s. looked into Al he went out
~ door h remarked to = friend that
- ~nessed It wasn't worth while. . II
,.ch.hlv wouldn't amount to anything.
- - r. never came beck. The same
- - A incident came under tho OH
.s-..t;on Of R. Barlow. the notary
,.hiic - Cashier Hayes ofice at the
- o68ce, about . month ago A gen
IIeman who had fallen into the river
~ g completely saturated his CLONES
- rhen hc was pnlling some paper
y, - - ore Of his pockets Forgetting
60 dollars in currcncyl he tore tho
- .c.sv .ll to pieces and had only . wet
49, n.ss aft He was referred ~
'ss tre.Cury department % NJ. Barlow