Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-11
LEGAL TENDER NOTES REDEEMED.
An Apparent Excess Of Over $4,000 More
Than the Issue.


United States Treasurer Nebeker has reported
to Secretary Charles Foster that the account
Of the legal tender notes Of the denomination OF
$500. series OF 1874, shows. as il stands, an ex-
cess o. s54. 900 redeemed over the issue. When
the treasurer's attention was first called TO the
condition OF this account he immediately
caused an examination Of IL to be made. to
discover, possible, what Was wrong. but
nothing has been found to throw any light on
the subject. His investigation has con-
WINGED him that there has been nothing like an
overissue. or the redemption Of counterfeits,
or anything else that would have caused a loss
TO the government. He IL strongly Of the
opinion that the mistake Is simply one Of
assortment: and a detail of bookkeeping.
About 1874 there appeared a very dangerous
counterfeit Of the $500 legal tender note which
the treasury was then issuing. known as the
series Of 1869. For the protection of the pub
lie the issue Of the genuine stopped
and new plate engraved, from which, in the
course of about a year. S2s.000.000 were
printed. On the LIST OF July. 1873. Gen. Spin
ner retired from the treasurership and John 9.
New succeeded him. The change occurred
with a few days OF the time when the last Of
the new notes were paid out. A fresh supply
being needed, the plate was altered by changing
. small and indistinct figure four to five. by
substituting the signature of the incoming
treasurer for that OF the outgoing and by
transposing the signatures Of the treasurer and
register in position. Different characters
were also placed before and after the num-
bers. During the wear in which Mr.. New
held the Office s2S. 400 600 of notes printed
from this altered plate and the whole amount
was issued from the treasury within a few
years. Since then two more series. known as
those of 1878 and 1850, the last of which is still
running, have been printed from the same
plates with only minor notifications.
RAPIDLY PAID.
The needs Of the treasury in 1874 and 1875
for this particular denomination we're so great
that the first OF each of the series of those two
wears were paid out on the same day that they
we're received from the printing bureau. instead
of allowing them to season for a time, as
is commonly done. In consequence many
OF them became badly blurred in circulation,
and this added greatly to the difficulties Of dis
tnguishing one series from the other.
Although up to that time the ladies of the re-
demption division had been doing good work.
as the records show, they had not been
educated up to making such fine
them, and made many mistakes of assortment
Naturally the tendency TO class the newer issue
with the older was most pronounced. These
mistakes. as now on record. we're found by the
counters in the Offices of the Secretary and the
register, and some of them in onIy one of the
two. after having been passed by the other.
1t is too much to expect. Mr.. Nebeker thinks
that under such circumstances absolute correct
ness of assortment could be secured. and he is
of the opinion that the confusion of the ac-
counts indicates nothing more than that the in
eyitable happenedand that at some time or other
one or more lots Of the notes of 1875 went into
the macerator labeled as 1874. He is sup
ported in this view also bv the fact that while
the notes of 1875 are coming in but little faster
than those of 1874. the accounts OF the
former would make il appear that there
are still S740.0O0 OF them outstanding
The checks upon the amounts Of money issued
and redeemed are much more complete than
those upon the series and denominations. which
are unimportant distinctions. that il is consd-
ere i impossible for any loss to have occurred