Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1893-01-06
OLD BILLS AS NEW
Uncle Sam Is a Very Honest
Old Gentleman.
SOME QUEER COMBINATIONS
he VII GIVE Crisp New Notes for Old
and Mutilatsd cunency-Even
Money Totally Destroyed

The amount Of money In the shape
OF bank notes and bills that are lost or
destroyed every year is enormous
Nearly al Of this Is clear gain 10 the
government IL a man throws a TWEEN
ty-dollar- BAH into the lire with lot Of
paper. and realizes too late that flames
are no respecters Of persons or papers.
he may tell of II n rather rough Joke
on himself. but he gives IL up as loet
nine times out Of ten and pays no more
attention 20 IL II he saves = small
part Of the bill he may perhaps think
IL worth something and goes 70 inquire
about it. IL he does be stands good
chance Of recovering his entire loss
The law upon the subject is quite
plain, and one that people ought 10 be
informed upon The paper issued by
the government and called money IS Of
course merely a makeshift A gold
certificate for ten dollars is merely
promise on the part OF the government
At Washington To pay the bearer ten
dollars in gold when he presents that
certificate at the treasury Office. IL
that certificate Is never presented and
no demand IS made for tho gold il 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
dad Of the chance TO make an ex-
change. and thereby put good bills in
circulation. United States notes, frac-
tlonal currency notes, gold certificates,
silver certificates and treasury notes of
1890 are all redeemable by the United
States treasurer. The assistant treas
urers ~ the different sub-treasury
Offices are also authorized To redeem
these bills, provided the bill retains
three~dfths of its original proper
lions H. however, more than two
fifths Of the bill is gone the assistant
trezsurrrs have no authority to act.
and the matter must go before the
treasurer. III two-ifths of the original
proportions OF the bill remain and n
possibility exists that the remainder is
still in existence. then the United
States treasurer win redeem the mutt
lyted currency at one-half the face
value
There are circumstances. however,
under which the entire sum lost win
be made good by the government il
the treasurer is thoroughly satisfied
that the bills have been entirely de-
stroycd. This fact has to be made
clear by the party asking for the re-
demption OF the destroyed money; a
detailed description OF tho circum-
stances must DC given; it mus. all 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
is done, the matter is still left discre-
tionary with the treasurer as 10
whether he will make the loss good or
not The wording OF the law closes
with the provision that The treasurer
Will exercise snch discretion under
this regulation as may seem to him To
project the United States from fraud -
These provisions do not refer to the
national bank notes, which. when less
than thrce-fifths of a bill remains,
xnpsf be presented TO the bank of issue
The main reason for this law allow
ing the redemption Of mutilated cur
rency il that the government loses
nothing by L. AS already stated. the
piece of paper Ia simply promise to
pay, and IL this evidence Of nations
Indebtedness IS entirely destroyed the
government, as a matter of honesty.
WI give tho owner a new evidence OF
the same indie btedness- The former be-
ing destroyed. there would be no pos
s4frlity of the government having 10
pay the same debt twice. The same
reason applies 20 the redemption of a
bill with part torn of. II can be re-
deemed At is face value only when
clearly threc-hfths remain, and IL any
one should present the other part
(which IL less than three-ffths) he
could get nothing at all for il unless
showing clearly and satisfactorily that
the first portion had been DESTROYED. liz
this way the government protects itself
entirely, and at the same time does
what II can 20 shield its creditors zno
protect thcm from loss.
very few people know the law on
the subject. the general opinion being
that whom money Is too badly used up
=, be kept in circulation IL is practi-
caliy useless A man came into the st.
Ions sUb-trcasary not long since and
showed number Of badly usAd-ur
balls. as be asked II they were worth
anvtaing. The officers were busy a.
the time. and. as the bills we're quite
badly mutilated. be was told 10 come
back a. i've o'clock aud the MATES
would D. looked into. As he went out
the door he remarked to friend thai
he guessed it wasn't worth while. "a il
probably wouldR amount 70 ANYTHING
and So ne never came back The same
sort - an Incident came under the OBJ
servation ~ K Barlow. the nota-v
public in Cashier Hayes Office IL ths
post oitcc. about = month ago A gen
tiemsn who had fallen into the rive
had 50 completely saturated his clothe
thet when be was pulling some papc'
out - ore ~ his pockets forgetting
thiriF dollars in currency he tore tn.
nnnsv aE 20 pieces and bad only 2 wet
sorEy mass eft he was referred b,
shr treasury department % Mr. Earlo-
IN o~isr 81 farnish a necessary aida
vi. and. when he fonnd L would taxi,
some htt~ time. work AMI patience. b.
ssfi n wanted - start rs i'hilaaelrhi.
that night, antFhe guessed he wouldn'
take the trouble on the elm chance @
getting anything IN this and al sim
ilar csses Tie real feeling ~ tic appIi
cant aimost Invariably is that any e
fort - regain what is lost IL sirrpl,
tire thrown away. sns' 81 he disnlisse.
En-. matter
M Barlow. mentioned above "a he
ing connected with the cashiers ole.
IA TIE post ofiee department. has