Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-14

stroyed or defaced," &c. The owner of the
destroyed or defaced bond is to surrender
the remains of the bond and file a penal
bond with the treasurer in double the
and the interest on 1t with two good Sc
curities. For a registered bond. to be is
sued in duplicate. the owner Of the origi-
nal has only to file a bond In the amount
OF the original and interest. These penal
bonds are perpetual. as are all bonds made
to the United States. Every officer Of the
treasury who il under bond today can be
held under that bond fifty years hence II
any shortage can be traced to his adzninis-
tration. His securities are never released.
It is not easy to get together bondsmen
for half million dollars, and 1t has hap
pened not infreQuently that the owners of
to Congress for relief. When duplicate
bond Is issued 1t is always registered.
The largest amount ever issued by the
government in duplicate bonds was q, $780,
Of Congress Of December 10. 1878, to the
Manhattan Savings Institution Of New
York. They were registered bonds which
were stolen from the bank in the robbery
THE Great Bank Robbery" The robbers
Of the Manhattan got eight bonds Of So, 900
each. and 120 bonds Of $4,000 each. All
or these bonds were on the books Of the
the Manhattan Savings Institution. That
institution went into the hands of q re-
ceiver as a result Of "the great bank rob-
berry," and as it was next to impossible to
possible to prove that the missing bonds
had been destroyed, the bank had to come
to Congress. Congress directed the Secre-
tary OF the Treasury to issue duplicates Of
factory to him being furnished that they
have not been assigned. but are still the
property Of said institution" and on the
further condition that number of them
be held in trust by the Secretary Of the
Treasury until such time as would secure
the United States from loss
Issuing New Government Bonds.
The business Of Issuing q new set Of
bonds is a matter Of some moment to the
officials Of the Treasury Department, be-
cause 1t involves great deal Of labor in
the bureau Of engraving and printing, in
the registers office and in the treasurer's
office. 1t takes some time for the bureau
OF engraving and printing to get out an
issue OF bonds. The engraving is a slow
process. Then the paper must be prepared
The issue Of renewal bonds of 1891 was
printed on paper ten years old which was
lying In the vaults Of the bureau. 1t had to
be taken out and wet down, and 1t was not
ready for use for ten days. Bonds go
through the presses three times. First the
tint Is printed on the face Of them. Then
the form on the front Is printed in black.
and then the form on the back is printed,
also in black. These bonds were printed
from plates witch were made in 1876. The
bond issue OF 1891 was a reissue Of the
bonds of 1876; so the bonds were printed
alike. 1t is astonishing how little wear
there is on the tempered steel plates from
which bonds are printed. But this ts not
more remarkable than the process of
freshening the plate which has been worn a
little. II bond-plate looks at all dull un-
der the microscope, it is put in the trans
fer press and the cylinders with which the
design was cut into it are rolled over 1t
again. Anyone who has seen the fine hair
lines In the engraving on a bank note or a
greeback will appreciate the marvellous ac-
curacy OF machine which can be adjusted
SO that the original cylinder, passing over
the engraved plate seven or eight years
after the original engraving will cut again
into the same lines and simply deepen the
impression. The variation of a thousandth
part Of an inch in the adjustment Of the
cylinder would blur the plate and ruin 1t.
The cost Of transferring from the cylinders
alone Is about $50 a plate. and that fea-
ture of the preparation of a bond issue
would cost the government fully $1,000 The
cost Of engraving and printing would bring
the expense of issuing new series OF
bonds up to about $3.50 The registered
bond Is about fourteen inches long by six
inches wide. The old coupon bond was
eighteen by twenty-four inches. This was
the size Of the per cent bond which was
to run thirty years with interest payable
every three months, and which bore l2O cou-
pons. In the issue of coupon bonds the sig
nature OF the register Of the treasury is
engraved on the coupons. 1t would be
impossible for the register to sign 12o cou.
pons on each bond. In some of the heavy
issues OF bonds the signature in the body
OF the bond has been engraved But all
OF the registered bonds are signed by the
register or his deputy. When these bonds
are issued the initials OF the clerk who en-
tered, and the initials of the clerk who re-
corded each bond are written in the corner
OF 1t so that il there is any mistake II
can be traced very quickly.