The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-01-13
OLD BILLS MADE NEW.
IUncle Sam Is n Worry Honest Old
Gentleman.
he VIII Give Crisp New Notes FOR Old and
Wuiiiateh Currcncy-Evcn Money To-
tally Destroyed Is Sometimes
Made Good by Him.

Inc amount of money in the shape
of bank notes and bills that are lost or
destroyed every year is enormous.
Nearly all of this is 4 clear gain TO the
government. Ii man throws a TWEEN
ty-dollar- bill into the fire with a lot of
paper, and realizes too late that flames
arc no rcsrcctcrs of persons or papers,
he may tell of it as Il rather rough Joke
on himself, but he gives it up as lost
nine times ont Of ten, and pays no more
attention to ii. If he saves a small
part of the bill he may perhaps think
II worth something and goes TO inquire
about it. II he does he stands good
chance of recovering his entire loss.
The law upon the subject is quite
plain. md one that people ought to be
informed upon. The paper issued by
the government and called money is of
course merely n mal,cshift. A gold
certificate for ten dollars is merely n
promise on the part OF the government
at Washington to pay the bearer ten
dollars in gold when he presents that
certificate ut the treasury Office If
that certificate is never presented and
no dcululd is made FOR the gold it rep-
rcscnts 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 Che
treasury or any of the sub-trcasurics in
tn country are not only willing but
glad of the chance TO make an OK
change. and there by put good bills in
circulation. United States notes, frac.
tlona! currency notes, gold certificates.
silver certificates and TREASURY notes OF
1890 are ali rodecmablc by the United
States treasurer The assistant treas
urcrs ut the different suh-t.easury
Offices arc also authorized to re .lccm
these bills, provided the bill retains
thrcc-tilths of its original proper
lions If, however, more than two.
hfths OF the bill is gone the assistant
trcasurcrs have no authority to act.
and the matter must go before the
treasurer. If two-tifths of the original
proportions of the bill remain and q
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 arc circumstances, however.
under which the entire sum lost will
be made good by the government if
the ,rcasnrer is thoroughly satisfied
tia hr bills ,avc bccn entirely 90.
stlrycl- Ihi, fact has to he made
clcor DY the party ASKING Tor Tie re-
dci.rtou OF the destroyed money; a
d ed description Of the circum
st: noes must bc givcn; it i:i;s; all be
sva . u, and the good character of
IT, ic:,on making the upp.i.a.io;
II De satisfactorily shown by so,..c
Offit..-. with al 81, b.
is done, the matter is still left discre
wish The treasurer q, ia
.a"r he will make the loss q sod or
not. The wording of the law closes
wi y t'ir provision that '"rhc t-cas,,-rr
VIII exercise such discretion under
regulation rs may seem to him to
protect the United States from fraud"
Ihcse provisions do not refer to the
national bank notes, which. when less
than threc-ifths of bill remains.
mrst be prese nted to the bank of issue.
he main reason for this law allow
ing the redemption of mutilated cur
rcncy is that the government loses
nothinc by it. As already stated, the
piece Ct paper is simply promise to
pay, ano II this evidence of nations
indebtedness is entirely DESTROYED the
government, rs Il matter OF honesty.
will give the owner new evidence Of
the Same indie btcdncss. The fornr, he
ing destroyed, there would b. no ,,os
sibility OF the government having to
pay the same debt twice The Same
reason apple, to the redemption of a
bill with a part torn Off 1t can be re-
deemed at It's face value only when
clearly three-Gfths remain, and if any
one should present the other part
(Which is less than hrcc-fifths) he
could get nothing ut all for it unless
showing clearly and satisfactorily that
the first portion had been DESTROYED. In
TINS way the government protects itself
entirely, and at the same time does
what it can to shield it's creditors and
protect them from loss
Very few people know the law on
the subject. the general opinion being
that when money is too badly used up
TO be Kept in circulation it is practi-
caily useless. man came into the St.
Louis sub-treasury not long since and
showed number of badly used-up
oils, as he asked if they were worth
anything The officers were busy a.
the time, and, rs the bills were quite
badly mutilatcd, he was told to come
back at five O'Clock and the matter
wouid be looked into. AS he went out
the door he remarked to friend that
he guessed ii wasn't worth while. as il
probably wouldn't amount to anything,
and so he never came back The same
sort OF an incident came under the OBJ
scrvation of r. Barlow, the notary
public in Cashier Hayes office at the
post Office, about q month ago A gen.
tlcman who had fallen into the river
mad SO completely saturated his clothes