The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1893-05-11
OLD BILLS MADE NEW,
Uncle Sam Il Very Honest Oh
Gentleman.
Ne win Girs crisp New Notes for old sn1
Insulated carrency Even Meney To-
tally Destroyed q somstimes
Ma1A Good ~ Him.


tally Destroyed q somstimes
Ma1A Good ~ Him.
The amount Of money fl che shape
OF bank notes and bills that are lost or
destroyed every year Is enormous
Nearly all Of this IS clear gain 70 the
government II man throws a TWEEN
ty-doIlar- blu into the fire with lot Of
paper, and realizes too late that flames
arc no respecters Of persons or papers.
lie may tell 81 II As rather rough Joke
on himself, but he gives II mp a. lost
nine times out Of ten. and pays no more
attention 70 Il II he saves q small
part Of the bill he may perhaps think
il worth something and goes TO inquire
about Il II he does he stands good
chance Of recovering his entire loss
The law upon the subject II quite
plain. and one that people ought to Be
informed upon. The paper issued BY
the government and called money Is Of
course merely makcshift a gold
certificate for ten dollars IS merely I
promise on the part OF the government
It Washington 10 pay the bearer ten
dollars in gold when he presents that
that certificate Is never presented and
no demand Is made for the gold II rep
resents the gold remains Ia 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 are not only willing but
glad OF the chance TO make an ex-
change, and thereby put good bills 10
circulation. United States notes, frac-
tional currency notes, gold certificates,
silver certificates and treasury notes of
1890 are AL redeemablc BY the United
States treasurer. The assistant treas-
urers at the different sub-treasury
Offices are also authorized To redeem
these btlls, provided the bill retains
three-ffths Of Its original proper
tionA II. however, more than two
tifths Of the bill Is gone the assistant
treasurers have no authority to act,
and the matter must 20 before the
treasurer Iftwo-fifths Of the original
proportions Of the Till remain and q
possibility exists that the remainder Is
still In existence, then tho United
States treasurer win 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 II
the treasurer Is thoroughly satisfied
that the bills hare been entirely de-
stroyed This fact has to be made
clear BY the party asking for the re-
demption Of the destroyed money; a
detailed description Of the cIrcum-
stances must BE- given; 1t must 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 TO
whether he will make the loss good or
not. The wording Of the law closes
with the provision that The treasurer
win exercise snch discretion under
this regulation as may seem TO him to-
protect the United States from fraud. n
These provisions do not refer to the
national bank notes, which, when less
than thFee-ftths Of a bill remains,
mrst be presented TO the bank Of issue.
The main reason for this law allow
ing the redemption Of mutilated cur-
rency Is that the government loses
nothing BY II As already stated. the
piece Of paper Is simply promise to
pay, and II this evidence Of d nations
indebtedness Is entirely destroyed the
government. as a matter Of honesty,
viii give the owner a new evidence Of
the same indie btedness. The former be-
ing destroyed, there would be no pos
sibility Of the government having 10
pay the same debt twice The same
reason applies to the redemption Of q
bill with part torn of Ii can be re
deemed At Its face value only when
clearly three-fifths remain. and il any.
one should present the other part
(which is less than three -fifthSl he
could get nothing at all for IL unless
showing clearly and satisfactorily that
the first portion had been DESTROYED. II
this way the government protects Itself
entirely, and at the same time does
what Il can to shield its 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 uT
70 be kept in circulation ii Is practi
eally useless A man came into the ST
Lonis sub-trcasury notlong since and
showed number Of badly used-nI
bills, as he asked II they were worth
anything. The officers were busy a
the time. and, as the bills were quit
badly inntilated he was told to COINS
back At five O'clock and the mates
would be looked into, AS he went ouI
the door he remarked to a friend thaI
he guessed it wasn't worth while. as i
probably wouldn't amount to anything
and so he never came back, The same
sort Of an Incident came under the OBJ
servation o. r. Barlow, the notar,
public inICashicr hayes Office at thu
post Office, about month ago. a gen
ueman who had fallen into the rive
had 50 completely saturated his clothe,
that when he was pulling some papei
out Of one 81 his pockets forgetting
thirty dollars in currency he tore th1
money all 70 pieces and had only wet
n. n - ti ~