Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1893-02-16
OLD BILLS MADE NEW.
Uncle Sam 10 n Very Honest Old
Gentleman.
lie WIN Give crisp New Notes for Old aud
Mutilated Currency-Even Money To-
tally Destroyed IL hometImes
Made Good by Him,

tally Destroyed IL sometimes
Made Good by Him.
The amount Of money In the shape
OF bank notes aud bills that are lost or
destroyed every year Is enormous.
Nearly all OF this In a clear gain 20 the
government II n man throws a TWEEN.
ty-dollar-bill into the fire with n lot OF
paper, and realizes too late that flames
are no respecters OF persons or papers,
he may tell OF II as rather rough Joke
on himself, but he gives IL up as lost
nine times out OF ten, and pays no moro
attention TO H. II he saves a small
part OF the bill he may perhaps think
" worth something and goes 20 inquire
about 1t. IL he does he stands a good
chance Of recovering his entire loss.
The law upon the subject Is quite
plain, and ono that people ought 20 he
informed upon. The paper issued by
the government and called money Is OF
course merely n makeshlft A gold
certificate Tor ten dollars IL merely n
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. II
that certificate is never presented and
no demand Is made for the gold II 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 are not only willing but
glad Of the chance To make an ex.
change, and thereby put good bills In
circulation. United States notes, frac-
uonal currency notes, gold certificates,
silver certificates and treasury notes OF
1890 are nll redoemnblc by the United
States treasurer The assistant treas.
urers at the different sub trcnsury
offices are also authorized u re lecm
these bills, provided the bill retains
thrce-ilfths Of its original propor.
ton, L. huweF'", NOR. than two.
hiihs Of the b,. b, gone 'hs ,i.taui
trea .urers have NO authority TO act
and the matter must go before the
treasurer. II two.nfths Of the oripint |
proportions OF tho bill remain and n
possibility exists that the remainder Ia
still In existence, then tho United
States treasurer sill 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 have been entirely dc.
stroycd. This fact has To he made
clear by the party asking for the no.
demption OF the destroyed money; n
detailed description Of tho circum-
stances must be- given; IL must all be
sworn TO, and tho good character of
the person making the application
must he satisfactorily shown by some
officer with n soal. Even after ali this
IN done, the matter IL still left discre-
tionnry with the treasurer rs To
whether he will make the loss good or
not The wording of the law closes
with the provision that "Thc treasurer
will exercise such discretion under
this regulation ns muy seem 10 him 10
protect the United States from fraud.
These provisions do not refer 10 the
national bnnl, notes, which, when less
than thrce-uftls Of "a bill remains.
mrSt bc presented to the bank of issue.
The main reason for this law allow.
ing the redemption Of INITIATED cur.
rcncy Is that the government loses
nothing 6y It As already stated the
piece Of paper Is simply promise 10
pay, and II this evidence of nations
indebtedness is entirely destroyed the
government as Il matter Of honesty,
will give the owner new evidence OF
the same indcbtcdncss. The former be.
ing destroyed, there would he no pos
sibilitY Of the government having To
pay the same debt twice The same
reason applies 10 the redemption Of "A
bill with u part torn of. II can be ro.
deemed at II, face value only when
clearly three nfths remain, aud II any
one should present the other part
(which Is lcns than thrrc.lnhsI he
could get nothing at all for II unless
showing clearly and satisfactorily that
the first portion had been DESTROYED. In
this way the government protects itself
entirely, ana ut the same time does
what It can 10 shield It's creditors and
protect them from loss.
Very few people know tho law on
the subject the general opinion being
that when money TX too badly used M
10 be- kept In circulation II il practi.
cally useless. A man came into tho st.
Louis sub-trcasury not long since and
showed u number Of badly used.up
bills, AZ lac asked II they were worth
anything The officers were busy n
tho time, and, rs the bills were quite
badly inutllatcd, he was told 10 come
back at five o'clock aud tho matter
would De looted into As he went out
the door he remarked 10 "a friend that
lac guessed It wasn't worth while. MS II
probably wouldn't amount 10 ANYTHING
and 80 he never came back The same
sort Of an incident came under the oh.
BcrvUtion Of H. Barlow, the notary
public in Cashier Hayes Office at the
post office, about month ago. A gen
ilcmHn who had fallen into the river
had so completely saturated his clothes
that when he was pulling some paper
out Of one Of his pockets Forgetting
thirty dollars In currency he tore the
money nll TO pieces and had only wet,
soEgy mass left lie WIS referred by
the treasury department 10 Mr. Barlow
aud rubbish, md would have continued
Ia tho wrong place forever,
The speahcr ncxt proceeded TO an an
AloRy lie contrasted the story Of the
ring with the story Of II poor girl. Her
parents were refined and intelligent,
shc herself was refined and sensitive,
her earliest yeurs we're passed ia com-
fort, and In surroundings suited 70 her
tastes Bat when She was fourteen
years old, her parents died, she was
LOT dnhlllml.- Lhrrn Nvna No. nam. rein.