Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-05-03


at the bare idea of initiating the de-
sign of dollar bill In very many
cases, too, the ticket clerk fills out with
pen and ink, in q. blank space left for
the purpose, the name of the station
TO which the buyer of the ticket is en-
titled to be carried Seeing that there
IS nothing in the nature of the naner
or in its manufacture to betray the
use of chemicals, it is obviously the
easiest thing in the world for a dis
honest purchaser chemically to delete
the ticket clerks entry. and, by writing
the name of a different station in tbe
blank space enhance the value of his
ticket by several dollars. The different
colorS in which the various tickets ara
printed add little or no difficulty to
the task of the counterfeiter, used as
they are on the commOneSt kinds of
paper and cardboard.
With so many ticket offices in every
city OF the country working Separa teIy
from the railroad company whose tick
cts they sell: with so many ticket
agents, or ticket scalpers." as they
are less politely called. the counter
ieluer nnds that to shove his queer"
as coin counterfeiter talks of putting
MS bad money into circulation. is an
easy affair, indeed. He sells his work
to the 'Scalper' at nominal rate
The 'scalper,' in some cases. it is TO
be feared. knowing perfectly we'll
what sort of stuff he is handling. clans
on a price a fraction less than the
railroads regular fare, and resellS the
bogus ticket to the innocent customer.
happy at saving % cents on a S.
purchase.
There are a few lines which have
had their eyes open to that fact for
the last two years. They have, with
out altering the external appearance
OF their tickets in any way, by using
a peculiar manufacture of paper. put
a spoke into the wheel of the ticket
counterfeiterS that has seriously inn
peded, and threatened altogether to
stop its locOmOtiOn. 1t will not be a
very long time, in all probability, be-
fore all the great lines in the country
follow their lead, and, by the usage of
a paper for their tickets that defies
Imitation, put an end to such a sys-
tenn or robbery as allows leakage of
100000 in a single year to appear on
the records of as hard-headed lot Of
business men as exists anywhere
The paper which the best Judges of
such matters say is calculated to fulfill
this purpose is safety paper. Printed
in three colors-pink, blue and orange
it is, in it's original state, ordinary writ
ing paper. By means of a very ex-
pensive process, it is given an elabOr-
ate and distinctive roll surface.
The main safeguard of the paper
from imitation lies in the surface
marks" put on the paper by a patent
process when the ink is on. Unlike
water mark, these marks are darker
9 than the paper itself. being on the SUI
face and not inserted. They show on
, both sides of the paper with equal
! clearneSS. These surface marks which
stand out with such bOldness that the
most curSOry examination of either
side of the paper sufficeS to disclose
them, the inventor asserts cannot be
initiated, the expensive process of their
manufacture being an absolute secret
i The insertion by the ticket clerk in
/ pen and ink on a ticket made of this
paper of the station to which the
passenger purchased his fare cannot
be deleted or changed. The ink is
absorbed into the paper and becomes
part of its color. Any chemicals ap-
piled to it would inevitably betray
NV in
manner that would be obvious even to
the most careless or short-sighted of
ticket collectors. For many years this
same safety paper has, thanks to it's
sensitiveness to chemicals and it's stub
! born retention of the ink marks made
on it, in the shape of checks, fOiled
the attempts of many d forger to
change the amount of the sums origin
ally inscribed. There is no doubt that
it will do as much for the railroad man
! as it has proved itself able to do for
: the banker.
/ One most important factor regarding
the paper is that none will be sold in
the open market. It's sale will be eX-
clusively confined to the six or eight
firms that print all the railway tickets
used in the United States.
! Such a limitation of the sale practi-
cally puts it out of the power of the
! power of the counterfeiter to purchase
the kind of paper absolutely necessary
for his fraudulent purposes, so its in
ventor, pointing to- its record as me-
I dunn for checks, confidently asserts.
In fact it seems quite ON the cards
that, in face of a paper used for tick
cts which he will find almost impOssi-
bic to initiate and certainly impossible
to tamper with, the halcyon days Of
the railway ticket counterfeiter are
fast drawing to close.