The Portland daily press., 1894-02-07

one can use them, and if the holder of a
| coupon bond loses it the man who finds
| 1T can turn 1T into money on.the next pay
day. No identification will be asked at
| the bank by the man who presents it,
and the burglar who gets hold of lot of
| coupon bonds considers them more yalu-
able than SO many greenbacks or $40 gold
| pieces.
| As to registered bonds, these are of a
somewhat different nature. They have
no coupons and are payable to the person
| whose name is written on the bond. In
| the office Of the register of the Treasury
| at Washington there is record kept of
the men who hold these bonds, and
about a wagon load of ledgers and jour-
nails are devoted to this purpose alone.
! AS soon as bond is sold an account is
opened with the person who buys it be-
tween him and the government, and in
| this is stated the amount he paid for
the bonds and the rate OF interest Every
three months the clerks go Thorough the
books and make out set of accounts ;.
| They notify the treasurer Of the United
| States to nav all the interest due to the
| persons who hold these bonds, and this
money is forwarded to them in the shape
| of treasury draft. AS soon as the
bond is redeemed the account is closed.
| It the owner of registered bond desires
| to transfer it. to another the transfer
must be Endorsed upon the back OF the
bond before witnesses appointed by the
| government and a record of this must be
made at the Treasury Department. AS
the interest is always paid to the last
| owner of record the books for these trans
| fers are closed month before interest
payment day. These registered bonds
| are the safest Investments known to the
| United States, and rich men put large
| sums of money into them. In recent
letter told you how Vanderbilt once
owned $45, 000, 200 of these registered
| bonds. Only the fewest cases are known
where such bonds have been stolen. One
| of these occurred a few years ago when
the ManhattansSa wings Institution was
burglarized by Jimmy Hope, and over
| 81 200, 600 of these bonds were stolen.
In this case Congress authorized dupli-
cate bonds to be issued to the Manhat-
| tan Institution, and they lost nothing.
| Hope was finally captured, and the story
| of his burglary and punishment Is one OF
! the most Interesting chapters in the his
| tory of bank detectives.
| Can bonds be counterfeited?
Yes; and there have been many at
| tempts of this kind. The only really sue
cessful one, however, was in connection
with Jay Cooke & Co. These bankers
| once bought $4,000 worth OF coupon
| seven-thirties They were pronounced
counterfeits by the Treasury Depart
| ment, and although the banking COM
| pany sued the government for the value
| they represen ted they lost the case. The
| counterfeit was made with the aid OF
lead impression taken from the genuine
| late in the bureau of engraving and
printing at Washington by an unfaithful
| employee, which accounted for the Won
derful likeness of the spurious article to
| the genuine.
| The most extensive attempt at wholesale
counterfeiting of government coupon
bonds was undertaken in $3.50 and nipped
in the bud by the secret service q, Off
| Gals of the Treasury Department. The
officials were OH the track of the counter
| feiters for a long time, but allowed them
to perfect their plans to the point Of ex-
ecution, when they were stopped. On
October, 81, 1880, James B. Doyle was
arrested in Chicago as he was alighting
from a New York train. He carried in
bonds to the amount of 500, 600. They
were of the denomination of $1,000, and
were excellent likenesses of genuine
government obligations of that class At
| the same time other secret service
officers raided the house of William r.
Brockway in Brooklyn. He was known
| as counterfeiter, and was suspected of
completely in the deal. He turned
States evidence and confessed to having
made them. He guided the officers to a
| spot in he woods where they dug up %
| steel and copper plates, about $50, 900 in
| counterfeit national bank notes and a
plate for 81 900 5 per cent. bond, which
| had not yet been used. Two or three
| years later he was again rounded up
| through the efforts of secret service offic-
ers and caught in the act of making
| plates for counterfeit railway bonds.
| This man Brockway was one of the most
noted counterfeiters in the United States,
and is now alive, and, while in desti-
| tute circumstances, is said to be leading
| ciates have also been made TO suffer for
| their crimes, and are now aged and
| broken.
The history of the United States bonds
is interesting.
The first loans ever negotiated by this
government We're with foreign countries,
| France, Spain, Belgium and Holland
furnishing the money in several small
1 sums
| The first issue of anything like bond
| for home investment occurred in 17I5 !.
when the government negotiated what
| were then called loan certificates This
scheme was modelled upon 9 plan proposed
| in the Virginia legislature ten years
earlier, when the junior branch of the
| legislative body of that State proposed
| to borrow 240, 900 pounds sterling at 5
per cent interest. The fund for pay
| ment of interest and principal was to
| have been raised by an impost duty on
| tobacco. That scheme was, abandoned
by Virginia. but the general govern
| lieved that if popular loan were pro-
posed the people would subscribe liber-
ally, and the governments would raise all
| the funds needed for the exigencies OF
that occasion. The loan office certificates
which were issued in accordance with
| ing interest in specie, the other in paper
money. Unfortunately these certificates
were Immediately thrown into circula-
ton, which was contrary to the expecta-
tions of the promoters in Congress. The
fact that these certificates bore. interest
induced many persons to prefer them
to.paper money. Contracts were drawn
requiring payment in loan certificates,
and they soon became the preferable
medium of exchange, depreciat-
ing the value of the paper
| currency. Finally the govern
| ment could no longer pay interest OH the
loan certificates and the holders of them
were in dismay. Many persons during