Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1895-01-26
MILLIONS MACERATED.
HOW COUNTERFEIT MONEY Is
DESTROYED.
why Innocent Looking Devices Are
Seized by the Government Author
lied Commercials

, seized bY the 0Overnmcnt --AutnOr.
lied Commercials
For some weeks u committee COM
posed OF clerks of the Treasury De.
partment has Been ut work destroy.
ing the counterfeit money which has
accumulated In the storage room of
Mr.. Hazen, the chief of the secret
service Of the Treasury Department..
Chief Hazen estimates the amount
Of counterfeit money which is being
destroyed at 5000, 900. It would
take pretty big vault to hold all
that accumulates in the hands of the
secret service chief In year. The
collection includes not only counter
felt money and the plates used to
make It, but advertisements which
are unconscious violations Of the law
against Stimulating the securities Of
the United States. And sometimes
the agents of the secret service seize
whole editions o! books which con.
tain pictures prohibited by law
likenesses Of the coins or the paper
currency issued by the government.
A very short time ago there were
seized 600 pounds OF Coin Guides,
issued by concern In Boston. These
guides not only quoted the prices
paid for rare coins, but gave wood
suits Of the coin designs. The whole
edition Of the guide" was seized,
and ut the same time two other
guides" printed from the same
plates were captured and the plates
were coniiscated.
These unconscious isolations Of
the counterfeit law give the secret
service bureau more trouble than the
counterfciters. Since the passage Of
the Edmunds counterfeit law the
secret service agents have had their
hands full suppressing advertise.
ments and other devices, which IRE
plain but innocent violations of tho
statute. For example, some time
ago u bicycle company issued n
guarantee In the form or semblance
Of bond. Any one who read this
guarantee and understood It saw
plainly that IL was simply u promise
to pay the owner Of bicycle Of their
make certain amount Of money II
the machine did not last certain
time: but u foreigner, ignorant OF the
English language, might have been
persuaded very easily that this was
u United States bond for ~ 600
This fraud was, In fact, practiced on
certain foreigners with bonds issued
by New York newspaper guaran.
teeing it's circulation.
4 fa,v rnnt. onA an nnu.s pa ,Naw ~
New York published cartoons In the
form of notes bearing the faces and
names Of certain city officials. 1Eo
cartoons could not have been used
to deceive an intelligent person; but
the law Is intended more especially
to protect those who are not intclli-
gent. So the agent OF the secret
service seized the plates from which
the cartoons were printed and threat.
ened the proprietor Of the paper with
prosecution II he repeated the oirense.
The newspaper picture rs printed
Ii hardly ever dangerous, especially
II it be picture OF u coin. But what
Is dangerous Is tho engraving from
which the print is made. This on.
craving could be used to reproduce
the design In metal II Il should fall
into tho hands OF unprincipled people.
That Is why the secret service bureau
seized the plates from which the New
York newspaper was printed. This
feature Of the law Ia so well under.
stood now that many publishers sub.
init designs for engravings to the
chief Of the secret service before
having the engravings made.
The latest and the most amusing
seizure made by the secret service
agents was set OF dies prepared In
Chicago and used for making soda
water checks. These checks were OF
metal, and they were so like the old
ilve.cent piece that they would have
deceived very intelligent person II
handed to him In quantity of coin
Most OF these checks were sold In the
vicinity of Birmingham, Ala, but
some were found in Washington, and
it Is likely that II their career had
not been cut short they would have
reached other large communities.
to send in all OF these checks under
penalty, and the agents in Chicago
seized the dies.
There Is, however, a quantity OF
counterfeit money which Is held In
tho large cities OF the United States
under special permit OF the Secretary
OF the Treasury. 1t IS held by about
twenty-five men, and the limit to the
amount held by each Is $500. These
men are bankers and teachers or pro.
fessors In the art OF detecting coun-
terfeit money. There is II regular
business, not only In detecting coun.
ter.eits, but in teaching others to de-
tect them. Several men in different
parts of the United States make Il
living by this occupation, and some
OF them travel from place to place
filling engagements to instruct young
bank clerks in the art. incidentally
these professors work up business
for detective agencies and get sub
scriptions for counterfeit detect
ors," which are published in several
cities All who hold counterfeit
money under permit from the Secre,
tary Of the Treasury are required 10
report to the secret service bureau
Ut least once u month, and, II in the
ncignborhood of Il secret scrvic,
agent, to report to him in person anc
show him the counterfeit money Il
demonstrate that none has disap
pcarcd. An agent in Nebraska mo-