The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-02-08
ICopyrieht. 1896. I

eminent Has Made an Enormous Amount
In Lost Securities.
Copyright, 1861
Just as soon as the bids for the new
| bonds were opened at tho treasury depart
ment in Washington Secretary Carlisle re-
viewed and accepted such as offered tho
| government the greatest profit, or rather
the least expense in the negotiation of the
| loan. The bidders were notified, and word
was sent to the chief of the bureau of en-
craving and printing to get to work Oh
the bonds. The plates were all ready
| for printing the different denominations.
! They have been ready for some time. It
IS easy enough to prepare plates for a bond
| issue. The designs already on hand are
used, with such minor changes in dates as
| are made requisite by the terms of the new
! loan. The bond designs are stereotyped.
| They are made up in the bureau from tho
old stock borders and "vignettes,' -
which fill huge album in the Office of tho
bureau chief No attempt to make dis
| tinctive bond design has ever been made.
In fact, there was never a complete design
for currency until the bureau accepted tho
| work of Artists Shirlaw and Low recently.
The stereotyped bond designs are kept
| on cylinders of hardened steel From ono
! of these the design can be transferred to
: soft steel plate i'll a transfer press by tho
! process of rolling under heavy pressure.
| Then the figures, dates, etc, the plate
| can be removed and new figures and dates
| put in their places. The plato is hardened
| then, and from it tbs altered form trans
ferred on the press to a cylinder of soft
! steel. This cylinder is hardened in the
furnace, and with it many plates are made.
There is a different plate, of course, for
| each denomination. The number of plates
of each design made from the cylinders is
regulated by the demand for those denom-
nations. The smaller bonds are in the
greatest demand. of course, and therefore
the number of plates for the smaller de-
nominations is greater.
A Matter of Record.
The distinctive paper on which the
bonds are printed has been seasoning in
the vaults of the bureau for long time.
Before the work of printing is mpleted
tho chief will lave memorandum of the
exact number wanted, and this number
will be delivered to the treasury depart
ment, going over in the big inclOsed wagon
which carries all the government securi-
ties from the engraving bureau to the
treasury department. The bonds are not
made complete at the bureau. The final
touch is added at the treasury department.
when the government seal is printed on
them. The signatures on bank notes or
government currency engraved at the
bureau and printed when the notes are
printed, but the signature of the register
on the bonds is made at the treasury, not
by the register himself, but by one of the
clerks. who also puts his distinctive mark
the bond when he makes a record of
it. Every bond can be traced back through
the official hands which touched it in the
process of making and issuing it and the
responsibility for any error placed where
it belongs. This caution is very necessary,
since one little bond may represent $780,
600. Only one bond greater than this
amount was ever issued by the govern
ment, and this bond now hangs on tho
wall of the office of the register of the
treasury. 1t was for SIS, 500, 600, the
amount of the Geneva award paid by
England in satisfaction of what were
known as the Alabama claims" This
money was paid to Hamilton Fish as SEQ
rotary of state, and as congress had made
no provision for the disposal of it he in
vested it in government per cents, and
the secretary of the treasury, for conven-
fence, issued a single bond to him. The
bond was Cancelled when the court of Ala
bama claims distributed it's awards. Be-
side this big bond on the wall of the regis
ter's Office hangs the Oldest bond recorded
in the treasury. 1t was issued Feb. 6,
1777, to John BonfleId. 1t was for $500,
and it was to run for three years, with in
terest at per cent.
An Individual Holding.
This bond of $15, 500, 900 which Secretary
Fish once held did not represent by IS per
cent the amount of government bonds
once held by an individual. William II.
Vanderbilt once owned in registered bonds
S45, 600, 900. The records of the treasury
show this fact. The treasury department
knows just where all of the registered
bonds are held with the exception of a
few which are in the hands of people to
whom they have not been transferred form
ally after purchase The purchasers Of
registered bonds do not wait very long be-
fore notifying the secretary of the treasury
and going through the formality of trans
fer, the checks for interest for the bonds
are sent to the persons whose names ap-
pear on the books of the treasury depart
ment. On the treasury books an account
is opened with each person who becomes
the owner of registered bonds. The books
ere closed one month before the time when
interest is due.
After the books close no transfers are
made until the interest checks Rave been
mailed. These checks are mailed prompt
ly on the day when the interest is due, and
they are made payable to order. They can
be exchanged for gold at any subtreasury
if the payee is identified. These checks
are sent out in the official envelopes of tho
treasury department., which require no
postage stamps and which are forwarded
by the postoffice department to any change
of address. In fact. the postoffice depart
ment makes every reasonable effort to trace |
the pot1,iio TO ~iI6TE these Interest checks |
are addressed, and it happens in but few |
cases that they are not found. Ia those |
few cases the checks are returned to the |
treasury, where they are held awaiting the |
claim of the owner of the bond But the |
checks, which are delivered promptly in |