The evening times., 1896-12-07

| call attention to the countcrfcting or stand
ard silver dollars, the extent to which he
thinks the evil has grown can be surnlsed.
| The coins made are spurious only in the
| fact that they are not made by the govern
| nent. They contain practically the same
amount OF silver and of the same fineness
| a. the genuine coins, and they can be made
that way at Il bigger profitthan almost any
business in the country affords.
In fact, the chief point relied on by eN-
pertS to tell the counterfeit from the EenIi-
inc pieces is the excess of fine silver pnt in
10y the swindlers. This is caused by the use
of Mexican dollars, which are worth Il
little more for bullion than are the A meriean
1t is considered by many To he OF tie
| first consequence that some step should
| be taken at once to prevent further frauds
| upon the government in this direction. one
suggeStionmis that no SILVER coin larger
than the fifty-cent piece be allowed 10
| Circulate and that the design or all CONS
| be changed and made so expensive and SO
difficult TO copy that the undertaking VIII
be too large for the c0uEtcrreiters.
1t is believed that the government has al
ready lost more than Il million by THIS sort
of imposition. and that the coinage from IL
legal sources is steadily growing. The
false as well as the true money must be
redeemed finally by the government; for,
while a test would show in many cases that
the counterfeit was not from the govern
ment mint, the proof must be brought out
in each coin, and this would cost Bearly
as much as would bc saved by throwing
out the false pieces and refusing to re-
deem them.
SECRET SERVICE BUSY.
The secret service has been busy with
this problem with increasing difficulties
ever since the margin between the true
value and the face value of the silver
money grew to be so great.
1t is usual for detectives to watch Tor
scoUnd-el to make some false step by which
they get a Clew 10 his operations and fl
nllly run him down. 1t is the murder
Will out theory; but in this case they have
hardly got Il yeStigc OF evidence by waiting.
| Tie mcn who are flooding the country with
bad dollars and hall-doliars, which no one,
not even aneXpcrt can distinguish from the
| true money without an essay, have SO far
| been shrcwd enough to avoid anything that
would give the secret service men chance
at them.
4 few seizures have been made of tools,
| which might have been used in molding bad
| limitations of money, but nothing of much
| Importance has been taken, and the Off
| Gals are good deal puzzled. The secret
! service report does not touch the problem
| at all: it was probably deemed wise first to
| lay hands on the offenders before making
too much Of a stir about them, thus putting
tne whole ClTCie on lhtlr Sudru.
Mr.. Preston thought the wrong upon the
people had grown to such proportions that
he was no longer justified in keeping quiet
| about the matter. Itsecmed his plain duty
to speak and warn the people OF what is
happening.
He states in his report there is no doubt
that the silver coins of the United States
are now being counterfeited. pieces being
manufactured exactly similar TO the genu-
inc in size. weight and devices. The fine
ness of the counterfeit so far discovered
varies from the genuine, but in some cases
cout1in higher percentage Of silver than
the genuine.
PLENTY OF HALF DOLLARS.
A very dangerous counterfeit silver half
dollar has made its appearance in the East
and West, the weight of which is 1872
grains, with a finencss of .s6T l-2, while
the weight of the genuine is ., OF the
finencsS OF 500. To what 9 eXtcnt this Coun-
terfeitiug has been done, it is impossible to
say.
These coins could not have been made
from genuine dies as a record of all dies
mauufacturedis kept. These dies are mum
bercd, and at the end of each year are
canCeied and returned to the mint n Phiia-
dclphia, where they are compared with
the record and when found correct are
destroyed in the presence of the Superin-
tendent, coiner, engraver and assayer
of the mint at Philadelphia.
The director states that il would be i'm
possible for these coins 10 have been is
sued from the mints. as every precaution
is ken to see that every coin stamped
comes within the tolerance allowed by
law, both as to the weight and fineness
From every delivery OF coin by the coiner
at any of the mnts, two pieces are taken,
indScriminately, and sent to the bureau
Of the mint, where they are weighed and
asSayed.
IN addition to this, there are taken to
be tested by the annual assay commission
enc piece from each 1000 pieces or frac-
tioual part of 1000, and none of the coins
so far tested by the bureau or the annual
assay commission have been found outside
of the limit of tolerance, either as to the
weight or fineness.
SO far the best known protection against
the counteTleiting of coins has been found
10 be the Lettering placed on the edges
similar To that on the first coinage of
the United States or of the 5-franc piece
OF France.
REMEDY WANTED.
The director recommends that authority
be given the Secretary of the Treasury To
have experiments made to determine the
best means of preventing the counterfeit
ing, or, at least, minimizing the danger.
At the prevailing price of silver the
difference between the bullion and nominal
value OF our silver coins is about 90 per
cent. This constitutes great temptation
for the stamping of such coins by ulscrlIpu-
lous persons, affording them an opportunity
TO place in circulation counterfeit silver
coins at about 90 per cent profit, as good
as those stamped by the mints, and which
cannot he distinguished from them, even
by experts.
The minting of metal into coin after the
true alloy has been obtained is very
simple matter, and does not involve ma
chnery so complicated or SO expensive as
tomake an insuperab'e bar to dishonest men.
The chief obstacle is the innate honesty of
the people and the danger of detection from
some oversight. 1t seems to be a sort Of
fatality with rascals that they cannot exc
cute perfect work, and, again, after they
have produced piece that will pass even
the closest scrutiny, SOME one of the gang
is always doing some trivial thing that lets
the light in on their nefarious operations.
To make silver Collars the government
official, authorized TO 90 the work, rolls
silver ingot into 4 ribbon several feet
long, few inches wide, and OF the REQUIRED
thickness for the Coin. From this blanks
are punched by n machine, and these
pieces are taken TO set of employees,
whose business it is 10 adjust perfectly
the weight. This is done with the aid
OF pair of delicate scales, the blanks are
then put under die and stamped with the
Goddess or Liberty and the A merican eagle
or whatever other design may be in use
The coin is then ready for circulation.
This outline does not include the diff
cult operations of securing the exact pro-
portions of silver and copper which go to
make the government requirement. but IL
must be remembered that the counterreiter
is saved this work by the fact that the
Mexican coinage is so exactly similar to
~