The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-06-03
Secret Service Men Think There is
Plant In Mexico.
Genuine" Counterfeits Are of the Same
Weight and Fineness as Mint Coins
This Is Made Possible by the Depre-
citation of Silver-New Wrinkles in
Counterfeiting.
New York Sum-

attention anew to one of the most attrac-
tive fields for rogues, maintained by our
Government, through the legal tender
quality of the silver dollar. When the
dollar of our daddies" was first coined
it was worth as much in bullion value as
it was for coin, and there have been times
when it was worth even more than the
bullion in gold dollar. In those days
there was nothing to induce any one to
make a counterfeit of the silver dollar
unless he made it of pewter or brass
Times have changed since then. 1t is
true that counterfeiters still make imita-
ton dollars, and halves and quarters of
pewter and other gross compounds and
pass them for genuine upon the glimmer
of a washing of silver, but such coins
are easy for any one to detect as bad.
Most of them can be told by their lack
of ring and those which ring lack weight
or are too large.
But to the really enterprising man of
business, who has no scruples against
breaking the law, the fall in the value of
silver has opened up a field of industry
which holds forth most attractive promis-
es of profit. The silver in United States
dollar is worth as bullion only 46 cents
today, and dollars worth of halves or
quarters can be made of full weight and
fneness out of 43 cents worth of silver.
If the industry of making coins of silver
in this country were not confined by law
to tho TTpitad Ctatac Mip+c tboro CON no
no doubt that the prospect of a profit of
more than 30 per cent would bring out
swarm of manufacturers to break the
market. Over in Mexico, the arm of the
law is weaker and this sort of industry
has fiourished there from time to time
illegitimate profits have been reaped from
making counterfeit United States silver
coins of full weight and fneness. In fact
it is asserted that some of the counter
feiters have been so generous that they
have put in even more silver than the
United States does and that one way to
detect the coins is by their overweight.
When silver first began to fall in price
the possibility of counterfeiters making
genuine" coins occurred to coin experts
and money changers; but it was not until
silver fell to price which offered at least
90 per cent profit that there were evil
dences of such work The secret service
men said little about it then and they
say little now, on the ground that to call
attention to this sort Of easy money MAX
ing plan might tempt more persons to
enter it, or warn those already in the
business that detectives were after them.
AS early as 1890 The Sun called atten-
ton to the existence of what were evil
IDENTIFY counterfeit silver dollars, made of
full-weight silver, and in circulation in
the southern part Of the country. David
FL. Carvalho, the expert in handwriting
in this city, had been down to Mont
gomery, Ala, about that time as a wit
ness in lawsuit, and he found himself
much annoyed by the silver which he got
invariably when he changed bank note
He spoke of this, and was told that moth
ing else would circulate, especially
among the working people, because the
negroes could not tell 81 bank note
from $40 note, and so would not take
them.
One day Mr.. Carvalho was cooling his
heels out in an ante room, being excluded
from the court room in company with all
the other witnesses, and he had nineteen
silver dollars in his pocket which he had
just got in change for go note. 1t oc-
CURED to him to ask his comrades wheth-
er they had ever seen the III which marks
either side of silver dollar. At that
time few people knew of the NJ. 1t is a
small indented letter which shows on
every Bland dollar on the neck of the
female head on the diverse side of the
coin and on the ribbon which ties the
wreath on the other side. 1t was cut by
the engraver and designer of the dies, and
represents the initial of his name-Mor-
gan. The double eagle has the initials j.
b. l.. cut into it, standing for the name
of its designer, Mr.. Longacre.
None of the men with Mr.. Carvalho had
heard of the M. and he began to look for
it to show to them. He didn't find the
mark on the first coin and then tried an
other. He found that it was absent from
six of the nineteen dollars that he had.
This was believed to indicate the extent to
which full weight counterfeits had been
put into circulation at the South at that
time, and it was said that a profit of
IS, U0J 200 had been made out of this work
Silver rose in price after that and offered
too small margin of profit to attract
that kind of counterfeiting, but within
the last few years it has fallen steadily
in value until now there is 81 cents profit
to be made on each dollar and it is be-
llcFeu Unttb d lou OF collars are making. A
few of these dollars have been discovered
in this city in shipments of silver from
the West. Some were found by the Sub
Treasury counters and some by money
changers. So little silver circulates here
that this Is no field for passing them, and
they remain in the South and West.
Our local counterfeiters would not be
satisfied with SO per cent profit when they
can made SO per cent easier and SO they
stick to making pewter coins in plaster
of paris moulds. To make the real silver
article requires heavy and expensive ma
chinery and fine steel dies The counter.
felt dollars, halves, and quarters which
have been seen here indicate that the
makers have all of this machinery. Tho
coins are SO near like the originals that
only an expert can detect the differences.
After once getting the plant, the cost of
coming the silver is almost nothing.
This work is, in fact, SO cheaply done
that a great subterranean industry has
grown up, apparently right here in the
East, in the manufacture and utterance
of counterfeit one cent pieces. Probably
every money changer in this city has got
dozens of these one cent counterfeits
which have been put out of circulation by