The Irish standard., 1899-04-01
PATCHING UP OLD MONEY.
Work OF the Government to Reim-
bnrse individuals When Bills
and Coin Are Injured.

There are several experts employed
by the government to inspect the cur
rency offered for redemption. In fact
every person employed in the bureau is
in some degree an expert, because one
OF them has to pass on the genuinencss
of the money presented for redemp'
ton, and this is I, difficult task. Re
member, that this money comes 10 the
treasury, as a rule, only when it is SC
badly worn that it will not pass cur
rent. This dirty, torn, greasy, ragged
money the experts have to handle and
decide whether it was issued by the
government and should be redeemed at
its face value or whether it is the worl,
OF counterfeiters and should be re,
jected. 1t is not at all to the diScredit
Of the experts of the bureau that some
bogus money has got past them and
been detected in one Of the offices to
which the pieces of the money go for
further examination. This does not
occur often.
The peculiar province of one woman
is not to detect bad money-though she
is an expert at that-but to put to-
gether torn pieces of money sent for
identification and redemption. These
pieces of money come from all parts
of the country and arrive under most
extraordinary conditions. This is not
surprising, in view of the fact that
they come from experiences with fire
and water and gastric juices and many
other powerful! agents. A not infre-
qucnt accident to money is to be left in
Il stove, whence it is taken in badly
charred condition, with only ashes to
represent the greater part of it. Often
1t is used by rats to make their nests;
or, buried in the dampness of cellar,
it ots away; or, swallowed, by a cow,tit
is rescued from her stomach Shiny
mass Of paper.
Here are the rules of the treasury for
the redemption of mutilated money:
For piece of currency greater than
two-fifths of the original note, one
half the face value of the note is given.
For piece as great as three-fftlis, the
whole value of the note is given. For
a piece two-fifths in size of the original
nothing is given. But this last provi-
sion is limited by the law, which gives
discretion to the treasury department
to give full value for note if the own
er can prove to the satisfaction of the
authorities that the note, or the miss
ing part Of it was destroyed. This last
provision opens the door to possible
fraud, and many are the efforts made
by dishonest persons to take advantage
OF it.
The fragments of mosey which come
to the treasury are turned over to one
OF the experts and sorted out under
the microscope for Identification.
They are picked apart and each tiny
piece is assigned 10 its place like part
OF a puzzle. This is usually done on
glass. and the fragments are eventual
]y put between pieces of glass to hold
them together while they are measured
to see whether there are two-tifths or
three fifths of the note identifable, or
whether it is so little that the owner
can recover nothing. Sometimes it is a
very serious matter to the owner; but
the poor are not the only applicants for
assistance to recover damaged money
At the time w. X. Vanderbilt's beauti.
full home at Newport was burned, Mrs.
Vanderbilt-now Mrs. Belmont-sent
in about $1,000 in mutilated currency,
out of which it was able to identify for
redemption all but a. fraction of the
sum.
Some of the experiences of the re-
demption division with would-be
thieves are interesting. One man in
Kansas sent to the treasury the halves
OF some small bills with the edges nice
1y charred, accompanied by an affidavit
from the sender that he had put the
money in his pocket, hung his coat on
fence and that the coat had been
burned to the destruction of part of
the notes. 1t happened that the treas
ury had redeemed the other halves of
these notes just 2N years before for a
money broker in New York, and, think
ing the case suspicious. had kept an eye
out for the possibility of attempted
fraud. The Kansas man was a person
of good business standing, and his
bankers threatened the treasury Off
cials with dismissal if they questioned
his affidavit. They put the case in the
hands of the department Of justice and
eventually the mar pleaded guilty and
was fined $1,000.
a bank in Alabama received from a
depositor fragment of a ten-dollar
bill. and the Treasury people paid five
dollars for it. Later came claim ac-
companicd by the other part of the bill,
little charred With an affidavit saying
the sender had burned the remainder
OF the note by mistake.
a Chicago man sent in fragments of
two $50 bills and one ten-dollar bill,
with an affidavit telling how the other
halves had been destroyed; and in the
same mail the other halves of these
notes came in from Chicago bank. A
special agent caught the maker of the
affidavit, who proved to be the tool of
some swindlers, and he was sent to
prison for year and half.-Wash
ington Star.
When Making n New Home.
Calculate in advance not only the
cost of buildinr thnz hOusa- Int +bo