Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-05-08
NEW MONEY FOR OLD.
AN EXCHANGE FOR INITIATED AND
WORKOUT BILLS.

the Department and Schemes For
Cheating the Government.
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 each
one of them has to pass on the genuine
ness of the money presented for re-
demption. and this is a difficult task.
Remember that this money comes to
the treasury. as n rule. only when it is
so 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 work
Of counterfeiters and should be rejected.
1t is not at all to the discredit of the
experts of the bureau that some bogus
money has got past them and been de-
tected in one of the offices to which the
pieces of the money go for further ex-
animation. This does not occur often
The peculiar province of one expert
is not to detect bad money-thougb
she is an expert at that-but to put to-
gether torn pieces of money sent in for
Identification and redemption. These
pieces of money come from all parts of
the country and arrive under most ex
traordinary conditions. This is not sur
prising in view of the fact that they
come from experiences with fire and
water and gastric juices and many 9th
er powerful agents. a not infrequent~
accident to money is to be left in a
stove. whence it is taken in a badly
charred condition, with only ashes to
represent the greater part of 1T. Often
it is used by rats to mike their nests,
or, buried in the dampness of cellar, it
rots away. or. swallowed by a COW, it is
rescued from her stomach a 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 and less than three-fifths of
the original note one-half the face value
of the note is given. For piece as
great as three-fifths the whole value of
the note is given. For piece two-fifths
in size of the original nothing is given.
But this last provision is limited by the
law, which gives discretion to the treas
ury department to give full value for a
note if the owner can prove to the salts
faction of the authorities that the note,
or the missing 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 ad-
vantage of it.
The fragments of money which come
to the treasury are turned over to one
of the experts and sorted out under the
miscroscope for Identification. They are
picked apart, and each tiny piece is as
signed to its place like part of puZ-
zle This is usually done on glass. and
the fragments are eventually put be-
tween pieces of glass to hold them to-
gether while they are measured to see
whether there Is two-fifthS or three
fifths of the note identifiable 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 beautiful home at
Newport WAS burned Mrs. Vanderbilt
sent in about 81, 900 in mutilated cur
rency, out of which the expert was able
to identify for redemption all but
fraction of the sum.
1t it Is not alone mutilated money
that comes to the treasury. but dirty
and worn money of all kinds. to the ex-
tent of nsarly $500, 600. 900 a year.
Sometimes counterfeits get past the
experts in this bureau and are caught
in the other bureaus to which the halves
are sent when the packages of old notes
have gone under the knife and been di-
vided up for counting and identification
before they are destroyed. But this is
not the most frequent form of attempt
ed fraud. The mutilated money offers
the easiest path to this sort of crime
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 |
ly charred. accompanied by an affidavit |
from the sender that he had put the |
money in his pocket. hung his coat on |
Il fence and that the coat had been
burned. to the destruction of part of |
the notes 1t happened that the treasury !
had redeemed the other halves of these |
notes just two and half years before |
for a money broker on the Bowery. in |
New York and. thinking the case sus-
picious. had kept an eye out for the |
of attempted fraud. The
Kansas man was person of good bust
ness standing. and his bankers threat |
sned the treasury officials with dismissal |
if they questioned his affidavit. They |
put the case in the hands of the depart
ment of justice. and eventually the |
man pleaded guilty and was fined 81
200
4 bank in Alabama received from a
deposition a fragment of $40 bill. and /
the treasury people paid 50 for it