Catoctin clarion., 1899-12-21
THURM0MT Frederick County, Maryland Thursday December H. 1893.
SOME NEW DOLLARS.
FRESH DESIGNS ADOPTED FOR UNCLE
SAM'S PAPER MONEY.


The Treasury Dissatisfied With the
cart Notes" Now In Circulation.
How the New Patterns Are Being
Turned Out.
The people of this country will be
spending several new kinds of money
soon. Already few specimens OF
Il have been printed In Washington,
but the Treasury will not be prepared
to issue it for a while yet, because II
takes a good many millions Of notes
and certificates to fill the demand, and
after they have gone through the
presses they have to dry for weeks
very slowly, 80 that the ink on them
may not blur in handling. Besides, only
the one-dollar and two-dOllar silver
certificates are finished; the first de-
sign for the five-dollar certificates has
been rejected by the Secretary of the
Treasury, and the other denominations
are to come.
The reason for preparing these new
designs for the paper currency Is sim
ply that those which adorn the bills
now In circulation are not considered
satisfactory. AS one Treasury official
said the other day: "The pattern OF
the present one collar note wouldn't
make q decent newspaper cut
couple of years ago the Government
bureau of Engraving decided that
what the country really wanted was
artistic money, and it hired some we'll
known artists to execute designs for
the various denominations Of certih.
Gates and notes. 1t was beautiful
idea, but somehow 1t has not proved
success. These high-art bills now In
circulation, with their allegorical pic.
lures and ornamental shields, wreaths
and things, have excited nothing but
derision on the part Of the public and
most particularly disgust In banks and
counting rooms, where their obscure
numbers have made them difficult to
reckon.
"A money note is piece of work
purely technical" said the Treasury
official above quoted, land the purpose
of its design Is as far as possible away
from an idea which an artist has In
mind when he sits down to make
pretty picture. One hangs IA picture on
the wall, or it may he suitable for a
portfolios the design Of Il bill requires
first Of all the Q"ality OF enduring
wear with least possible injury. 1t has
to pass through the greasy hands OF the
butcher. and across the sloppy counter
of the beer-seller; II is crumbled In the
pocket of the car conductor, and there
is no sort of abuse that it Is not liable
to undergo. Accordingly, every ele.
ment in the makeup of the pattern
hox al rnfnrnnaa
abeness. The principal lettering should
he bold and black, so as not to be easily
obtiterated, and good strong partrait
is not only hard to obscure, but is the
best safeguard against counterfeiting."
About 50 per cent. Of the surface OF
the new bills on both sides will he left
blank-hrstly, in order to show the
tihres of the paper better, and, second
ly designs more vividly and clearly.
One trouble with the art nCGST ls
that their designs confuse the eye,
making ii more easily actually lor
counterfeit to pass. The paper money
about to be issued, on the other hand,
Is almost severely plain. An eagle with
outspread wings is the principal orna'
ment of the face of the one-dollar silver
certificate, a portrait OF Lincoln being
engraved underneath 1t. The figure !
and the Treasury seal are In bright
blue. and both seal and denominationai
number will he Of this color on all OF
the new certificates, 80 that the latter
may be distinguishable at a glance
from United States notes and bank
notes. The twO-do!lar certificate has
head Of Washington.
The Treasury people say that the
value Of the portrait as a safeguard
against counterfeiting lies in the fact
that we are all of us more familiar
with human faces than any other oh.
jects in the world. We are accustomed
to recognize our friends, and very soon
we will become so we'll acquainted
with face on new bill as to notice
the smallest alteration In it's express
sion. A steel engraved portrait cannot
be perfectly initiated, and the differ
ence of a line will produce n change
in the expression which any one Will
perceive at glance. The "art notes.
have portraits on their backs, but these
being printed in green are comparative
ly obscure, and the face Of a bill, any.
way, is the side usually examined
Experts admit that note can be
made handsomer by engraving 1t all
over, but they say that few scat
tered fragments Of design, very elabor-
ate, are most difficult to counterfeit
successfully. The new bills have com
paratively simple patterns on thelr
backs, but the geonetrical lathe work
used is at the same time very com
pllcated in its traceries, so as almost
to defy imitation. All denominational
figures are made large and plain, espe'
cially at the corners of the face, so as
to render cOuntsD.: easy. In some OF
the ..art notes" the e all-important fig.
ures are actually obscured in an at
tempt to make theUl decorative.
The fibre paper will be retained in
the new bills notwithstanding obiec
tions made to it by some experts, who
urge that it is practically worthless as
protection against c0untcrfelting. II
was used long ago for considerable
time by the Government, but was dis.
continued because the people who
owned the patent for it demanded an
exorbitant royalty for the privilege of
employing it. In the issue of United
States notes of 1869 the ingenious
scheme was originated of placing a
band Of colored fbres on the left hand
side of the denominations under $50
and on the right hand side Of the larg'
or denominations, the object Of this be-
ing to beat that entelprising gentle
man, "Pete" Mccartney. who had de-
veloped a fad for washing the ink off
small pads and printing big ones en-
the blanks thus obtained. In this way
obviously, he could get the real Treas
ury paper, fibre and all, at a relatively
cheap rate.-Cor Boston Transcript.
Wise Birds.