Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-22

The only exception made under the
statute is in favor of a person who does
these things under authority from the
secretary of the treasury or other proper
officer no suggestion being given OF
where the line shall be drawn tWe
other" officers who are 'propersa or I'M
proper" In the case of the drafts Tor
Spain, it might fairly have been-assumed
that the secretary of state was a aaproper
enough officer to give permission. being
the head of the cabinet. Blu the secret
service thought otherwise, and the young
woman was required to turn over her
negatives to the government in order 10
avoid prosecution under the counterfeit
ing laws.
These laws are extremely sweeping IN
their terms, and are construed by the
treasury authorities severely, as q RUE.
The writer of the present once put this 70
the test by laying a piece of paper over q
twenty-dollar gold piece while chatting
with the late Chief Brooks of the secret
service. and carelessly rubbing a pencil
over the surface of the paper so as to pro-
duce something that looked Xix a black
relief of the face of the coin. The CHIEF
quietly reached across the table n cop-
fiscated the paper. with the remark that
this was one of the things the law fof-
babe, and referred to the revised statutes
in support of his assertion. 1t was our
ing the administration of Chief BROOKS
also that a wooden plaque was seized Ply
secret service officers as it hung on the
walls of a restaurant in Washington, pc
cause an artist had painted on 1t. IN Qli
colors. a picture of a treasury note. NY
no possible means could any one have
taken that board and passed 1T upon an
unsuspecting victim as a piece OF paper
money; but the chiefs explanation or the
matter was that the government mad un-
dertaken not merely to guard he pubic
against imposition where attempts were
made to practice it. but to discourage at
the outset any disposition on the part OF
persons clever with pen or brush or other
art tools even to trife with the dangerous
business of counterfeiting.
"More than one man whom l have ar
rested" said the chief, has confessed TO
me that his career as a counterfeiter be-
"a without elaboration, but by the acci-
dent of discovering that he could make
a pretty good imitation of something
which the government says must not be
initiated. You might sit down with your
pen and see how good a picture you could
draw of the face of a United States
note. with no purpose in the world except
amusement; out the government says
that you must not do his-not because
the act in itself is wrong, but because 1t
does not propose to let your skill throw
lGI!lptdllCI III JOui P0tH. " AZ
the only safe rule in such matters. The
instant you begin to dabble with harm,
however i~nnocently, you tread on danger
GUS ground"
Acting on this principle, the govern
ment has repeatedly seized plates en-
graved for pictorial use in newspapers
representing coins, postage stamps. and
new designs of paper money. The news
paper proprietOrs probably had no idea
of violating the law in having these
plates prepared, and the damage had
been done-if it ever were to be done
by the production of the pictures in print;
but the plates were seized, all the same.
In contradistinction with these exhibt-
tons of especial care, there have hung on
the walls Of one Of the most popular
restaurants in Washington for 20 years
a set of a half-dozen pieces of fractional
currency of the civil war era, the pQr-
trait Of each having been worked over
with a pen, SO as to give the cast OF, a
different nationality to the face. Section
5414 of the revised statutes prescribesI "a
fine of 5 $1,000 and Is years Imprisonment
at lard labor for every person who "al-
ters any obligation or security Of the
United States" but qualities this with
the phrase, with intent to ~defraud." If
the purpose of all the anti-counterfeit-
ing legislation is to keep people from the
temptation to make a wrong use of their
pen, it seems as if such work as the al
teration of a portrait on a note was as
Dad as any other: and If the most sweep
ing construction is to be put upon other
p~rohibitory clauses in the law, it is hard
to see why this n should not be con-
strued in the same sweeping way, by the
assumption that the artist intended to
''defraud" by making his work appear to
hav been the work of the engraver. In
short, such work as thisS seems to bear as
close a relation to the work of counter
feiting as the newspaper representations
of coins, lamps or notes. A kindergar-
ten teacher several years g devised a
design for a toy currency, made of tiny
disks of sheet metal, stamped with an
emblem and legend, the largest of the
pieces being no larger thai the nail of a
lady's little finger. There was not the
remotest chance of any ones m%istaking
this toy money for the real thing, and the
object of it's manufacture was as innO-
cent as could be, its author wishing SIM
ply to teach children how to buy and sell
and count by setting up an imitation
store or bank in the school. But the
whole issue was confiscated as soon as
discovered. 1t is hardly wonderful that
the public are puzzled at times to know
where the logical phase of this business
ends and it's arbitrary phase begins. . 1t
seems as If either the law might be made
more consistent with itself, or it's con-
struction settled by the courts. =
the authority of the United States), shall
be punished by a fine of not more than
5000, or by imprisonment at hard labor
not more than ID years, or by BOTH" I
~