The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-06
LIFE OF A BANK NOTE.
IL Is Much Shorter Than II Used
to BE.
From the Washington Post.

4dIiy NuOSe OF sIH6i QenOfllilldtloiiSs do
a one. two or FIVE dollar bill, has al
ways been much shorter than the
average person would imagine. OF
late, however, owing to the great in
crease of prosperity throughout the
country, its existence has been cur
tailed until at the beginning of the
present year it has been estimated that
the ordinary outstanding note now
lives but a little more than two
years.
The main reason for this lies in the
fact that as business becomes more ac-
tive there is a greater demand for
small bills for ready use. and these,
being handled oftener and more care
leSsly than the larger ones, they wear
out much sooner. This tendency TO
have the average value constantly re-
duced has made a great increase in
the issue Of new money amounting to
over $1,000 900 in bank notes and gov
eminent paper currency, and pro-
pOrtionate increase in destruction and
redemption.
All of this has its effect on every
department through which the note
passes, from the time of the beginning
of its existence in the paper mills OF
Massachusetts, whence il is sent to
the Bureau of Engraving, to the Trea-
sury, and to the countless people who
use il, until it again reaches the
Treasury, where il is redeemed and
ground into pulp.
In the paper mills this increase in
the demand for notes necessitates more
employees and more machinery. In
the Bureau of Engraving, where the
money is engraved, printed and num-
bered before being taken to the Trea-
sury, the results are still more mani
fest. During the past year 450 more
clerks have been added, thus bringing
the number up to 2.S51, which. when
set up against the 4T9 employees which
composed the entire working staff of
the bureau % years ago. is a forceful
reminder of the rapid growth and pros
perity Of this country.
Moreover, the great amount of work
done by the bureau since 1900 has re-
quired the organization Of a night force,
besides the extension at times of the
hours of labor of the entire printing
force. As the night corps consist large
ly of women, who are thus required to
pass through the streets at a late
hour of the night, and as every avail
able foot of the present building and
extensions is occupied, the director has
recommended to the attention of Con-
gress the necessity for the erection of
ii ICN UulluIilSs VIEW lIldCHlnGIy has
also been added, including a num-
bering machine which has just been
put there.
In the treasury, where the blue seal
is imprinted on the bills before they
are issued to the public, so per cent.
more money has been delivered during
the fiscal year ended Jan. /, 1908. The
cashier there had the same story to
tell. 1T is because people are send
ing more money than ever before" he
said and there is a constant demand
for small bills"
The next step is from the treasury to
the people of the United States, where
in the average case for two or three
years, the bill passed through vicissi-
tudes unknown, but easily imagined. If
one of these pieces of money could
speak what a tale of human interest
II might tell! From the time the new
money is obtained fresh from the bank,
how many hands belonging to how
many widely differing individuals han
die it.
At one time it may be thoughtlessly
spent for some unnecessary trifle, or,
again, IT may have been the last money
belonging to a pauper who has saved
1T, looked at it, and put it back in an
old wallet countless times before the
dreaded hour when it had to be spent.
1t may have been given as a present
to some sufferer or perhaps it was
stolen by a pickpocket. All of this and
much more it goes through, but event
ually it all comes back, like everything
else, to the source from whence it
sprung.
Every day the division of redemption
in the treasury is sent huge bundles of
money from all over the United States
for cancelling, and new money is given
in its place and the old taken away and
destroyed. The chief of this division
also acknowledged that there had been
a steady increase in old notes brought
in and new ones sent out. New banks
are sprnging up in many places" he
said, land there ia a continual demand
from the people for smaller money
ready for use which they feel better
able to spend now than ever before
In the midst of the rush of business
in the redemption division every now
and then an individual comes in bring
ing a batch of old money to be ex-
changed for fresh notes. Not long ago
an old colored man had a habit of drop
ping in from time to time with old
money for redemption. The case seem
ed little suspicious to the director,
who had the man locked up. He found
his strange visitor to be a well-to-do
resident of Anacostia, and the head of
a prosperous family. He had, however,
a habit of burying all his money in
the ground, where it soaked until II rot
ted, for il seemed he would not trust
any bank with his treasure. Then
whenever he needed any money he
would bring ii to the treasury for fresh
bills to replace the old ones.
Naturally, however strong the rule.
there are the usual exceptions to prove
1t. Notwithstanding the general in
crease in new money and the handling
of it, there are many little places where
for years a bill scarcely ever changes
hands, where counterfeit money is new
err questioned, and where new money
rarely makes its appearance. No fur
Their than Fairfax county, Virginia
there comes the story Of man from
Washington who had a note changed
there for small bills. The change was
SO old and worn that he was Obliged
to send 1t to the treasury for fresh cur
reney. A short time after this one OF
the bills was returned to him with four
holes punched in it, and an accompany
ing statement that 1t was piece of bad
money.
well" said the old Virginia country
man who had given the change, when
the case was reported to him, thai
money might have stayed down here a
hundred years and we never would
have known it,"