The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1905-05-20
CONTEMPLATING
Americans Are Adopts In Making Bogus
Money

''Thcre is n widespread impression that
most of the countrrfritn= in this coun-
try j. done hy foreigners, principally
Italians. This is Il mistake. About 81
per cent. of the colntcrfctcrS the Amer
leans. Almost without exception the II
per cent. is made up IF Italians" said
John f.. Wilkr,. Chief of the Secret
Service. to Il representative Of the st.
Louis Republicans.
"Thc Italian is generally an expert
modclcr in plaster. and the making of
mods is easy with them. In Italy the
counterfeit industry thrivcS, and is more
generally practiccd than here. Nearly
every traveller in Sorthcrm France and
Northern Italy has his experience with
counterfeit coins in those countries The
money of the two countries is ntcrchan-
geablc, and Americans and foreign tour
lists are victims sometimes for large
amounts of money. European nations
are rot So careful nS we are about tech
nical violations. and that is where they
make Il mistake. Over here we do not
permit the reproduction Of ANY obligation
purpt SrS. Furthcrnor". we Dc not per-
nit the reproduction of thcohi@It.nmS
of the Government. even for advertising
of other countries.
"GClmIuy. like other European ma
tieas. does rot prohibit the reproduce
ton of foreign obligations that are used
for advertising purposes. An English
lithn.laphic house recently turned out
cUlLplct" reproduction of our 81 silver
certificate. the only change being that
the name of IL theatrical company wils
inserted where the letters United States
of .lmrrica' are printed. The company
went to Canada and travelled all through
the dominion. scattering these documents
everywhere. Some of them reached the
United States and we seized them We
had our Government take the question
up with the English Government, which
succeeded in arranging with the litho-
grapherS to destroy the plates from which
they were printed.
''The Italian counterfeitcrS work in
gangs and their methods are different
from the American. They organize. into
oath-bound bodies. scratch their arms
with StiletoeS and sign their names in
the money sells it to the wholesaler. the
latter to II jobber and then it gets to re-
callers. The business is done just as
American business men buy and sell dry
goods or groceries. The manufacturer
sells the spurious coins for so much on
the dollar, generally 30 to - cents: the
wholesaler gets 30 or 40. and 50 on down.
Fruit pedlers. boOtblacks and other class
es pass the money and keep it going. The
favOritc coin is the 30 cent piece
"Thc Italian counterfeter makes de-
ceptive stuff. but the American counter
feiter takes more pains with his product.
There are ciles where the counterfeit
coins are made of silver. but this is not
often. Coins of genuine silver are eXlr'n-
svc. Genuine silver has to be struck
with Il die. and requires Il machine. while
the base metal coin. which is so prcva-
lent among counterfcitel~. is simply
molten metal poured into II plaster
mold. There is no silver in the mixture
at all, the composition most of the time
being tin and anthony, the latter to
ian counterfeiter will put Il thin plate
of nitrate of silver OF something else
over the coin and the brightness soon dis
appears. the coin becoming black. The
American makes the plating much
thicker and it stays bright much longer.
The American counterfeit costs more
thar the ITALIAN