The Coconino sun., 1907-06-13
BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES.
The Enormous Output and the Safe
 guards Against Forgery.

3uaTus H8aiHst ToT9STy
 The Bank of England refuses to use color for its notes on account of the fact that the authorities be- heye that its whiteness and appar- ent simplicity are the greatest safe guards against forgery. The white ness of Bank of England note is different to that of any other pa per and is obtained by using only the very finest linen rags in the making.
 At Laverstoke, little village in Hampshire, the paper is prepared, and at the mill there every blank is as zealously guarded as if it were already engraved. Every workman or workwoman employed at the mill is bound to secrecy, and the secrets of the mysterious water mark and texture of the paper are known only by the most tried and trusted of the workmen.
 It is not generally known that ev- cry bank note bears a private water mark, which is constantly being changed in way known only to the head officials and which is discern ible through a microscope only. And it says much for the vigilance and skill of the Bank of England cashiers that, although they pay on an average f27,0Oo in exchange for notes every day, they have never yet paid forged note.
 The easiest way to detect forged note is by dampening corner with the tongue. If genuine, the water mark appears very distinct In counterfeit notes it almost disap- pears. On genuine "fiver" there is a small white dot on the right side of the Old English 'I' in the word Five" The tail of the lettel "F" in the sentence "For the Gov ernor and Company" is also left in an incomplete state.
 The ink with which bank notes are printed is made of charred husks and stems of Rhenish vines, and the recipe, like the manufac- ture of the paper, is a carefully guarded secret.
 Each bank note costs about a halfpenny to produce and on an av- craze is in circulation about seventy days. After being paid the notes are stored by the bank for five years at the end of which time they are destroyed by burning in large fur mace. Eighteen millions of money thus disappear in the course of ev- cry year.
 Once a note is returned to the bank it is never reissued, and after being cancelled by having the sig nature of the chief cashier torn off it is placed in what is known as the bank note library for purposes of reference. There are no fewer than 120 clerks in this department, and so perfect is their system of filing that any one of the 77,745,000 notes which form the usual stock on hand can be reached in five min utes.
 Altogether the Bank of England has some fl5 1000, ,000 worth of notes in circulation and issues between 50,000 and 60,000 notes of various denominations each day. There are seventy or eighty kinds of Bank of England notes of different values. Every year about 5000 of the notes issued are lost or destroyed by the owners. At any rate, they are nev- CT returned to the bank and repre- sent clear profit. While it is true, however, that if note never comes back the bank profits to that amount, they never can tell when these so called missing notes may be presented.
 Some people possess a weakness for hoarding bank notes, and the re- suit has been that frequently the bank is called upon to cash dirty, crumpled notes which were issued years ago.-London Tit-Bits. | r 4hn Is