Omaha daily bee., 1908-12-27
COUSTERFEITS DON'T PAY
Down in the Republic Of Colombia,
South America.
WHERE FIAT MONEY FIOCREHEs
Becau.e the Baak Votes Th~r~ Are
worth Only ABsuf one One-Han-
dreth Of Their Fses v.lue
In ExchaaEe.

Dsun in the republic 81 Coicmhia IN
Eouth America there r. q sort % eornic
opera paper money. Al t1ld there - m
circuiatfun about a milion cha worth
Of Il. which is pretty good for . country
whose population Is 5.a0pa. especially
when n - rsnembered that many Of these
faIkr never saw q cents worth a the
money
A siEn IN the streets reads- 'CsrveEA
s. un vasio. The hesitatinE tourist reads
d out Beer. s. . glass Then he wonderH
what ssrt Of enormously wealthy country
he has struck Tor hts misf0rtunes and be-
gins to believe That the Old tales Of the
Spanish lays didn't sxaeEerats IN the
least.
Tnless TIE little word ~uro.- meaning
sold. follows any statement about money
the tourist should divide BY 100 Five DOL
lars without this Qualification means I've
cents. CABS a. S1ee or s7so an hour means
civilized rates Of from q 20 aA
IN the billiard parlor paying $50 an hour
ISN'T AZ extravaganza az 81 seems when II
is divided by l8. Also. reducing the sun
total Of paper money 70 III value IN sold
il comes to n0.0a8aa rather more In keep
INK with the size % the country
Il al began some years VI when Co
1onbia was solvent. Then the money Wal
worth What the face vai1e declared Il t'
be. But when the first Of a long series o.
revolutions Of recent times came on t'
government ran shy o. money IN the treas
ury.
BeantT of PrfntfnH Nsney.
A report to that effect by the Treasures
rot the reply: Print some more II \
Ike the shares Of q take Eold mining con
cern. There are bound 20 be plenty a
49, 81. IN. printing presses hold cut The
kept on printing the money Until sFsntAA1l
tsere vas 50 much that the value Ten .
shopt 80 "a / that IL n q man had q BAN
note Of zoe pesos II Was worth Just 80 cent
in real money or gold
Even now the same fatal facility !
prtnt;ng money exiSts but tire present gov
ernmeut has set u work % make the mons
worth more nearly what II calls for. som
aav Il may return to ia face value.
The Columhians have no c0nndenoe .
their own paper. They avoid taking II =
exrhanee Tor sold. II possible. A draft o.
Eaaland or the United States. payAbie z
enid. circuIatss practically as reA money
II CHANGES from one hand 70 another VII
endorsements mult2lyinE. until finally Il !
necessary 90 sd an extra slip OF paper I
carly the surplus Of names The o"ne
doesn't want to cash Il IN for the pape
r,r,rr because the xchan varies % Eor
DAY TO day that be may lose money .
changing.
In Coiombia the morning greeting {
merchants isn't How are you but no
In sxchanEey~ Some days 4 gold dollar
worth 100 pesos. other days II may be up !
1K Then. AzHln. II may fan under ]"
II hasn't done that recsnty-
Bank Tn . Tigh Place.
An English mining ompan recent
wanted TO get a draft for Ss.0e eAshe'
That means Ssa.g1g gold. or 1eo,os paPs
money. The draft was presented az tn
Banco Central
The bank had to do some tail scrAtehin
70 get together this sum The mining oun
pany got a request Tot long after unat
be good enough thereafter TO give about
months notice when II wanted any soe
sum Of money One Of the men IN q
company said be had an idea that anoui
such request would mean that the g0ver'
ment would have TO cable 70 Englan
where the money IL printed now. 70 IA
the printers run off q l0t Of the stuff II
eompanv had 70 have the native money
nay or Is helpers. otherwise 4 would ha'
been verY loa9h 70 let 30 much gold go
II Is a country where cou1ter1eaui
would naturally be supposed 70 % one
the lost arts. When the governmenf ma
its own money Unsteady Of having u print
abroad uhatever cOuuterfeits there We
were 20 much better MADE than the 50
eminent money that they passed cure
very readily. Every one recognized the
as eounterfeitA. bat few persons care