Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1908-07-07
MAKING BAD MONEY
INCREASINGLY
HAZARDOUS
MAY
FIND OCCUPATION GONE
Directions How TO Detect
Spurious Bills and Coins That
Have Been UnlawfUlIy Tam
fered With.


New York. July 5-Whether crime
Is actually increasing or decreasing Is
a disputed point among so~cioiogists
one branch Of criminal activity that
shows a steady falling Of from year
% year Is the making and passing o.
counterfeit money. According 10 the
records Of the government secret SER
vice and Of the bankers association.
the amount Of queer" money in cir
cuiation has been growing steadily less
and Jess in proportion 10 the total for
the past twenty years. The expert
cOunterfeitcrs. men like the famous
Ringer. WhO we're artists A. the prac-
tice Of their dubious profession. have
been driven out Of il by the increas-
Ing risks and the relentless pursuit
which the government and the banks
have practiced toward them. At the
present time most Of the men engaged
iu this occupation are cheap skates. "
who would rot have been recognized
BY the Old-time leaders who reckon
ed their profits bv tons or thousands
Of dollars. The efforts Of these mod
ern money criminals are confined
chiefly 10 sweating gold coins and
passing or on newly arrived immi-
grants base limitations that would not
Tor a moment deceive a person famil-
lar with our currency.
The reason for the virtual disap-
pearance Of what once Was recognized
as the top rank Of the various Grim
inal pursuits IS due partly 10 the re-
lenflessness with which Uncle sam
hunts down every counteFfeiung enter
prise. no matter how long fl may take
to reach the criminal Partly also II
comes from the increasing use u
banks. With the multiplication Of
banks and trust companies almost
everybody maintains some kind Of a
bank account and this is really the
greatest protection against counter
feiters for II j. in passing under the
scrutiny Of the money-handiing eK-
perts iH the banks that most spurious
money is detected and retired from
circulation While II is true that c0un-
terfeiters as successful criminals are
becoming more and more scarce. il ~
equally true that there is sim a large
amount Of money Ia circulation. per
haps . million dollars or more. which
fails to come up to standard require
ments in n or more particulars.
There are two general fields Of ac-
ryify for the man who tries 20 make
his living by tampering With the
money n the country. The first Of
these Is the reproduction Of currency.
whether paper or metallic. The Sec
.ond. the more devious. Is that in which
the chief end is robbing gold and the
larger silver coins of a part 81 their
value and then putting them into cir
cuiatiOn again. In the first class. that
II actual cOunterfeiting. the pr0dbc-
ton Of bogus bills Is the most common
feature. II Is cheaper. no more diff
cult and the returns Of infrequent Bc-
cess would seem 10 De larger. Almost
every denomination n notes Us coun-
tecrfoited. but the public has the sat-
~isfaction Of knowing that It's c~ircula-
lion Invariably leads 70 the detection
Of the c~ounferfeiter. V'i*h a consequent
term ln Jail while the average man
feels that the task Of detecting bogus
bills when they pass through bis
hands IN p perfectly innocent Bag ig
rather too much for him. and must be-
Jeff 10 experts. there are. nevertheless.
several rules which II remembered.
viii often afford protection. These
rules have e. 10 with the manufacture
.Of the currency by tho government
Al United States notes are printed
i'm sheets Of four notes ~ 1cnomi-
nation on each sheet Zach note Is
iettered in its respective order. in the
upper and lower corners dlagOnaliy
opposite. 4. y. q and - and we have
this system FOR numbering q notes:
Al numbers On being divided by 4 and
irayinE ] FOR "a remainder have the
check letter a. 2 remainder. y; 2 re-
mainder. q. even numbers. Or with no
remainder. u Any United States n0ie
the number upon which a be- divided
by four without showing the above r.
suit. Is q counterfeit and SMILE this
rule Is not infaliible ia All instances.
IL uill De found Of service in the detcc-
tion u cOunterfcits
While paper money g. sum counter
fcited. gold and silver coins receive
more attention. The great d~ifnculty-in
the field % the "mOney-maKer b
found ia necessity Of conforming
Il ;he sane time 70 the standards,
weight. appearance and ring While
"a counterfeit coin maF have the c0r-
rect weight. the ring az a general
thing. = gffen ~ poor az o. cause im-
mediate exposure. Then. too. 81 usual
iy f. not 80 trim ia appearance a. the
genuine. and the coin often has the
wei known greasy feeling u base
metal
a daring and temporarily successful
counterfeiting scheme IA discovered
recently IN France. where thousands
OF counterfeit gold ten frame pieces
were put IN circulation They were
made Of glass which. ln a molten
state was forced iHto mosiss Thea
hy another equally Ingenious process
kn0nn technically a. that u ~gaitan0-
piastrie the coins were covered Aith
q fire film III gold. 20 perfect waz
their appearance and 20 joyous their
ring when tested on e marble slab.
tha TO one thought - =~uspecfing
them There uas one Heakne1 how
eVer-there alnass is-and that vas
fneir f~raei1lltT The cashier ~ a
bank dropping on h stone floor
in his hurry was sfupeDed 70 ser n