Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-27
LIFE OF PAPER
DOLLARS SHORT
CLEAN MONEY IS WANTED BY
AVERAGE CITIZEN
Recently Uncle Sam Has Had to ln'-
prove Machinery Devised to De-
stroy the Worn Out
Bank Notes
Especial to The Herald. ]

WASHINGTON. Dec. 26-"The re-
demption of worn out paper money is
now averaging S1000,000 day During
the last fiscal year the government re-
deemed and destroyed the enormous to-
tai OF $500 100000, which Is easily the
largest amount redeemed in any single
year These figures show that there is
great activity in business circles
throughout the country"
The foregoing statement was made
recently by United states Treasurer
Charles II. Treat. He says that one OF
the best barometers of the state of ma
tional prosperity is to be found in the
daily report of the redemption division
of the treasury department. When
trade is brisk throughout the country
and people are buying and merchants
are selling the medium of circulation
passes rapidly from hand to hand.
When paper money, worn out and rag
ged by rough usage, finds its way to the
treasury for redemption it is an unfail-
ing sign that times are good.
All past records have been broken i'm
the redemption division during the last
few months. The value of bills turned
in to be exchanged for new ones has
been running above $4,000 900 day for
a long period. About six years ago the
daily redemptions were less than a mil
lion dollars. The great volume of the
worn out bills are in denominations of
81 and 81. The activity of business is
further shown by the frequent requests
for redemption of So and $40 notes with
ones. During the last six years there
has been an increase of so per cent in
the total number OF 81 bills in circula-
ton.
Money Factory Is Big
1.-The people of the United States"
more fastidious every year in the mat
ter of handling money. They have
gradually become accustomed to fresh,
crisp bank notes or treasury certih-
Gates and do not care to handle soiled
and dirty looking money, suggestive
of microbes. The government has en-
couraged this tendency to demand
clean notes.
"A big money factory is maintained
here for the purpose of renewing the
supply, and il costs very little Tor
banks to get it. The only charge for
the exchange is 40 cents per $1,000 for
TRANSFORMATION. The banks have learned
that their customers like clean money,
and they do not hesitate to return
crumped and worn notes and demand
new ones. 1t is a rare thing for the
department to send back these notes
with a statement that they are still
| fit for circulation. The average wear
of a 81 treasury certificate is fourteen
months. Formerly a note would stay
out for three or four years. Roughly
speaking the body of the circulation
is entirely renewed every two and one
! half years.
The business of redeeming paper
money has grown to such proportions
that the government recently found 1t
necessary to improve it's machinery for
destroying notes. For more than half
a century paper money for redemption
was destroyed by being cut in two by
giant steel blade operated by a
strong-arm employe. Now the notes
are mutilated first by an electrical
! punch, which puts four holes in each
bundle of stacked-up bills. Then they
are further pushed under knife, also
operated by electricity, which deftly
cuts them longltudinally through the
middle. Between 00,000 and 100000
individual notes are thus destroyed
every day.
What Is Legal Tender?
II venture to say that not one banker
in a hundred and not single member
of the senate or house can tell you ac-
curately what parts of the United
States currency are legal tender and
what are not legal tender" was the
SURPRISING SldlelilShl VI d eiVe'0ui Oii
cial Learned senators who are devils
ing a new currency system would have
to resort to the laws in order to find
out lust exactly what is meant by this
term.
Gold certificates are not a legal
tender. but are receivable for customs,
taxes and all public debts. Silver GER
tificates are not a legal tender Neither
are national bank notes. They are re-
ceivable, however, in payments of
taxes, excise public lands and other
dues to the United States except duties
on imports. Trade dollars and frac-
tional currency are not legal tender,
Fractional currency is receivable for
postage and revenue stamps, and also
in payment of any dues to the United
States less than So, except duties on