Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1909-12-23
ERRORS COST MUCH
LARGE SUMS WASTED By vARl.
GUS GOVERNMENTS.
For One MisspeIIed Word 100000
United States Telegraph Blanks
Were Destroyed-kaser Will
helms Editorial Work.

helms Editorial Work.
Enormous sums of money are fire.
| quently expended by various govern
ments to rectify errors, often appar-
emily trivial, in government printing.
The United States, some years ago,
destroyed 100000 telegraph forms
! owing to the misspelling of single
word.
In 1888 several hundred thousand
greenbacks we're Cancelled before is
sue owing to the same cause. An en-
ploye was convicted for attempting to
steal some of these worthless notes,
with the intention of selling them to
collectors.
The Austrian government is so in
tolerant of mistakes that it cancels
documents, not only on the ground of
serious mistakes or misspelling, but
even as the result of misshapen let
ter. The use of a small instead of a
capital "B'' in the word "Briefe' led a
short time ago to the destruction of
$4,000 forms issued to the various
post offices.
In 1850 an Austrian designer of bank
notes signed his name in tiny letters
at the foot of drawing. The en-
graver copied the name, and before
the mistake was discovered 10000
notes were printed, all of which had
to be burned
Before the union of Italy, more than
one attempt was secretly made to
turn official papers and notes to prop
agandist uses. A custom house regu-
lation form SO spaced by the compos-
itor that the initial words in every
line, if read consecutively, were de-
claration against the papal claim to
govern Rome.
In another case the spacing of
words in certain bank notes was so ar
ranged that by drawing a pencil line
In particular way rude outline of
the arms of Savoy resulted. These
notes, of course, never saw the light,
the device being too obvious to escape
detection.
In 1901 Spanish engraver was
heard boasting that he had Signed
his name" on every one of the 10000
bank notes just about to be issued.
When called on and asked for an ex-
PLANTATION, he declared that he had
been joking.
But an examination of the notes
showed that certain letters in one line
We're raised microscopical distance
above those next to them.
These raised letters spelled the en-
ploye's name. Seven hundred and
fifty dollars was the price paid by the
authorities for their engravers' joke.
The kaiser's persistent interference
in all matters of art has cost the IA
therland heavy losses in cancelled
printed matter. One of his first acts
as sovereign was to show his subordi-
mates how the imperial arms should be
printed.
After many thousand forms and doc
uments had been impressed with
these arms an antiquary of high au-
thority proved to his majesty that the
new design was not only wrong, but
also humiliating to himself. Seven
thousand five hundred dollars worth
of papers were promptly reduced to
ashes.
In another case the kaiser Sub.
edited" the German money order form
In such way that the public could
not make head or tail of it. Finally
the new form had to be called in and
thousands of unissued copies de-
stroyed
Fifteen thousand pounds worth of
postal orders had to be destroyed by
the British general post office some
time ago owing to the poundage
stamped on the face having been Id
stead of 11ad, as it should have been
The estimated loss to the country was
$500.
France has been bad sufferer In
1898 more than twenty thousand hun
dred-franc credit notes were printed
with word badly misspelled, the err.
ror not being noticed until some of
the notes had been issued to banks
New York Herald.