The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-12-18

A regular carnival OF counterfeiting is
in progress and the country is being
flooded with "phony'' money. Experts
Of the United States Mint frankly admit
that they have difficulty in detecting the
real from the bogus coin, for the eoun-
terfeiters are making the money of real
silver of finer quality than that used in
the genuine pieces, says the Brooklyn
Eagle.
The explanation Of this is that silver is
so cheap that the silver dollar half dol
lar, and quarter can be made at a profit
OF about so per cent. In other words.
there is only about 20 cents worth of
silver in a dollar piece. . cents worth
in a half dollar, and 12iz cents worth in
quarter of a dollar. This means that
even if the counterfeiter make his bogus
money of real silver he can still rake In
3 handsome profit. getting 50 per cent on
the risk he takes in passing his coins.
What a bonanza this discovery has
been 10 the cOunterfeiter may readily be
imagined. There Is great risk In ''shov-
ing the queer when the queer is made
OF tin or lead This variety of queer
queers itself on sight, and a man or wo-
man must be in a great hurry or very
careless TO accept counterfelts that ring
with about as much music as a pebble
and affect the sense OF touch ike the in
side of an oyster shell. The clumsy coun-
terfeiter who tries 20 pass this Out-of-.
date stuff is jeOpardiZeing his liberty at
every attempt. But the man who han
dies only coins that ring true. are real
silver 10 the touch, and can safely with
stand all the perfunctory tests for genu-
ineness Is fairly safe from the law.
nOgus Coin OF Real Silver.
The question that viii naturally be
asked by any one reading the foregoing
How. then. can one recognize a counter
felt coin that is made of real silver?-
was asked by the writer OF a govern
ment expert The answer was that only
by a careful examination under a micro
scope can the difference between a we'll
made bogus coin OF real silver and one
turned out from the United States Mint
be discerned. The minted coins are
stamped in a die press, from which they
come out with the diverse and reverse
sides imprinted on them. Formerly coins
were made by molding the metal. the
molten mass being poured into a matriX
and allowed TO cool. But this process Of
making coins became Anticipated long
ago and is no longer in use except by the
counterfeiters who cannot set up a plant
with die press without too much expense
and adding greatly 10 the risk Of detec-
ton. Therefore. the counterfeiters work
by the old process OF holding, and. al
though the metal they use is real silver.
they cannot make the coins with the
clean-cut precision Of a government die
press. So il is possible TO detect the diff
ference when a microscope is brought TO
bear on the nodded coin and the figures
and letters OF the design are examined
closely.
But how is il possible to carry around
a microscope for the purpose OF examin-
ing apparently good coins as they are
passed around in the course Of everyday
business. It is obviously impossible, and
therefore the counterfeiters who use care
in preparing their coins and make them
OF real silver stand a very good chance
Of escaping the clutches Of the law.
The West is the favorite stamping
ground of the cOunterfeiting gangs, for
there silver circulates more freely than
IN the East and there is infinitely more
opportunity 10 make money from the
money they make.
Only One Trump Card.
The Secret Service men are on the alert
as ever for the suppression OF this law
less game, but they confess that they
have only one trump card This is TO
watch carefully the silver market If
any one is caught buying silver in large
quantities. then a close watch is kept TO
see what is done with IL As purchasers
of silver are necessarily few in number,
the work of watching them is NOT as
difficult as il may seem. This close es-
piOnage has driven the counterfelters to
purchase silver in small quantities from
many sources, and in this way the game
is kept within bounds to some extent,
but il is carried on much too extensively
for the peace Of mind of the Secret Serv-
ice men. Both In this country and in Eu-
rope the real silver coin that is not gov
ernment-made is being circulated in ever
increasing quantities.
IF the coins are real silver and II is
almost impossible to tell the difference /
between them and minted coins, what
does il matter TO those who handle
themT'
This question. asked by one philoso-
pher, is referred to the Secret Service /
Bureau. Uncle Sam is. of course. the
one who suffers most, and the average
individual is not wasting much sympathy
over that prosperous person.
With gold coins 1t is, OF course, alto /
gether different. There is no profit to
the eounterfeiter in making gold money. |
and so he leaves it alone, the metal be
ing very difficult to counterfeit with any
other composition and the real thing be !
ing too expensive TO use. Also there is /
not so much gold in circulation in this /
country as abroad. and so the possibility I
OF passing it is additionally slim.
The coins that are made OF tin or lead I
are, of course, easily detected, but these /
TO circulate, being worked of in /
the country districts or in places where /
money is changed in a hurry But this !
kind OF counterfeiting is not up 10 date. |
The maker of money that Is all too OBJ |
viOusly ''phony'' is a hack number. The /
up-to-date cOunterfeiter is he who uses /
real silver and defies almost every known |
method Of detecting the fraud.
That Depends.
A diving oreS-,