Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-01-13

IQOllar Dill, 1Or instance, ana cnanSlnt
it to ten. The numerals are erased
in the corners and the blanks arr
then filled in so carefully that time
and again bank cashiers and teller
have been fooled. 1t takes a good MAJ
a whole day to change one bill. Five
raised to tens are the most frequen
defenders of this sort. The workman
thus makes IS a day. Considering tn,
risk he takes, it isn't very much.
These, in brief, are the chief meth
DDS of the counterfeiters. There arr
two ways for them to get the spurious
money In Notwithstanding it Of
buying articles with big bills or coins
and getting good money in exchange
The first Is so dangerous that it !!
seldom done; with good counterfeit!
the second is surprisingly safe.
| And yet in almost every instance, ir
spite Of all care and precaution
counterfeiters are eventually run tc
earth. Why? Three reasons: banks
secret service and system.
| In the long run most money In
circulation comes into the hands OF
some bank. And there the counter
felt, good or bad, eventually meets Its
downfall. Tellers and cashiers handle
so much currency that they seem to
be gifted with second sight. Every
once in a while in thumbing over
| bills or counting a stack of coin a
teller will stop, scrutinize the thing
in his hand and then lay it aside.
Here Is where system comes In.
Perhaps he can tell at first glance
whether or not the money Is bad. If
so, he knows what to do. But If he
is doubtful, he goes to the back Of
his cage. where one or more periodi-
n1c lat, 1nGl
two monthly counterfeit-detecting
magazines published in New York
city itself. If the note in his hand is
a ten issued by the Auburn City Ma
tional bank, Of Auburn, n. Y, he
looks up New York, then Auburn.
Perhaps he finds this:
IN. Y, Auburn City National,
Check Letter A. July 20, 1865, Char
ter No. 1885: In vignette, lower cor
ner, Franklin's kite string is broken,
or hidden by clouds. In genuine, Is
wholly visible. Seal and numbers
poor Lathe work on back poor"
And that Is what he wants to know.
If he cannot find a description OF the
still thinks it is not genuine, he takes
the second step in the working of the
system and sends the suspected bill
to the magazine, which for the privi-
lege Of looking at it pays him its face
value in good money If it turns out to
be bad.
The magazine people cooperate in
turn with the secret service. If the
bill is a new counterfeit it is imme-
diately turned over to the government,
and a description Of it Is straightway
sent out on postal card by the
magaZine-sent out to all banks and
financial houses with which 1t is in
touch. And the next teller or cashier
who gets the mate of the note knows
right off what the counterfeit is.
Perhaps 1t seems only natural, but
the great bulk of counterfeit discov-
cries is made through the banks,
which communicate Immediately with
one of the ounterfeit-detecting maga-
zines or directly with the secret SER
vice. There Is new national law
now, passed only last winter, which
requires that any one possessing a
United States counterfeit of any sort
or having knowledge Of its possession
must notify the treasury department
at once. under penalty of imprison-
ment and a heavy fine. The result Is
that the Federal authorities get in
touch with every wly-discovered
counterfeit now within day or two
of its detection-with the result again
that they are able Immediately to
start on the track Of the men who
manufactured the money.
How does the cashier know whether
or not money is good, and how can
you know? A hard question, but best
answered first with two big don'ts
And they are: Don't judge a coin
by it's ring and don't judge a bill by
the paper. The ring Of a coin Will
often show it's genuineness, but the
thing gets a bit confusing when we
learn that many good coins do not
ring true, generally because of some
little imperfection. and that many bad
coins do ring true.
AS for notes and bills, once in a
while you can tell by the paper, but
down in the secret service office they
have a nice collection Of them which
would fool almost anybody every
time. Great heavy five-dollar bills as
thick as asteboard-perfectly good,
but soaked with oil or something else
which has dried them in this way
Other bills all limp and thinned out
acid work on them, but not in the
least impairing their worth. And then
there are some notes which fold and
crinkle and show threads in the best
approved style-counterfeits.
The best ways OF passing on a coin
are these-its weight In
comparison with one which you know
to be good, it's thickness, the feel OF
metals have difterent
surface textures-and the accuracy Of
its workmanship. This last Is the
easiest test for the average mortal.
With paper money the best test Is
its appearance under a microscope.
All genuine bills are machine-engrav-
ed This means that all shadings,
curves. backgrounds and patterns are
formed of minute lines which are alb
solutely unvarying and absolutely un-
broken from end to end. 1ntersect-
ing lines always cut each other at
precisely the same angle where they
are supposed to. Parallel lines are
actually and mathematically parallel.
The sweep of curving lines Is per-
feet.
All this is done in the government
offices by special machines, machines
so expensive and so protected that
could not possibly al
ford them as they run anywhere from
$4,000 to s15O.000 in value. Makers
of counterfeit paper, therefore, have
70 do this work by hand. and al
though it is often done by the most eX-
pert workmen in a way which would
1efy ordinary observance, the mi
croscope will reveal the truth. Hand
made lines can give the general ell
feet of those made by machine-but
here and there they wabble. perhaps
in the tiniest possible way, and none
Of the lines are of the same fractional
breadth from one end to the other.
Nor are the curves scientifically eX-
act. o.
SO it is that the banks or the secret
service expert can always detect. And
so it is, too. that in the long run the
always gets his just ae-
,erts. with a whole country watchlns
for what he does and a SILENT tite
ess government dogging always at his
heelS.-New York sun.
Bits of Philosophy.