Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-20

A T the bureau of engraving and print
~ ing men are now working night
q - and day to perfect designs which
are to be used in the near future on a
new series of gold and silver certificates
United States bank notes and national
bank currency to supplant the series now
in circulation throughout the country
The new notes will be of the same de-
nominations as those being issued at the
present time. but they will differ in point
of design and. more particularly. in point
of size, the contemplated issue being con-
siderably smaller
1t is conceivable that the new arrange.
ment at its inception will give rise tC
many unusual situations in different quar-
tiers, it being no trifing matter to suddenly
loose millions of dollars worth of coin
certificates of unfamiliar size and design
upon country as large as the United
States. The Secretary Of the Treasury
has approved the new designs.
Director Ralph states that 1t was the
desire of the Secretary to arrange Sc
ries Of paper currency which should be IN
To that end the Secretary has been in
consultation with many of the most emf
nent artists of this country. At the same
time. by enlisting the aid and advice OF
technical experts from all over the world
he has succeeded in thoroughly familiar
iZing himself with every phase of the
technique of bank note work. SO that in
passing judgment upon the designs sub
mitted to him by the bureau he was in a
position to select those that offered the
most. both in point of artistic merit and
Of protection against cOunterfeiting.
-
In the opinion of those in power at the
bureau, it will require approximately
eighteen months from the time that the
designs selected by the Treasury Depart
ment are submitted for execution to en-.
grave the original dies and make the
plates necessary to print the new-style
notes in such quantities as to quickly re-
place the old currency In circulation by
redemption and exchange at the sub
treasures.
1t was found that the greatest obstacle
in the contemplated change lay in the
difficulty and expense of changing the
size and design of the various bank notes
issued independently by the national
banks scattered about the country. 1t
was obviously impracticable to undertake
to reduce the size of the United States
notes while allowing the bank notes to
remain unchanged in that respect. owing
to the great inconvenience to banking
firms and large mercantile concerns
which would result from the handling
daily of thousands of dollars worth of
different sized notes. Moreover. the Sec
rotary felt that it would be unfair to
burden the banks with the expense or en-
craving new plates with which to print
the reduced sized notes for their indi-
vidual needs He finally hit upon the
scheme of allowing the government to
print and issue to the banks uniform
note, which should bear neither the name
of the bank nor the signatures of it's Of
ficers, but which should be distinguished
as. coming from the national bank to
which il was issued by some feature such
as the banks charter number or letter
or combination of letters.
BY means Of this arrangement consid-
cradle saving will accrue, for 1t will be
only necessary TO use between 100 and