Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-06-12
LOST MONEY
By Frederic J. Haskin

package of bills from it's hiding
place in the parlor stove before
| lighting the fire in the fall? If you
drop a dollar bill and it blows into
the gutter and is never recovered,
| who profits? If you fall into the riv
| er and drown and your remains take
their place permanently in Davy
| Jones' locker, who is to the good to
| the extent of the modest roll IN your
vest pocket?
The answer to one and all of these
| questions is, Uncle Sam. Every
piece of paper money that goes out
| from the treasury and fails to re-
turn, profits the government to the
extent of it's face value. If it is
! gold or silver certificate the metal
which was placed in the treasury for
it's redemption is never called forth.
| If it is federal reserve note or
| that have been deposited as guar
| antee at the time of it's issue, or their
eouivalent, remain in the treasury
SO is there solace to the patriot who
| so loses his wallet that if it is not
found by another it's contents are
| applied to the expenses OF govern
| ment. - :.
| At the treasury department 1t is
| impossible to determine from the
records just how much money mas
gone out that will never return.
| There are, however, certain facts
|
| innate.
Shinp1aster Profits
During and Immediately FOLLOWING
| the Civil war the. goVernment lss sue.
about 1870, 100000 in fraction cur
rency, called at the time shlnplaS-
| ters, of denominations below dol
| lar. Now, sixty years later, tnere
are still $15,000,000 worth OF them
unredeemed. 1t is bellevea 5 LIZ 1I;ao
men who died in battle. The pills
were of such small denominations
| that they were carelessly handIeo.
| ANYWAY, the government proflted to
| the extent of $15,0OO,oUO from lno
| shinplasters that were lost.
Between the dates Of 1867 anu anu
1887 the government ISSUED olle-uu1
lar United States notes to the amount
Of S1S8,OOO, 900 and then d1scontln-
ned them. It has been th1rty-three
| Years since any of them were ISSUED,
In 1907 $4,000 worth of them G ea dne
in for redemption. I'm IN 10 900 90 iO of
hose dollar bills that have not come come
| haclx and it does not seem propaplee
| mat they ever will. N1ne-tentns -, ~
| I ner cent of them were lost' ~: 81 li1o ne
experience Of these ,o do1 bs estimated tiI
tbnf near1y | per cent of the dollar
| hills put out never return: - aou.r
Tbere was an issue of two-oollatt
hills about the same size ina The
forth during the same per!ou. 49,
nercanfage Of them lost is less tna ina.
Per tIe Se1iaU hills. because the larger
~ ~ Hi the more careful is us pos
on with it, Seven-tenthS OIL L
ner cent Of the two-dollar pliLs hee eo+
lame back and because OF TINS IT, 80
the government ppoli'e"
amount of $1,35O,O0o
Eight Million Dollars Profit
From figures available it is estl-
mated that bills OF larger denoqlInaa-
tion are less frequently lost. Prop.
ahlv not more than three-tenths or
/ Der cent of them fail to retu:.i,;
Talling it all together it is estimated
that, aside from the shlnplaSIer44
that were lost, there have oeen apoot
81 900 900 worth of paper money tnaI
went out from the treasury ana never
came back. These were Ohlteu
States notes, and gold and silver GER
Tn addition to this there are the
bills put out by the natloLaa o ,a+eac
his lis money. and to it and not to the
hank of issue comes the proht from
hill that is never presented 1oL 10
demption. The national banks naog nave
about third as much paper IN r1o The
treasury and it is probable mat Inc
e e. we has made three or, four
niIlion dollars out Of lost naIlolldA
bank notes. &c ca new
Federal reserve currency IS SO new
q thing in the monetary lie OF me
nation that none Of its issues my may
vet he written off as lost. feoeLai
reserve banks have a stupenuoue
amount of currency out; noMreU
and, basing judgment on the eXp tair
ence of the past, tnere 60 come
hack. There are some three pilllolls
of federal reserve paper now III eAc
is+ence, If one-ha1f of 1 per cent OF
that money never returns, Wh -,
seems a reasonable pefcenetaige' n IS
! gcvernment will find itself IN pos
ssession of a. velvet from lost money
Of that variety aggregatlng 94o'-
100000.
Fires Fill Federal Golfers
Certain occurrences have added
materially to the governments proht
on money that never comes back Tor
redemption. There is an item on the
books of the treasury deliberately
| stroyed in the Chicago fire: The
treasury admits that it profited to
that extent. 1t undoubtedly saved
itself the necessity of redeeming
much more than a million. Wherever
there is a fire of any considerable
it to the government on burned mon
ey. The San Francisco and Bait
more fires were directly profitable t.
the government. When the Titan;
went to the bottom of the Atlantic
unknown amounts of currency went
down with it. There was American
Taper money in the strong boxes ot
the LHSitania when the German SUBJ
marine sunk her and there was
American par " money in the poci-
cts of most of the people on board.
The same was true of many ships
that went to the bottom during the
world war. All of this that remains
unrecovered is profit to the govern
ment.
When the Chicago fire occurred and
through the embers to find the safes
in which their money had been put
away. With impatient hands these
safes were opened to see the condt-
ton of the contents. In many in
stances this haste was expensive.
Flames were not able to penetrate
these safes to consume the contents
Being alright there was not enough
oxygen in them to create blaze. But
in many of them there was still
safes they burst into flame and the
contents consumed. Had they not
been opened until they were entirely
cooled the contents would have been
intact.
BY the time the Baltimore and San
Francisco fires came, such safe own
ers as ks had acquired more wis
dom. Ample time was given for
them to cool off. In most cases it
Was found that the paper money IS
dried and 1ifeless but still intact.
Much of it went back into circula-
ton. More Of it was replaced by
the government with new money
Even when little but ashes are left
the government will redeem burnt
money if the bills are still recognize
able Such bills, carefully packed in
cotton batting that they may not De
ground into a powder, are %still as
good at the treasury as though they
were in the original form. They will
be identified and reissued.