Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1922-09-02
More Money to Counterfeit.


Another strong reason for an in
crease in counterfeiting resulting from
the war was that there was an in
crease in the number of kinds of
money and securities to counterfeit
When there are only few kinds Of
money in general use the people be-
come so familiar with their appear
ance that they quite readily detect any
fault in design or general appearance
But when there are many new and
unfamiliar kinds, the people are at
| loss to know whether they have gen
uine money.
Twelve federal reserve banks were
established at the time the war began,
and all issued currency of two kinds
| federal reserve notes and federal re-
serve bank notes. Also, the treasury
issued billions of dollars in Liberty
bonds, Victory notes, war savings GER
tificates. thrift stamps and treasury
certificates of Indebtedness. These
were all new to the people and of un.
familiar design. They constituted a
paradise for counterfeiters.
Reprint on U. S. Paper.
One of the most difficult obstacles
for the counterfeiter Is the distinctive
paper on which government notes are
pI inted. 1t is made by Il secret process
and has so individual an appearance
and feeling that almost every one can
detect substitute. All denominations
| - nrintnH M
notes of uniform size. Therefore Il
| favorite device of the cOunterfeiter
| is to take a 81 bill and raise 1T
| denomination. He will bleach II
ard have piece of nearly white dis
tinctive currency paper on which he
will print note of higher demon
! nation. Such notes are hard to DE-
tect, especially if the counterfeite'
prints $50 or 500 note of new an
unfamiliar series.
Another scheme is to take not
and change only the figures. Thi-
proves snare to the c0untcrfeiter j
he gives such note to man fami
lar with the designs of money. Sucl
a man knows that 500 note has
buffalo on its design, but no $40 OF
500 issue has. This sort of counter
feiMng has increased with the new
money because the counterfeiterS know
that few people are familiar with the
designs of the various new issues.
The same is true of the Liberty bont
issues. No two issues are alike, ant
counterfeiter changing the denomina
ton of 500 bond to $1,000 could
readily be detected by one who has
studied bond designs.
Experts in Secret Service.
The secret service at Washington
has many experts who are very hard
to fool with even the cleverest coun-
terfeit, and while counterfelting has
increased to great extent, the circu-
lation of counterfeit money has not
done so. The new counterfeit issues
are detected very early in their Ca
reers and the source discovered and
stopped. 1t means more work and
constant vigilance for the government
agents and greatly increased investi-
gative work.
! The appearance of women in the
counterfeiting profession has caused
the secret service many difficulties.
The women are not engaged In the
actual manufacture of counterfeits,
but are confederates in the passing of
the spurious currency.
COunterfeiters seldom work alone
N emit Of hn fno N do cI,
that only the counterfeiter who plays
lone hand meets with success for
any extended period. But 1t is hard
to practice the profession singly. The
great difficulty is in getting the coun-
terfeit money into circulation. To ac-
complish this the master counterfeiter
has accOmplices. The general prac-
tice Is for the counterfeiter to sell his
spurious money at substantial dis
count. He will sell a 500 counter
! felt bill to a passer for $50 of gen
: uine money and of course no one is
more expert in detecting spurious
money than a cOunterfeiter. The
: passer then may make another sale,
getting perhaps $75 in real money for
his 500 counterfeit.
! Great care Is taken not to let many
OF them get into circulation at the
same place.
Women Plead ignorance.
It Is in this passing branch Of the
profession that women are being EN-
plOyed. They make valuable cOnfeder-
ates because when detected they fire.
qnently escape arrest by claiming to
know little about handling money and
therefore are easily imposed upon
A curious psychological mystery
about the whole profession Of counter
feiting is that really good counter
, feiter requires skill of such high or
der that he could earn a better living
by honest employment of his talents
than by the manufacture of spurious
currency. Counterfeiting is long
tedious process beset with hard work
and difficulties and 1t Is rarely indeed
that cOunterfeiter makes as much
money before he is apprehended as
he could from regular honest employ