The Washington herald., 1922-04-18
Secretary Mellon Replies
To Assertions Made in
Printers Organ.
CHALLENGES EDITOR
TO PRODUCE PROOF
Director Admits Charges
Well Founded-Former
Chief Disputes Claim.
By ARTHUR SEARS HENNING

by AMI 1O II SEAHS HENNlNG
Charges that the country is food
ed with millions of counterfeit cur
rency notes and government securi-
ties brought the faction now domi-
mating the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing into a head-on colli-
sion with the Treasury Department
yesterday.
Secretary of the Treasury Mellon
emphatically denied the assertions
called the authors of the charges
sharply to account. and demanded
that proof be produced.
In an article lauding Louis A
Hill, the new director. and Presi-
dent Harding for his summary dis
charge of Director wilmeth and
twenty nine other employees, the
Plate Printer. official organ of the
plate printers union, said:
Flooded with Counterfeits, He says
with the country flooded from
coast to. coast with millions OF
counterfeit Federal Reserve notes
United States notes, Federal Re
serve currency, national bank notes
silver certificates. war savings
stamps, postage stamps, interna
revenue stamps, and all issues oi
the war bonds and their coupons
drastic action was required to stoI
it. and decisive action was taken
After a conference with Assistant
Secretary wadsworth. who has tu
risdiction of the engraving bureau
and Chief Moran. of the Secre
Service. Mr.. Mellon issued the fol.
living statement:
I'm view of the statements mad,
in publication known as tn,
Plate Printer, which are receiving
wide publicity, to the effect tina
the country is flooded with million
Of counterfeit bank notes. bonds
war savings and other stamps. ant
war bonds and coupons. the secre
tary of the Treasury deems II prop
er to make public announcement
that no such condition exists.
CLAIMS Treasury on Alert.
NO information has come to tn
Treasury of any overissue or coun
terfeiting of United States bond
or coupons attached to the same
"As regards war saving an
other stamps. bank notes and othe
/ forms of currency, attempts ar
made from time to time to coun
terfeit the issues or raise the de
nominations of genuine issues. TIL
Treasury Is constantly on the aler
to stop such attempts. In sub
stantially every case where effort
have been made on any consider
able scale. the guilty parties hav
been apprehended and brought {
| trial. and their activities ended.
The Secretary of the Treasur
desires to state in the most cm
phatic terms that the public nee
have no apprehension as to tn
| genuineness of the government sc
curities and currency now out
standing"
Secretary Mellon also addresse
a letter to Frank J. Coleman. edi
tor of the Plate Printer.
T request" the letter sait
| that you Immediately furnish m
with any evidence upon which yo
based the statement referred Il
The Treasury will be glad to re
ceive such evidence and will a
once investigate II with the great
est care"
Maintains He Can Produce Proc
Coleman said that he could pro
duce the proof of the charges, bu
| declined to go into details. Dir-c
| tor Hill, said he knew that tn
| charges were well founded. but t
what extent he was unable to sa.
Development of photo-mechani
cal processes have made counter
| feiting easy" he said. The bes
safeguard against counterfeitin
| lies in the use of a better grade O
ink by the bureau, the use of bet
ter paper and a more rigid inspec
tion of work"
This statement Is disputed b
George U. Rose. former chief of tn
! engraving division and the imme
| diate superior of Hill, who wa
discharged by the President at tn
| instance of Hill.
"A photo counterfeit
Is easily detected" said Rose. 81
a photo counterfeit, tn
lines in portrai:- particularly ar
blurred The best safeguard agains
counterfeiting is in the quality @
engraving on the notes and securi
| ties turned out by the government
The assertion that the country
flooded with counterfeits is abso
lutely untrue"