Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-03-30

| WASHINGTON Dec. SU-Ihe
idea simplifying and standardizins
articles of general use has reached
money and a school of advocates of
one kind of paper currency for the
| United States is gaining results. At
present there are seven different
kinds Of paper currency Issued by
| the United States government and
| Of the seven kinds there are eleven
denominations. In the aggregate
! therC are sixty different notes to be
| engraved and printed by the gov
ernment and handled by the people.
ThJ main objections to such di-
versity OF money are, first, the
| manufacture, storage and handling
| of so many different kinds costs
two or three million dollars a year
more than a single kind of currency
would cost, and, second, to have so
many varieties of money outstanding
| encourages counterfeiting, When
there are sixty different money de-
| signs, no one but bank teller or
other expert in handling money can
| be sure to detect q counterfeit at a
glance. No ordinary person becomes
sufficiently familiar with all the Va
| rieties.
First, there is the United States
note. This is issued in ten denom-
nations. The general design of
| United States notes is the same but
each of the separate denominations
is distinctive. Then there are the
Treasury notes of 1890. This Is I
limited series and no new ones are
being issued but there are $1,489,-
683 of these old notes in eight
denomination still outstanding. The
most numerous group is that COM
posed of the Federal Reserve notes.
AS matter of fact there could
properly be added twelve additional
kinds to the total of varieties of
notes used in the United States be-
cause each Of the twelve Federal
Reserve banks issues its own notes
and while the design is in general
the same, each bank has it's own
name upon its notes. There are
nine denominations of Federal Re-
serve notes totalling $2,6S2,726,st5
outstanding. The fourth general
kind of notes is made up Of Federal
Reserve Bank Notes. Federal Re
serve Notes are obligations of the
United States; Federal Reserve
Bank Notes are issued under a diff
ferent section of the law and are
obligations of the Federal Reser0e
banks. There are six denominations
of these notes outstanding, totalling
$3S. S.348.0O0,
A fifth and very intricate class
is composed OF national bank notes.
These are issued in ten separate
denominations and there is even
NOR variety in their designs than
in notes of the Federal Reserve
banks. Each of the 1900 national
banks has It's own name in orna-
mental lettering on its notes and
each note is signed by the president
and cashier of the issuing bank.
There are s76s,000,000 in these
notes outstanding.
Gold and Silver Certificates
Eight denominations of gold GER
tjf1cates make UP the next general
class of money totalling in value
81, 1876, 100000. The seventh kind of
money is composed OF silver certid-
Gates and there are nine denomina-
tions of these. The total outstand
ing is sS77.000.000.
The proposal which now is receiv
| ing some consideration at the
| treasury is to amend the law SO as
to abolish all these separate classes
and issue one standard type Of pa
per money--the United States note.
The total paper currency now out
| standing Is approximately $5,3O2,
| 100000. Instead of being divided
UP into seven kinds or a total of
sixty kinds and denominations there
would be one kind of money divided
into eleven denominations. This
would mean that, instead of sixty
separate designs the people would
have to familiarize themselves with
only eleven designs and 1t would
make counterteiting very difficult.
especially as there would be only
six designs in general circulation.
| These would be the 81, 50, IS, $40,
| $40 and $50 notes. AS a matter of
fact, Frank White, treasurer OF the
United States says that the people
do not use the $50 denomination
any more than the 800 denomlna-
tion, but notes over this figure are
not in general circulation, being
used only in banks where the hand
iers are naturally prepared to detect
spurious money.
As the law now stands, there "a
different security for different kinds
of money. This would have to be
changed. The proposal is to put
all the security into one general
pool and have all the money equaliv
secured. At present a silver certi~
ficate is secured by silver dollars,
Ehald in the trsaxuEy. Ary holder