Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07

later date.
The small size national bank notes.
he announced, will be printed and is
sued In order Of charter numbers, be-
ginning about July IS.
The new small bills, the Undersec-
Rotary emphasized, will be more dificult
to counterfeit.
MI. Mills speech in full is as fol-
lows:
Mr.. Mills spoke as follows:
On July 10, that Is, next Wednesday,
the United States Government win be-
gin the issue Of new paper currency OF
reduaed size and improved design. Our
paper currency has been issued in It's
present size since 1851, and this step,
therefore, is an important one which is
bound to arouse widespread interest.
For q few days we will look with sur
prise at these new, to US, strange-look-
Ing bills and then, in the course. Of q
few weeks. we will wonder why, for so
many years, we accommodated ourselves
so readily to their larger and more I'M
wieldy brothers.
You will ask, Of course, what were the
reasons which led the Government after
so many years, to make this change,
After an exhaustive study and investi-
CATION covering number Of years the
Treasury concluded that 1t was possible
to give the public paper money Of more
convenient size. Of longer life and bet
ter quality, and Of improved design with
greater protection against counterfeiting
The Treasury Department decided that
the convenience Of the public warranted
this reform, while from the standpoint
of the Government the proposed reduc-
ton In size will create substantial saw
ings In the expense Of manufacturing
as well as In the cost OF handling the
currency.
Saving Of $1,5o0,000 . Year.
From the time the paper is delivered
by the mill until the notes are put into
circulation an estimated gross saving
amounting to almost Sl,500,000 O year
will be derived from the change in size
Each note will require one-third less
paper and ink: its shipping weight will
be reduced by one-third, and so pet
cent more notes will be produced by the
the amount of which cannot be def.
nitely estimated, will undoubtedly be
accomplished as result of the ex-
pected increase in the life OF the smaller
note as compared with that of the larger
one. due to the fact that they will be
subjected to less creasing and folding.
The normal increase in the popula-
ton and wealth of this country neces-
sarily results in @ constantly increasing
demand for currency. This is vel
illustrated by the following figures: In
1877 the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing delivered 1873, 672, 045 sheets oil
currency: in 1920, 163,860, 748 sheets: in
1928, 17l,955,335 sheets; in 1925. 227,.
566,949 sheets, and in 1928, 236, 565, 231
sheets. The building now occupied by
the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
was completed in 1914, ana at the time
Of its erection it was contemplated
that this building would be adequate
to meet the bureaus requirements fol
an extended period. It appears, how
ever, that within comparatively short
time the normal increase in the demand
for currency would, were 1t not for the
contemplated change, force the bureau
to obtain additional manufacturing
equipment and build large extension
to the present plant. The Introduction
Of the new-size currency will solve the
production difficulties of the bureau fol
the reason that the reduced size will
permit the production Of IL subjects
in an increased production of so pei
cent more notes for each printing
operation. The reduced size will also
have an important effect upon the
available vault space, both in the Treas.
ury and the Federal Reserve banks.
Citizens VIII Be Surprised.
The present size of the currency Il
77-l6 by 8 Ia inches. The new size i:
5-16 by 211-16 inches. I realize, Of
course, that q description Of size giver
In terms Of 1-l6 Of an inch does moi
convey very much over the radio, but
think you will be pleasantly surprised
next wednesday when you see the new
bills and realize how great is the i'm
provement In appearance and in con.
venience from the standpoint of han
ding. 3.4
have mentioned improved appear
ance. For many years the matter ci
revising the designs of the outstanding
currency issue Of the United States has
been before the department, but there
was never an opportunity to undertake
o general revision until the decision tx
revise the size Of the bills made 1t nee.
essary to execute wholly new engraved
stock for printing the new currency
Generally speaking, there is today {
different design for the face and bacl
Of each denomination Of each kind O.
paper currency, and there are five kind
United States notes, silver certificates
gold certificates, Federal reserve notel
and national bank notes-accompaniet
by q multiplicity and duplication O.
characteristic features. In so far as thu
new notes are concerned, the principle
OF UNCONVENTIONAL designs has beer
strictly followed. That Is to say, tn,
emphasis has been placed on the dollar
value Of the note rather than the kind
varying with the kinds Of currency
that is, United States currency or Fed.
erNl reserve notes, let US say-for tn.
new designs every back of q given de.
nomination will be absolutely identical
For example, take S. bill. The bacl
will always bear an engraving of thu
Lincoln Memorial as a predominatins
feature. Accordingly, there will be ONLY
one SIS back instead of several for thu
Government to print and protect and fol
the public to become familiar with. q
course, in so far as the faces are con.
cerned, sufflcient variation in detail i.
necessary to indicate the kind for pur.
poses Of sorting by banking institutions
that is to say, whether the bill is 8
United States note, a silver certificate
q gold certificate, o Federal Reserve
note or national bank note. But here
again uniform UNCONVENTIONAL char.
acteriStics have been fixed, the out
standing feature of each denomination
being portrait. Thus, in the case Of
our S. bill, on the face side, the portrait
Of Lincoln will always appear in the
center. AS Lincoln portrait will al
ways indicate SIS bill, so the portrait
Of Washington will always be found or
the Is, Of Jefferson on the Is. of Ham
ilton on the los, of Jackson on the 20s
of Grant on the sos, Of Franklin on the
zoos, Of Mckinley on the 500s, of Cleve.
land on the 1,000S. of Madison on the
5,oo0s and of Chase on the 1o,oo0s.
Simplification of Designs.
We believe that we have succeeded in
accomplishing great simplification OF
currency designs and we are confident
that we have made counterfeiting and
the raising of the bills from one de-
nomination to another more difficult in
the future. The denomination hence