Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27
Foreign COunterfeits
Worry Treasury Agents
BY HARDEN COLFAX.

Smart city bankers are falling victims
far more easily to the products of the
counterfeiters' art than are the country
bank tellers and storekeepers. This fact
was learned the other day from OFF,
Gals of the Treasury Department.
The carelessness which leads to loss
in counterfeiting Is most evident in
the larger cities and among those peo-
pie who handle the largest volume of
currency. The Treasury Department is
worried over the situation, for it does
not wish the public to become care
less in this matter. 1t is only through
the vigilance of the public that prompt
discovery of the circulation of counter
felt bills is made and opportunity is
given the secret service to check the
supply at its source.
y 4 =
The difficulties of the secret service
Of the Treasury Department have been
multiplied, since the issue of the new
small sized currency nine months ago,
by the fact that most of the counter
feiting has been done abroad. Amer
lean counterfeits now are made to a
large extent either in Germany or Italy.
While this may lessen the circulation
of these bills, it makes it far more
difficult for the secret service to dis
cover the counterfeiters, destroy the
plants and bring the showers of the
queer" into custody.
The public's carelessness, according
to Treasury officials, is due largely to
its confidence in the new currency and
because of the difficulty of duplicating
it. This new currency already has
eliminated one phase of counterfeiting-
the raising of denominations of bills.
The various denominations now have
very distinctive features, and while a
clever artist might work in a new de-
nomination in a bill, he would find it
almost impossible to duplicate the
changes in the design of the bill itself.
Most people have come to recognize
the distinctive features of the various
denominations. They know the ST. bill
| bears a portrait of Washington, while
the SIS bill carries a portrait of Lincoln,
with a picture of the Lincoln Memorial
on the reverse side. Even the clever
est artist would find difficulty in chang
ing the features of Washington into
the features of Lincoln in raising a
note. Most of the clever counterfeits
discovered in recent months have been
counterfeits of the old bills, of which
there still is a large amount in
circulation.
None the less, counterfeits are spring.
ing up from time to time in the new
bills. The Treasury Department re-
Gently discovered a $40 bill counterfeit
made in Germany, which with only one
extremely small exception could not be
distinguished by Treasury experts from
the legitimate $40 notes. There was
only one slip up. The bill has on it
the design of a woman's figure bearing
palm in one hand. On the counter
felt the thumb was not closed around
the stem of the palm.
X X
Danger lies in the fact that bank tell
ers and cashiers in stores in large city
handle such huge volume of currency
that its counting and inspection become
almost automatic. The teller or cashier
fails to give the attention to individual
bills which is accorded them by the
teller, cashier and merchant IN the
smaller centers, where the volume of
currency counted is less. The circula-
tors of false money know this as well as
the Treasury Department and they seem
to center their attention on the more
crowded shopping areas. This often de-
lays the discovery of the counterfeit and
leads to wide circulation of the false
| money.
Walter E. Hops,o Assistant Secretary of