The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1933-09-01
tl|1lI|iida2'q1[S5jij Z,
National Topics Interpreted "a fTYYYTfSSBe
by William Bruckart AS@~T3NFIF
by William Bruckart


that the President is ready to initiate
the currency. The quotations on
shares of stock zoom up, If the rumor
seems to come from any source near
the President. The promoters of the
rumor take their profit, and the mar
ket says. A few dull days pass, and
again the same stunt is staged.
William H. Moran, chief of the
United States secret service, told me
the other day that
Bogus Money counterfeiters of coin
in Bad Times and currency had
been exceedingly ac-
tive in the last several years. Roughly,
he said, the expansion of their opera
lions had been found to be in inverse
ratio to the advance in business and
employment Thus, again, the opera
tions of counterfeiters seem to fully
reflect economic conditions. When
there is good business, there is little
counterfeiting but when we have
hard times, we also have much coun-
terfeiting, according to Chief Moran's
records
The chief of the United States secret
service, which actually is secret serv-
ice in fact, as well as in name, main
tanned to me, however that there is
no need for the country to worry about
the circulation of spurious coins and
bills. He said his operatives have
done wonderful job and that in no
instance of record has counterfeiter
or his gang been able to carry on their
business very long until their plant Is
captured. The bulk of the money they
made has been confscated in most
cases before any large sums have been
placed in circulation.
But using the activities of counter
feiters as a yardstick of business con-
ditions, the present depression has
been the worst in American history.
Chief Moran's records show that more
counterfeits have been seized since
1929 than in any other period of the
nations history. OF course. it is i'm
possible to know exactly how much
American people have been swindled
by counterfeiters, but the amount of.
seizures has been so large that Chief
Moran holds there actually has been
only a minimum of loss to the peo-
pie.
AS proof Of the work being done in
checking the production and distribu-
tion of bogus bills and coins, Mr.. Mo-
ran submitted figures showing that, in
1881, arrests on counterfeiting charges
numbered 1924. In 1882, the last full
arrests totaled 2,139 But it was in
the total of counterfeit coins and bills
seized that the chief took much pride.
The record showed seizures of coins
and bills which, If they were genuine,
would have been worth $S0,650 during
1881 and S590,311 in 1882.
In the figures for 1882, again, Chief
Moran said, the activities of counter
feiters directly reflected hard times
and lack of jobs.
sit is not at all strange" the chief
said, ''that there should be more at
tempts at counterfeiting in hard times
than when the country is prosperous.
Hundreds of men have been arrested
on counterfeiting charges who we
found had never engaged in criminal
affairs of any kind before. They were
out of jobs, however, and while they
were loafing around in cities they came
into contact with underworld charac-
ters The professional counterfeiter
has to have help and he builds up his
gang out of such individuals They
were not the type to do such things if
they had not been desperate for
money"
Most of the bogus bills and coins are
so crudely done that anyone familiar
with money can
How the Queer detect them, but
some real expert
gets into the counterfeiting game and
develops a bill that is most difficult to
distinguish from the genuine. These, of
course, are the dangerous ones from the
secret service standpoint. 1t has hap
pened also that those making the best
reproductions of real currency usually
have developed the most carefully laid
plans for getting the money into circu-
lation. The ordinary practice is for
the counterfeiters to sell the bills
wholesale to underworld characters at
a price so low that big profits tempt
men to take the chance. One instance
was found in which the counterfeiter
had sold 500 worth of bills for 1928.
The better the grade of work on the
bills. the higher the price demanded
by the counterfeiter.
Chief Moran told me that several Of
the counterfeit gangs which his men
had uncovered in the last several
years had been organized on a scale
comparable to a big business house.
They were found to have several units.
For instance. one gang had plant
where its plates were made; it had a
plant in another city where the print
ing of the bogus bills was done, and
then it had "sales" agency which
was spread out in several cities.