Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1901 — BAD MONEY VERY SCARCE. [ARTICLE]

BAD MONEY VERY SCARCE.

C lUnterfeltina as a Bnsiness Seems to Hove Gone Out of Vogue. “Through a combination of circumstances, a number of articles have recently appeared In different newspapers in connection with the destruction of some counterfeit money by the Treasury Department,” explained an officer of « local bank to a reporter for the Washington Star, "and some persons have got the idea from reading them that there Is a great deal of counterfeit money in circulation. The exact opposite is true, for never In the history of the United States national bank notes has there been so little fraudulent money In existence. I saw the money which was destroyed. Most of it has t>een in the possession of the department for a number of years, and has been made the subject of many previous sensational and misleading newspaper articles. Put all together It would not fill a water bucket. As has been frequently explained, counterfeiting money is to a great extent a lost art. and the men who formerly made It have died out “There is more risk about it than any other crime described on the statute books, for detection la almost pure, and punishment is absolutely certain. There la no sympathy whatever with a counterfeiter, and the full penalty Is almoat always Imposed. The counterfeiter of former days has found this out to his complete satisfaction, and the result la that his crimes take some other form. AA any business men, and they will all concur Ln the statement that but

little counterfeit money ever reached their eye. I put the. question to the managers of three of the principal stores of the city a few days ago, and they told me that they rarely ever saw a counterfeit note in a business way. One of them, the manager of a big clothing store, said he had not seen a counterfeit note of any kind for seven years. Ordinarily publications in regard to money do not do any particular harm, even if they do not do any good, but the moment three or four publications are made in close order about counterfeit money there is a certain class of people who are alarmed. Bankers find out this alarm sooner thap others, for they are the parties who are consulted. It costs considerable to get out a fairly well executed note, and as soon as one does appear, which is very rare in late years, the newspapers publish the fact, and that simply prevents it from circulating to an extent sufficient to pay the expensed of issuing it”