Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1869 — Are You a Counterfeiter? [ARTICLE]

Are You a Counterfeiter?

What use do you make, reader, of a counterfeit fifty cent postage “stamp” which you find in your pocket book, and do uotknow where it has come from ? Do you invariably tear it np, or burn it np; aro you careful that it does not get out of your pocket, into circulation agaiu ? Have you not some timo rolled np such a bit of fractional currency suspecting it to bo counterfeit, and willing to “get rid of it l, —by ehitrcc, as it were—and so keep square with your conscience ? We have seen men —meft whom t!e would havo trusted with our pocket-books—retqrn a counterfeit fifty cent piece to their pockets after -tluiy were convinced that it was spurious. , an -.acLifiifl mean —provided that the man is ignorant, as is generally tho case, as to where he got tho counterfeit ? It means that he is not ready to bear tho loss of fifty cents like an honest man. The action is a dishonest action. He has no right to put a counterfeit where there is any possibility of his passing it into circulation again. The only honorable proceeding is to burn it or tear it up tho very moment its worthlessness becomes evident. Do not hesitate a second. If you havo not this habit fixed upon you, cultivate it! Without it you arc in league with counterfeiters. You are one of the “gang”—you aro not an honest man. Let this rulo apply to a ten cent “stamp” and to a ten dollar greenback equally and rigidly. There are only tyo questions to bo asked. Is this a counterfeit? Yes. Do 1 know gave it to me? No. Burn it—tear it up—do not return it to your pocket as you valuo your ■honesty ! There is a law in Michigan—and in soino other States we suppose — compelling every bank to stamp the word “counterfeit? in lfcfgo Macfe letters, across every spurious bill presented at their counter, for whatever purpose it may he presented, under whatever circumstances, and upon whatever bank in the United ►States it may bo counterfeit. Wo once saw an apparently respectable man present a twenty dollar bill to the teller of the Miohigan Insurance Bank, iu Detroit. lie merely wished ttfknow if it was a counterfeit* The teller made no answer, but simply

brought down a powerful stamp upon its face, and handed it back with the word “counterfeit” staring its astonished proprietor in the face. We never saw a darker cloud pass pver a human countenance. Oath followed in an ineffectual effort to express \lio man’s indignation.— Every oath stamped “counterfeit” ppon that man’s character in letters as largo and plain ai? those upon the bill. Not that ho would have acted as a direct accomplice of professional counterfeiters, hut lie was not prepared to do what common honesty demanded—destroy tho spurious bank note and meet his own loss honorably. Of course, says every reader, he intended to pass the bill—and that would bo dishonest. And what is your practice reader ? Do you destroy every little piece of postal currency as soon as you discover its worthLessness ? or do you put it in the roll in your vest pocket, and let it take its chances with its companions when you arc paying car fares, or for lunches and cigars ? 1 f you do not destroy it, you are absolutely dishonest. This compromising with conscience is more contemptible than unflinching robbery. N. Y. Evening Mail.