Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1901 — LETTERS ON PAPER MONEY. [ARTICLE]

LETTERS ON PAPER MONEY.

Precautions by Government Against Counterfeiters. “Talking of counterfeiters,” sald an ex-treasury official the other day, “puts me in mind of one thing that few people outside of the Treasury Department know about paper money. Many notorious counterfeiters have been captured through their lack of knowledge of it.” Here the speaker reached down into his pocket and fished out asl bill. It w r as a new. one, and he pointed out a diminutive letter C on the rlg&t', under the bill’s number, and another down in the other, corner. “Now,” he continued, “I don’t suppose you can tell me what these seemingly unnecessary letters are on the United States bills, nor what they signify. Well, take any one of these bills and tell me what the last four figures of its number are.” The bill was taken and the treasury man informed that the last four figures were 5,322. Almost instantly he said: “The letter on that bill is B.” When the bill was examined the diminutive B was found on it in two places. Half a dozen other bills were similarly tried and the ex-treasury official was able in each case to tell wjiat letter would be found on the bill. The letter was always either A. B. C or D. “The explanation is simple,” said the expert in paper scrip. “If you divide by four the number on any United States Treasury note, no matter what its denomination, you will, of course, have a remainder_of one, two, three, or naught. If the remainder is one, the letter on the bill will be A; if it is two, the letter will be B; if it is three, the letter will be C, and if it is zero, meaning that it divides evenly, the letter vyill be D. “This is one of the many precautions taken by the government against counterfeiters. It is not an infallible precaution, of course, but you may be pretty sure that if the rule does not apply the bill is a counterfeit.”