Salt Lake Telegram | 1926-03-21 | Page 26 | Chinese Counterfeiters Now So Skillful That Banks Must Hire Big Corps of Experts

Yf V Chinese Counterfeiters No Now T J So Skillful That Banks Must I 1 Hire Big Corps of E Experts SHANGHAI March 20 United United Press Press Counterfeiting Counterfeiting years ears ago developed all the proportions of ofa ofa ofa a fine art in China and the disruption disruption disruption tion of r recent ascent cent times coupled with the swift expansion of banking fa facilities fa- fa duties everywhere has provided a boom period for those who specialize In the manufacture 1 of spurious ean i notes t and coins There Is no organized national currency system In China ProvIncial Provincial Provincial Provin ProvIn- cial mints oper operate te almost Independently independently of one another and the silver slIver content of the coins which the they Is IsSue Issue issue Is- Is sue frequently varies according to to the ability of the militarist who happens to be in control at the moment moment mo mo- ment to foist them off on the pub pub- lic Notes of different sizes colorIng colorIng colorIng color- color Ing and designs are Issued Individually indIvidually by thousands of oC banks banks' throughout the country Under these conditions eradication of counterfeiting is an Impossibility and the flood of spurious notes and coins is checked only because of the watchfulness of the Chinese bankers bankens bank bank- ers ens and money changers who seem to possess a sixth sense in the thc matteL matter mat mat- teL ter of detecting frauds GLASS DOLLARS The tricks of the Chinese coUnterfeiter coun coon counterfeiter comprise a seemingly limitless limitless limitless lim lim- assortment which Includes all of the standard varieties known Inthe Inthe in inthe the West Vest and man many more in addi addi- tion lion There Is 18 for example the glass dollar thousands of which are known to be In daily dally circulation It Itis Itis is the same size as a genuine dollar dolIan dollar dol dol- lar Ian lar has the same same ring when tossed upon a count r and Is the same w weight Yet under its thin coat of oC silver is nothing more than a cenI center conter cen con I ter tel of glass Brass Drass lead leall copper and many T kinds of amalgams all go into the making of spurious coins but the experienced Chinese Chinee eye is quick to detect these substitutes The chief protection for the individual Is ia the chop with which the money moneychangers moneychangers ch changers stamp whatever coins pass through their hands This may be either a rubber stamped character denoting the particular shop or a adie adie adie die with which the money changer hammers the co coin eon n. n The latter practice practice tice lice once universal is being gradually gradually grad grad- i abandoned because after atter a coin had passed pas through the hands hands' of forty or fifty money changers it was in a lL fairly battered condition SPURIOUS BANK NOTES Counterfeiting coins is only a small business however ever in comparison comparison com corn parison with the vast numbers of spurious s bank notes with which the markets are flooded There are Dore so many of these counterfeit notes afloat that every evely bank both ChInese Chinese Chi ChI- nese nose and foreign Is obliged to maintain maintain main main- tam tain a staff of experts who scan every bank note carefully in jn order to detect those which are spurious Police authorities In the foreign settlements of China wage an Sn n endless endless endless end end- less war on the counterfeiters and at times are successful In bringing some of them to Justice but the counterfeiters rs for the most part maintain their headquarters In Chinese Chinese Chi Chi- nese neRe towns and villages where the risk of detection is not so great In a f counterfeiting plot which has hils Just been brought to light here police police police po po- po- po lice of the foreign settlement discovered die dis i covered a complete plant for the manufacture o ot spurious bank notes lotes set up in a vault auIt which had been dug under a It Chinese grave mound The entrance to the counterfeiters' counterfeiters headquarters was a door set Into the rear of or the grave mound When this was WIlS opened the police found Cound ft fl flight light of steps which led under the mound und to a subterranean room where there was a complete engraving and printing plant and a stock of counterfeit counterfeit coun coun- notes which taken at their face value represented hundreds of thousands of dollars j