Show our mr government how it operates by william Bru bruckart charl OUR CURRENCY HERD Is ample reason in my ton THERE ion why people generally fall to understand money first treasury fig urea ures show on the basis at of income taxes that most of us have very little ot of it so little indeed that it falls to register and second because the processes of government in connection with money are or appear to be somewhat complicated money for circulation purposes of course has its base in the Cons titu tion that instrument reposed certain obligations on the treasury in this connection and the production and distribution of money cons constitutes titu tes one of the two major jobs of the t treasury in the management of the money however the treasury has the assist a ance of the federal reserve board and the federal reserve banks creation of this auxiliary agency did not come about until recent years some 18 years ago and its part in money matters may be described as incidental to its main purpose of aiding business the need for money and the case ase of handling it however always have seemed to me to be the paramount reasons for its existence not withstand ing what the law says about it in the big underground vaults of the treasury in washington in equally great vaults of several of the federal reserve banks in cities like new york and elsewhere and in the vaults of the assay offices which operate with the united states mints there Is a vast store of gold bullion it amounts to well over 4 in value that gold Is the basis of our cur rency y that Is why we are said t to 0 be on the gold standard theoretically be every dollar in paper currency th that a t Is outstanding or in circulation may be converted into gold at the demand of the holder of that currency icalla also the gold standard keeps the dollar at the same value year in and year out but there Is 18 one school of thought in the country who prefer to measure the value of the dollar on the basis of prices of wheat and corn and cotton and other commodities all of the paper currency in ciraula tion Is produced actually printed in one great establishment in washing ton a plant known as the bureau of engraving and printing it prints your postage stamps too but money making Is its main job the coins that you have were pro deuced under the direction of the treas ury also but in the united states mints they strike off the coins collis from gold or silver or nickel or cop per which Is acquired and tested for them by the assay offices tested closely that each bit of metal will be of exactly the same purity or fineness as it Is called whether in the mints or in the printing bureau almost in conceivable scrutiny IS exercised the most rigid management observed and that Is obviously necessary tor for it money could be made by everybody it would not be worth anything to any body bod y the bureau of engraving and print ing keeps its great presses in opera tion constantly using a distinctive paper a paper that Is hardly possible of being counterfeited piles upon plies piles of bills ones twos fives tens twenties and up to are the result they are stored in vaults every bill numbered and every one ac re counted for they are kept there for ageing one might say for curing go they will last longer when they are put into circulation to the uninitiated this process may seem unnecessary to the govern ment however it means saving money for the taxpayers the cost of cincu that Is the expense of printing the money and keeping it in ciraula tion runs into millions each year as you may realize when you know that a bill costs about two thirds of a cent to manufacture and there are hun deeds of millions of them put out every year an idea of this cost Is brov provided aided also from knowledge that the average one dollar and the five dollar bill Is fit for circulation only about ten months so it behooves the treasury to have very good money as well as sound money and its experts are constantly studying scientific subjects to find ways to prolong the life of the MIL bill numerous kinds of paper have been tried and countless treatments have been given the bills in the tation by the experts to find means of making the life of a bill last longer the maximum however seems to be about ten months for the bills that are in constant use like the ones and fives lives the two dollar bill still has superstition attaching to it so it does not wear out so soon attention might be invited in this connection to the effect of modern business developments on currency take the gasoline filling station for example the attendants have grease on their hands not from choice of course but that grease Is not con ducloe to longer life for the bill you hand him to pay for your gas the currency distribution begins after the bills are aged fach rach bill bears its individual number each bill has to be signed by the secretary of the treasury and the treasurer of the united states I 1 ach one Is reg by the register of the treasury then an armored car a regular steel safe in itself backs up to a guarded door for a load of money 0 lon 1832 western newspaper union S |