| Show as I 1 fat k I 1 s OINK pcs ce aim 1 alsa a X va 4 lk T Q F A V R nc n c LIP i I 1 I 1 wit V Z ME 1 7 jalo fsr wm by eli EL i wl I 1 f r WATSON olt OK the second time since alexander hamilton the first secretary of 0 the treasury established our currency system a radical change Is to be made in the size ol of our paper money according to orders that have been issued by andrew W mellon present secretary of the treasury the other change occurred in when the smaller bills of civil war bill shin n plas ter fame were introduced these smaller bills however were used only a short time and then the regulation size was resumed now kow the size of all bills is to be reduced again and they will be a third smaller than they are today and somewhat different in design the present size of paper currency la Is 7 7 7 16 by inches the new size will nill be GIA 0 by 2 inches there are two main reasons for the change in size one is convenience and the other is economy the smaller note will generally fit into pocketbooks without being folded a a thing which la is not possible with the present bills it will also be easier to handle since it will fit more neatly into the hand of the counter without cramping the hand as the present bills do and can be manipulated more rapidly the economical reason is a double one the frequent folding and creasing of the present size currency eventually breaks the fiber of the paper and makes it deteriorate more rapidly but the principal reason is the saving in manufacture under the present system of printing money the faces or the backs of eight notes are engraved on one plate and printed at one impression the new size currency will allow 19 12 notes to be made from one plate and 12 can be printed on the same size sheet of paper which formerly printed only eight mr mellon estimates that this will mean an annual saving of in the manufacture of money back of this contemplated change there Is an interesting story for the advantage of the smaller size money was discovered by accident twenty live years ago when spain cedil the me philippines to the united states in the hie treaty which ended the spanish american war it became necessary for or our government to furnish the luos with a distinctive currency for some reason which has never been explained the government bureau buman of 0 engraving and printing designed a currency ta in which 12 bills could be printed from the plates from which were kere printed painted eight of our bills the filipinos Fill pinos were satisfied with this handy currency and it has been supplied to them steadily for the last quarter of a century during the many years of american occupancy of the philippines many of our people vibo ft ho have been sent to the islands civil end and military officials school teachers tea chera and the ule like have handled the philippine currency when they returned home and began using the clumsy bills which they found here they were struck by the difference and almost invariably they uttered a protest that the Phillip Phillipp pine lne size was better than our own so frequent were these protests that at last the treasury department beg began an to take notice of them and two years ago when a treasury committee began a study of currency problems the first thing it considered was a change irk in size dandies bundles of paper were viere cut up la in the philippine size and these dummy notes were distributed to federal reserve banks bank a for experiments by tellers and other officials of the banks the result was that the federal reserve banks reported unanimously in favor of the smaller size bank notes the bureau of engraving and printing also favored the change chang e because of the economy in manufacture already noted the result was the order issued by secretary mellon recently but the in the size I 1 is riot not to be the only innovation in the new system other changes are contemplated which will bring order to our somewhat confusing currency system the government Is now putting out five different types of currency national bank notes gold certificates silver certificates united states notes and federal reserve notes it has been the custom to print all of these in most of the different denominations and AS a result we now dave cave five different i erect kinds of 10 bills under the i new plan the national bank notes will be done away with silver certificates are to be used for 1 bills only and there will be no silver certificates of any other denomination the united states notes which are the greenbacks green backs of the civil war period will be merged into 5 bills of the new currency and there will be only one type of 5 bill gold certificates and federal reserve notes will be used only tor for the higher denominations the 10 bills the and levs Oa still another change will be in the matter of the pictures used on the bills on many of them are portraits port ralta of people unknown to the public more than that the same picture rouy may be on a 1 bill and on a 20 bill this causes confusion and sometimes leads to mistakes under the now system the pictures of presidents only will be used for instance washington Is to 10 appear on the 1 bills lincoln on i the 5 bills jefferson probably will be on the 10 bill grant may get the 20 one cleveland the 50 bill rome velt the and wilson the 1010 lO iiO that will not take place however I 1 until next summer government manufacture of money is a complicated process and the dollar bills make up I 1 i more than halt half of our paper currency 1 some tons of them at present are I 1 distributed each year the bills of this de denomination Domination will be the first to I 1 appear la in the new size next will be produced the 1 20 bills and the government I 1 will wor work k up a and nd do down wo from these two but it will take two or three years to replace all of the re denominations in circulation I 1 treasury experts state that there or arc always about a billion bills in circulation on an average these bills last a year before they wear out and have to be replaced of course the 1 bills wear out most quickly so that tha t by b v i starting the new system with 1 bills I 1 I 1 and sending them out to replace the worn out 1 bills the first step in introducing the new currency will be i taken the treasury ba has 9 warned the public that advance specimens cannot be furnished until the new bills are released simultaneously in all parts of the country |
