12 Conservative ,
LOSS OF PAPEK MONEY.
Mr. Ellis H. Roberts , the treasurer of
- the United States , tells me that since
the present system of money was
adopted in 1806 the United States
has issued a grand total of $8,152,621-
108 in United States notest treasury
notes , gold , silver and currency certifi
cates and other forms of paper currency ,
of which $7,250,688,489 has been pre
sented for redemption , leaving out
standing $901,987,616. How much of
this money is actually in circulation , and
what proportion of it has been perman
ently lost , worn out or destroyed can only
be conjectured. Various people have
different opinions. Some of the veter
ans of the treasury believe that at least
1 per cent or $81,526,211 , , has been dis
posed of in that way to the profit of the
government , while others think that the
amount cannot be over one-tenth of one
per cent. They reach their conclusions
by computing a general average from
meager facts that are actually known.
United States notes or greenbacks
have been issued to the amount of $2-
997,189,808 and $2,050,508,792 have been
presented for redemption , leaving $346-
681,016 outstanding. The latter sum is
daily reported to be the amount of
greenbacks in circulation , but , striking
an average in the opinions of the treas-
r | ' ury , experts as to the amount lost and
SI destroyed , the actual value of greenbacks
outstanding is not more than $382,000-
000 and is growing smaller every year.
Profit to the Government.
The government has always made
money by the loss or destruction of
bonds , notes and paper money which
cannot be presented for redemption.
Many drafts and warrants upon the
treasury issued in payment of current
expenses have never been presented.
Some may be lost in the mails or mislaid
by people who own them. Of course it
is impossible to explain where they go
to , but the records of the dead-letter
office show that people are remarkably
careless about such things. Several
million dollars in money goes astray in
the mails , and finally turns up at the
dead-letter office every year , because of
mistakes in addressing envelopes and
other forms of carelessness on the part
of the senders ; whereas the natural loss
and destruction of money from unavoid
able causes is quite as great. The gov
ernment lost fully a million dollars In
the Chicago fire , but that could be re-
placed. The amount lost by citizens
cannot be calculated. There must have
been several millions of paper currency
destroyed at the time in the cash draw
ers , clothing , vaults and tin boxes of
people whoso houses and stores were
consumed.
It is estimated that the profits of the
government in the destruction of paper
money since 1866 have not been less than
a million a year.
" \Vnr Iomi s.
Of the war loan of 1812 issued in pay
ment of sundry vessels built for naval
purposes , and amounting to $711,000 ,
$100 still remaius outstanding ; a $500
bond on the loan of 1800 has never been
presented ; $4,600 in bonds on the $16-
000,000 loan of 1818 ; $48,160 of the
treasury notes of 1814 , and $41,089 of the
treasury notes of 1815 have never been
redeemed. Of the notes of 1840 , $82-
520 are still outstanding ; of the $5,000-
000 , bonds issued to satisfy claims grow
ing out of the annexation of Texas , $21-
000 remains unsettled , unredeemed.
Of the United States bonds issued dur
ing the civil war $1,208,000 have never
turned up ; of the bonds issued in aid of
the Union Pacific railroad $18,000 have
never been offered for redemption ; $81 ,
000 of the Central Pacific bonds and $0-
000 of the Kansas Pacific bonds , making
a grand total gain of $1,258,000 to the
government in the loss or destruction of
bonds since 1801. Occasionally some of
the old bonds come in , having been dis
covered in a garret or hidden in a crev
ice in the wall , in an old trunk or a tea
pot. Last year $410 in bonds were pre
sented for redemption upon which the
interest ceased nineteen years ago.
Shin Plasters.
-FroDaDiy me greatest pront ever en
joyed by the government as a result of
the destruction of money was in connec
tion with the fractional currency or
shinplasters issued during the civil war.
The total amount issued was $808,724-
079 , of which $0,880,558 has never been
presented for redemption. A large
amount has been preserved as curios by
collectors and occasionally even now it
is offered for redemption. This was es
pecially the case during the recent hard
times. People who had the old ' 'shin-
plasters" of war times in their cabinets
and scrap books got hard up and sent
them in for redemption.
In 1801 $60,000,000 of what were call
ed "demand notes" were issued by the
government to pay the emergency ex
penses of the war. Of this amount , $53-
847 has never been offered for redemp
tion. The same year , $206,595,440 , in
compound interest notes were issued of
which $168,110 are still outstanding ;
$59,055 of the one and two year notes
and $182,850 of the famous seven-thirty
notes are still outstanding. But almost
every year small amounts of these old
issues turn up for redemption. Only a
few weeks ago a man brought in one of
the $100 seven-thirty notes , and last
year $710 were presented at the sub-
treasury in New York of the compound
interest notes upon which interest ceas
ed more than a quarter of a century
ago. As a rule , the paper money and
the bonds that remain outstanding are
of small denomination , which shows
that people are more careless in hand
ling small than large sums of money.
Win. E. Curtis , in Chicago Record.
The Richmond
WICKED
GOLDBUG.Virginia ( ) Times
with wickedness
remarks :
"If the Nebraska platform should be
adopted at Kansas City , 'thousands and
thousands of democrats in the North
and South , and even in some of the
Western states , will refuse to support it.
There are many democrats who believe
m standing by tne party wnetnerornoc ,
and these will not fly the track , but if
Mr. Bryan insists upon running on a
platform of this character , these men
will simply let the election go by default
as the best means of retiring Bryan and
purging the party of populism. ' "
Could anybody say anything more
goldbugishly diabolical ?
Morton Printing
Company ,
Printers , Publishers.
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