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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1975)
Whother it's torn, bursted, Mow Good. Ife Bad. MtomLoy by Joseph N. Bll Here't pert of $10,000 in burned currency To find out if the burned money really h which en unfortunate fir victim sent to worth $10,000, patient workers mutt piece tho Federal Treasury's redemption division. Mch b8 together, highly sluasd task. - - " .- chowoaT, or soared, cwrrawy can bo redeemed err full vakie; but tout fry my tricks whh Its Treasury expert. Money b damaged in many ways, end bits Hart's bow now money looks. That woman must be mounted and inspected to tee if the ... are removing tissues between each sheet to total claimed matches fragments recovered, the reverse side of bills can be printed. Ourrosora Youk billfold should slip from your hand into a fire and the money become badly charred before you can fish It out Would this be a total loss to you? Such accidents happen to a surprisingly large number of Americans every day, resulting in thousands of dollars' worth of paper currency that is chewed up, burned, soaked, rotted, torn, and even eaten. To prevent injustice to those citiiens 'who accidentally deface or destroy money, the U. S. Treasury Department has thoughtfully established a Currency Re demption, Division in Washington, D. C . 'Uam n ffM.HuW kitfklw lt!1f ImTl.a mt a ftkm ruwiav detectives for a good many years decide whether, replace ment with good money shall be made. They have developed a ran lac llltv for identifvine fragments of burned and mutilated currency and piecing these fragments together a task re quiring great patience as well as exceptional skill. - Uncle Sam is so proud of these lady technicians that speci mens of their work are displayed In the Treasury Building. What drtree of mutilated currency is still redeemable? In general, Treasury regulations provide that when three-fifths or more of a piece of paper money remains intact, it will be i j f . i ti l i. .U-- .i er.i.. l.,.4 than two-fifths of the bill remain, half the face value will be paid. But there are numerous exceptions to the latter case-r and therein lies most of the work of the Redemption Division. The full value of virtually destroyed money will be paid "when accompanied by satisfactory proof that the' missing portions have been wholly destroyed.'' This normally takes the form of an affidavit from the owner of the money or from witnesses who ssw it destroyed. If this sounds like a good opportunity for some extracurric ular money-making, forget it It's been tried by experts, with little success. Typical were a pair of swindlers who recently cut a stack of hundred-dollar bills in half .charred the ends, then turned in all the halves, along with the necessary affi davits, at widely scattered parts of the country. - They requested full redemption on each half on the plea that the other halves had been totally destroyed by fire. This was an easy one for the money3etectives. They began match ing up the pieces coming in from all over the nation, and shortly thereafter Treasury Agents closed In on the two con men, who will be guests of the government for a long time. When investigation shows money destruction to be legit imate and accidental even though foolish full restitution is made. For example, Chicago plumbers tearing out 50-year-old pipes in an sbandoned tenement found several thousand dollars Jammed into the plumbing system. The money was water-soaked and rotted, but it was undoubtedly legitimate and was redeemed., In another case, a farmer ground up his life savings with a bale of oats. When he discovered what he'd done, he shipped the whole bale to Washington. He got his money back. So there is a "Court of Last Resort" for mutilated money, and the women who work there are happy to help you as long as you don't try for double or nothing. ' Family WmM, Apr SI, ItST
