 Do you want to know more about the United States Secret Service? This 32-page booklet tells how to detect counterfeit money and how to avoid forgery losses. To get your copy, just send 15 cents to the superintendent of documents, government printing office, Washington, 25 D.C., and ask for know your money. Discounts of 25% are allowed for quantities of 100 or more. The Treasury of the United States, a storehouse for millions upon millions of dollars. It also has served for over 75 years as headquarters of the United States Secret Service, America's first line of defense against the counterfeiter and the crank. Today, Chief Frank J. Wilson, forceful, efficient, nemesis of many a notorious criminal, directs the activities of the service. For administrative purposes, the United States is divided into 15 districts, each of which is under the control of a supervising agent and a corps of agents, whose major duties are the protection of the President of the United States and the suppression of counterfeiting. During the early part of 1938, counterfeiting of the United States currency and the forging of government checks increased to alarming proportions. It was obvious that new tactics must be employed to stem the flood. Chief Wilson became convinced that these were preventable crimes and determined on a widespread campaign of education as the most effective weapon to check these criminal activities. Acting upon this theory in the spring of that year, he sent for one of his ace investigators with supreme confidence and the ability of the service to live up to its traditions in its ability to cope with this ever-increasing menace in a manner that would leave no room for doubt after the final outcount. Chief Wilson outlined his plan of attack, a program so ambitious that it seemed almost impossible of accomplishment with the personnel at his command, a campaign of education by personal contact through his agents with every merchant in New York City to be supplemented by a nationwide series of lectures that would place all merchants on guard against the forger and the counterfeiter. As a result, merchants have learned, for instance, that it is for their own best interest to demand proper identification before cashing a government check for a stranger because of the large number of checks being cashed by merchants for the Words Progress Administration, the government issues an identification slip to all WPA employees. This card you will observe bears a description of the lawful holder of the check as well as his identification number. This same number also appears upon every check issued to him. It is a simple matter to compare them. The same precautions should be taken in cashing any government check for a stranger as would be observed if he were seeking to cash a personal check. As a further precaution, it is well to request any stranger for whom you cash a check to write his address immediately below the endorsement on the back of the check. The endorsement on the check should be compared with the signature on the identification slip. Both should be in the same handwriting. Owners are managers of large organizations where checks may be cashed by more than one person should insist that their employees initial all checks when approving them for payment. Secret service agents also are teaching merchants to detect counterfeit coins instantly. Here we see a typical die used by the counterfeiter in manufacturing coins. Nearly all counterfeit coins are made from soft metals and they may be detected by cutting them with a knife. A counterfeit coin usually weighs less than the genuine has a decidedly greasy feeling. And the reading around the edge of the coin is imperfect. Observe the poor reading or milling as it is sometimes called on the counterfeit on the left as compared with the genuine on the right. The majority of counterfeit coins may be detected also by the acid test. Suspected coins should first be sprayed. Now a drop of acid is placed on the coin. If it is counterfeit, it will boil and turn black almost instantly. Acid for testing silver may be obtained at any drug store. Merchants who attended these lectures left with a new interest in the money which they handle daily with a newborn confidence in their ability to detect counterfeit money through a greater familiarity with the genuine. Many were surprised to learn that there are only three types of notes issued by our government and that they may be distinguished quickly by the color of the seal and serial number. Red being used to identify the United States note blue for the silver certificate and green for the Federal Reserve note. This is true regardless of the denomination of the note. They are further identified by a legend at the top of the face of the note reading United States note silver certificate or Federal Reserve note as the case may be. All Federal Reserve notes are further identified by what is known as the regional bank. There being 12 Federal Reserve districts throughout the country the first 12 letters of the alphabet and the figures from 1 to 12 are used to identify them. Let us examine this regional bank seal on a $10 note on the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Massachusetts. Boston is the first Federal Reserve district. Therefore we find that the regional bank seal bears the large letter A. We also find the inscription the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Massachusetts upon closer examination we find the figure 1 in four places on the face of the note. New York being the second Federal Reserve district is identified by the letter B. By the inscription the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, NY and the figure 2, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, California being the 12th and last district is identified by the letter L. By the inscription the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, California and the figures 12. Just as the type of note may be distinguished by the color of the seal so the denomination of the note may be determined by the portrait. To illustrate the portrait of Washington appears on all $1 note Jefferson on the 2 Lincoln on the 5 Hamilton on the 10 Jackson on the 20 and so forth you should also know what is meant by the check letter and the face plate serial number as both are referred to in all counterfeit warning notices issued by the government. You will observe that this is the small letter and figure appearing in the lower right hand corner on the face of the note. The check letter only also appears in the upper left hand corner on the face of the note. Before we speak of counterfeit notes there is one don't to remember. Do not expect to identify a counterfeit note by rubbing it on a piece of paper. This is absolutely a false test. As contrary to popular belief the ink can be rubbed from both the counterfeit and the genuine note. If at any time you have occasion to question a note which is passed to you there are just one rule to remember. Compare the suspected note with another note of the same type and denomination. Such a comparison will reveal the defect in a counterfeit note instantly for like twins often it is only when they are together that they can be told apart. The portrait on the right or genuine. Those on the left counterfeit. After careful comparison one with the other you should have no difficulty in distinguishing a counterfeit note from a genuine. Pay particular attention to the portrait and to the fine cross ruled lines around the portrait. These lines are unbroken on the genuine and so fine in fact that it is impossible for the counterfeit to reproduce them distinctly. This counterfeit portrait of Hamilton is a better than average workmanship but here too the defects can be detected easily by comparison with the genuine note. As we make a closer examination of this counterfeit we find that the lines are uneven or broken and that some of the spaces between them are filled with ink. Observe the expression of the eyes here again the lines in the genuine are sharp and well defined in the counterfeit broken and indistinct. Notice particularly the crudely engraved lines around the right eye. The slightest error in shading around the eyes in a counterfeit note will change the whole expression of the face. Observe the lighter portions of the hair. This effect is produced in the genuine note by extremely delicate engraving. Now compare it with the workmanship on the counterfeit. Examine the treasury seal. You will find the points on the genuine are sharp and clearly defined. On the counterfeit they are broken off or dull. Examine the border. The extremely fine lines which appear in the border of a genuine note are clear and unbroken. Very different from those in the counterfeit. This scroll work on a genuine note is engraved by a complicated and expensive machine called a geometric lathe. The designs produced by this machine cannot be duplicated by hand engraving. The great cost of a geometric lathe alone makes it prohibitive for the counterfeiter. One of the most interesting machines in the Bureau of engraving and printing is the transfer of press. By means of this press, impressions of the master die are rolled into the plates under tremendous pressure. And here we see one of the finest products of the engraver's art, far beyond the ability of any counterfeiter to duplicate. To compare such workmanship with the crude attempts of the counterfeiter is a step from the sublime to the ridiculous. Yet thousands of notes were printed from this typical set of counterfeit plates and placed in circulation by the Secret Service. Moral, know your money. This educational campaign, this relentless barrage of publicity regarding the counterfeiter and his methods has had far-reaching results. Stripped of their protective cloak of secrecy as the campaign of the service progressed, the arrest of organized gangs of counterfeiters is an almost daily occurrence. And bad news for the counterfeiter has become an accomplished fact. As warning notice after warning notice is distributed throughout the country, it becomes increasingly difficult for the counterfeiter to fly his trade. With the cooperation of the Post Office Department and many commercial organizations, the service has distributed many millions of these warning circulars to merchants all over the country. They are an effective weapon, a sort of silent policeman, and may be obtained free of charge by writing or telephoning to the nearest Secret Service office. We serve that special reference is made to the check letter and faceplate serial number on a note as one of the best means of detecting any counterfeit. This notice was issued as a warning against a counterfeit $10 note on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York bearing check letter I or D and faceplate serial number 18 or 81, respectively. These warning notices contain definite instructions for your protection against the counterfeiter. For instance, when a stranger gives you a counterfeit note, do not return it. Telephone the police at once, delay the passer under a pretext, avoid argument, write down a description of the passer and take the tag numbers of any cars involved. Their value to you, however, depends upon the extent to which they are used. They should be kept in a place convenient to cash registers, preferably on the back of a show card or near money drawer and studied carefully. What's this? Some new kind of wallet? These boys will bear watching. Calling her money? Pretends she has no change and calls the manager. Our typical merchant is following instructions and by so doing, not only will save himself from loss, but will prevent these passers-or-shovers as they are called from victimizing many other merchants who can ill afford to stand such losses. Sackle 142. Calling Motor Sackle 142. Calling Motor Sackle 142. Close your start. Find our first and the least students in this country. Remember instructions. Delay the passer under a pretext, taking the chance had they known that the maximum penalty for passing one counterfeit note is 15 years imprisonment in a federal penitentiary and a $5,000 fine. This officer knows his business. It is very important that the manager places initials on the note in each for identification. The Secret Service encourages close cooperation of this sort from all merchants and law enforcement officers. You too can do your part. If you know your money.