SOILED PAPER MONEY 16 



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that passed through them, he asked, " What good would it accomplish 

 to sterilize the same bill two or three times a week? It is surprising 

 how frequently a bill returns to the bank. It is given to one depositor, 

 who uses it for change ; soon another depositor obtains it through trade, 

 and when the next deposit is made the bill may again find itself within 

 the same bank." 



With a more frequent redemption of soiled money, all these sug- 

 gestions for such cleanliness and the formation of clean money-clubs 

 may be avoided, and particularly if we learn to keep our fingers away 

 from our mouths both while and after counting money. 



Very few people realize the expense and work involved in the 

 redemption of soiled money. Many banks to-day go to great expense 

 and trouble in redeeming soiled and worn bills in order to have crisp, 

 new ones on hand when the demand is made for them. Bankers and 

 business men do not prefer these crisp, new bills, for they can not be 

 counted with as much speed -and accuracy as those that have been in 

 circulation for some time. Some banks deposit all their soiled and 

 worn bills with another bank, and thus avoid the expense involved 

 m redeeming them. 



All money for redemption must be sorted, so that all bills of one 

 denomination are together; and each denomination must have the 

 various species sorted, such as gold and silver certificates, United 

 States and " coin " notes, etc., while national bank notes must be kept 

 separately. Each package must be labeled with its face value and the 

 words " currency for redemption.''" National banks pay the express 

 charges on their notes one way, while on all other currency the sender 

 pays the charges both ways. The expense involved is not merely the 

 time taken for sorting the bills or the express rate of forty cents per 

 $1,000, but also the loss of interest and use of the bills while in 

 transit. 



During the past six months a series of diseases and deaths have 

 been recorded as being caused by the handling of filthy money. The 

 stimulus for such an increase in the reports of these diseases can easily 

 be traced to abstracts of Morrison's pamphlet appearing in the news- 

 papers and magazines. In the New York Evening World, November 

 8, 1907, there was a report of the death of Edward H. Hall, from 

 " myxcedema," caused by moistening his thumbs on his lips when 

 counting money. Since myxcedema is not considered an infectious 

 disease, this case has no value. The Bridgeport Standard was quoted 

 in a local paper on February 25, 1908, concerning the death of John 

 M. Hopkirk, manager of the Mills Hotel No. 2, in New York, who died 

 from scarlatina, contracted, his physicians believe, through the handling 

 of the dirty bills coming from the slums of the city. Personal contact 

 with these poor people who have little or no medical attention and 

 among whom disease often appears in mild and unrecognized forms, 



