Business: Dollar Bills

In the U. S. today, three times as many dollar bills are required as in 1910, and more than seven times as many as in 1900. Just why there is such a demand for dollar bills is a mystery to Treasury officials, but there is the fact. The demand has now gone beyond the real capacity of the existing Government plant to print. In March, the U. S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing had to turn out 37,824,000 separate $1 bills, weighing altogether about 56 tons.

An additional difficulty arises from the fact that most of the bills recently put into circulation have been “green,” not “cured” money. In order to stand rough usage, bills require a seasoning process which takes time, and which of late has had to be largely omitted. As a result, the life of the average bill recently issued is only four months, thus increasing the demands on the Bureau.

The Treasury has attempted to give the Bureau time to cure a few million bills by issuing the silver dollar or “cartwheel.” But this endeavor failed dismally, as the public has for some reason become greatly prejudiced against the largest silver coin. From the Treasury standpoint, a circulation of silver dollars would be quite considerably cheaper than one of paper money, owing to the constant expense of engraving and printing new bills for old. Thousands of dollars could be saved annually if 40,000,000 silver dollars could be kept in circulation. But this is apparently a useless wish. Back to the Treasury the cartwheels come every time, to be exchanged for paper money more to the public’s fancy.