Another Day, Another Dollar

George Washington still gazed forth as stolidly as ever, but the 40 millions of crisp $1 bills that went into circulation in the U.S. last week were not the old familiar aces. Along with a new Treasury Secretary's signature-- the new singles displayed the first design change in U.S. paper money since the Bureau of Engraving and Printing added the Great Seal in 1935. On the green side of the new dollar appears, for the first time on U.S. folding money, the motto "In God We Trust," which made its debut on the 2-c- piece of 1864 and is imprinted on all current U.S. coins except the buffalo nickel. Two years ago Congress ordered the motto added to greenbacks, last year made it -- instead of E Pluribus Unum --the nation's official motto.*

Less evident to a nonexpert eye is a difference that will save taxpayers many a dollar. Until recently, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing printed all U.S. currency on flat-bed presses, using moistened paper, a process that took 15 days. Last week's new singles were printed on dry paper on British-made Rotary presses. The new three-day process will substantially trim the wet-printing cost of 1-c- a bill, and since the bureau makes a lot of money (1,641,488,000 pieces of paper currency in fiscal 1957), the yearly savings will add up to millions when the changeover to rotary presses is completed in four years.

* During the Civil War, with Union gold reserves running low, President Lincoln suggested that instead of "In God We Trust," a more fitting motto for greenbacks would be the Apostle Peter's words to the lame beggar (Acts 3:6): "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee."

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