ONE place where inflation has not made the dollar cheaper is the Government's greenback-manufacturing Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Rising paper and ink prices have pushed the cost of printing 1,000 bills of any denomination from $7.76 to $11 in the past three years. To cut costs, Bureau Director James A. Conlon wants to re-introduce the $2 bill, which was retired from circulation in 1966--by which time it was being issued in such small numbers that it had become a curiosity.

He estimates that by printing 450 million two-spots a year, the Bureau could cut its $1 bill output in half and save $4 million. Conlon suggests leaving Thomas Jefferson on the face of the bill and engraving a Bicentennial theme on the back. The American Revolution Bicentennial Administration has endorsed the idea, and the Federal Reserve Board has commissioned the Harvard Business School to conduct a marketing survey of the $2 bill's public acceptability.

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