Currency From 1970s Finally Makes Debut

Who is Secretary of the Treasury these days? Look at the bills in your wallet and you might find such names as David M. Kennedy, John B. Connally and George P. Shultz.

From Maryland to South Carolina, those few people who actually look at money closely enough to see what’s written on it have been discovering the signatures of those former secretaries, dating to 1969 and the Nixon Administration, on some of the crisp notes now being distributed by banks.

So why isn’t our currency current? Does the incumbent, James A. Baker III, mind being usurped by the ghosts of treasuries past?

The mystery money, it turns out, comes from a government vault in the mountains near Culpeper, Va., where it has lain unused through the terms of eight secretaries serving four Presidents. But time and moisture accomplished what politics did not.

Reason for Release

When the Federal Reserve, which owns the vault, found that the metal bands around the plastic-enclosed currency were beginning to rust, it decided to release the bills before they were ruined, according to Theodore Allison, staff director for Federal Reserve Bank activities.

Another factor in the distribution, which began several months ago, was the desire to dispose of existing stocks before the familiar bills are replaced. Last year, the Treasury announced that it plans to redesign U.S. currency to include a clear polyester thread to foil counterfeiting.

The Culpeper facility dates to the 1960s. The government was literally printing more money than it could use, and the Federal Reserve wanted a place to store excess inventory and to provide for an emergency. Allison said the primary reason for the stockpiles was to assure shipments of currency if the old Bureau of Engraving and Printing--the sole source of production--was damaged by a fire or an airplane crash.

Asked if the emergencies the government had in mind included World War III, Allison replied: “I can’t see how a currency system could work in the event of a nuclear war.”

In recent years, the government has been adding less to the money stockpile because, said Allison, “holding notes is expensive.” A two- to three-month inventory is normally kept on hand these days, most of it in the vaults of Federal Reserve Banks around the country.

Allison declined to specify how much money is in the mountain vault, saying only that it contains somewhere between two weeks’ and two months’ supply. “We order 7 billion notes from the Treasury each year,” he said.

Total face value in storage? “That’s not my concern,” said Allison.

Average Life Varies

The average life of a small bill is 2 1/2 to 3 years, whereas the big bucks can be around for a decade before they wear out.