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Western movies often show characters paying for goods and services with gold dollars. Because the value of gold was guaranteed, it was at one time a preferred medium of exchange. It was heavy, however, and frequently wore holes in the owner's pockets. Paper money, although considered suspect in by some, eventually became a more convenient means of carrying money and transacting business. The currency was useless, however, without an equal amount of gold held in reserve. This fact became painfully evident at the end of the Civil War when, in the absence of gold support, Confederate bills became worthless. At the end of World War II, old European paper currency also became worthless as new currency was minted. Returning veterans came home with paper money as souvenirs. I still have a few pieces that my father brought back.

Just as paper replaced the heavier gold dollars, so will some other means of monetary exchange eventually replace paper money. At this point, the debit card and electronic payments rank high among paper substitutes. No doubt, some designing person will invent something even more effective in the future.

Paper money can be convenient for small transactions - a candy bar, or a soft drink, perhaps. Carrying large sums of money, however, can place the owner in danger of robbery, injury or even death. Once spent, paper money is difficult if not impossible to track and retrieve. On the other hand, debit card and electronic payments can be traced and the value of a transaction be returned to the owner if fraud is found.

The U. S. Treasury has attempted to make counterfeiting a daunting task, but counterfeit bills continue to be manufactured and passed. Even banks are sometimes unwitting distributors of fake dollar bills. If quickly retrieved, these bills can be returned and replaced, but that must happen very soon after the transaction - preferably within less than an hour after leaving the bank.

Because it is difficult to trace, paper money is the preferred medium of exchange for criminal activity. Without routing or account numbers; the spender cannot easily be identified. And let's face it - how often does anyone record the serial numbers of the dollar bills in their possession? Most criminals do not keep written records, nor do they accept checks or credit cards as payment, so there is no "paper trail" to indicate the origin of monetary transactions. Possession of very large sums of cash may raise questions, but such possession is not necessarily

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