Word: blackley
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...proved in practice. Early this year Blackley formed a company, Liberty Graphics of Charlotte, to make and market red checks. To date he has sold some 60,000 (at a nickel apiece for orders of 500), Except for the color, the check is a blushing copy of the personal checks that his customers send in to be reproduced; the red-faced checks even include the bank's magnetized numbers for automatic sorting. It is possible to microfilm the checks with special equipment, but most banks find that regular processing produces a gray blur. Bankers speculate that since banks...
Such easy access to intimate financial dealings disturbs many people,* but it made James M. Blackley, 30, president of the Charlotte, N.C., Libertarian Society, see red-literally-and then think green. Learning that ordinary microfilm is unable to distinguish between certain shades of red and other colors, including blue and black ink, Blackley decided to start printing checks on red paper. When the checks were made out, the ink would be perfectly visible against the rosy-hued ground. But when the draft was microfilmed, he figured, it would become a blank; anything written or printed would disappear...
...Blackley concedes that a few scoundrels eager to cloak their financial transactions from prying eyes may be among his customers, but he insists that most buyers are reputable people. So far, Blackley says, he has not heard of a single case where anyone has refused to cash a red check. Adds Blackley: "It's not devious; it's just red paper. It's for privacy...