Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-04-07

The daily receipts of the Treas
ury, from assistant treasurars, and
from all sources, are placed in the
money vault. There are seven SUBJ
treasury offices tributary to this
at New York, Boston, Philadelphia,
Boston,, Charleston, New Orleans,
and San Francisco. The transac-
tions of all|these offices are daily
reported here to the Treasurer of
the United States. aat a,t
| + An important branch of the
Treasurer's bureau is the redemp-
ton division. Each mail brings to
the department. hundreds Of thous-
ands of dollars in worn-out currency.
It is taken inaby banks and post
masters. When received ut the
treasury, I'M account is first made Of
it, when tits sent to the desks of
the femaleuclerks, Of whom there
are one ;hsndrad ard eiyhty.three
\ In this .bnrda4i. When smoothed'
out, carefully examined for counter
feits, and recounted, the bills are
done up in packages, each consist
ing oflnotes whose value is express
ed by a multiple Of one hundred.
A paper band is pinned around each
enid, upon which hisIwrittcn the name
of the clerk who oieounted it and the
result of her count: Its equivalent
is then made up for the bank or
post Office transmitting it, in fresh
new currency. Should counterfeits
have been sent, they are deducted,
branded, pinned suggestivcly to the
letter acknowledging receipt, and
returned. The packages Of worm
out notes are next taken to q ma
chine which punches holes in both
ends, and then to a cutting machine
which divides them in halves.
These halves are packed in sepa-
rate boxes, one box going to the Of
fee of the Treasurer, the other to
that of the Register Of the Treasury,
where they are counted for the
third time. If the result be the
same in both Offices, the count is
supposed to be correct. The notes
are then burned, and the Treasury
is at liberty to issue new ones in
their places.
This burning is quite a formal
affair If Treasury notes (green-
backs) are to be destroyed, the
burning is presided over by four Of
ficials-one each from the Office of
the treasurer, register, and secretary
and some person outside the bureau,
who is appointed by the Secretary
of the Treasury. II the destruction
be Of national bank notes, the fourth
witness is selected by the bank di-
rec ors. These witnesses are pres
ent to see that the money is actual
ly burned. Filthy lucre, literally
and tiguratively, it is. Anything
else except money, half SO nasty,
would be spurned in disgust.
Many Of the women engaged in
the redemption bureau become ex-
ceedingly expert in detecting coun-
terfeits, matching fragments of
notes, and cruntipg currency The
ends OF Their fingers are educated to
such degree Of sensitiveness that
they discover counterfeits simply
by feeling. A gentlemen who, |
think, must have been slightly jeal-
Gus of this new competition in the
labor market, said: "No wonder
they count money rapidly, they are
so light-fngered." But their su-
porior officers bear witness to the
fact, not only that lightness of
fingers enables them to count mon
ey rapidly, but that they possess a
quickness Of perception by which
they count with fewer mistakes than
men. 1t seems hard, though no
doubt necessary, that if, in spite
of their carefulness, a counterfeit
does escape their facile fingers, or
an error occur in their reckoning,
they are obliged to make up the loss
from their own pockets. New
clerks often lose considerable sums
in consequence Of such mistakes.
The proverbial patience Of wo-
man is put to excellent account in
this bureau. Packages of money
occasionally come for redemption
which have suffered shipwreck, and
lain, perhaps for months, under
water. Many there are, of course,
torn to fragments. Color has dis
appeared from backs and faces.
The fibre of the paper is gone. To
touch is to destroy them. What
was =. done with these sorry
bits before government employed
women, l do not know. Imagine
the pulpy, half-macerated masses
sent to the desk of a man. Do you
not think they would be emphatic
ally pronounced worthless, and the
whole lot consigned to the fire forth
with? The lady clerks have undis-
puted monopoly Of this sort of bust
ness. They patiently sit down, and
pick out, bit by bit, the crumpled,
faded fragments, smooth them,
match the pieces, paste them on a
new background, and in most in
stances restore them in such degree
that the denominations can be ascer-
tanned, and their owner saved a
loss.
I Notes which have been damaged
by fire are treated in the same man.
ner. Charred and blackened in
some safe which has survived a
contlagration, so thin that breath
would blow them away, or a touch
reduce them to ashes, one Of these
expert clerks, nevertheless, with
her delicate fingers fits the tatters
together, and so arranges the ashes
that the figures appear again, tho
in shadow, dimly yet incontrovert
IDLY attesting the fact that such notes
have once been issued.
Occasionally it occurs that per-
sons who have defrauded the United
States Treasury are troubled il
conscience, and prompted to return
stolen money. An account is KEEP,
of all such receipts. Somewhat
over one hundred thousand dollars