Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-04-23
TIE Acei GreeahacS DESTROYER.
GRAND REVIEW OF TIE TREASURY ROOM
BRIGADE.

GRAND REVIEW OF TIE TREASURY ROOM
BRIGADE.
Washington correspondence New York Graphic.
Every afternoon at o'clock - female
scrubbers and swcepers are let loose on
the halls and rooms Of the .easury build
ing. Prior to this charge Of the broom
brigade they are massed i'll one OF the
lower halls with their brooms, buckets,
brushes, squilgees and swabs. They are
of many colors and nationalities Their
pay is SlJ per month, and occasionally
among them may he found women who
once came to Washington i'll quest of posi-
tions more lucrative. But bread is as
pressing Il necessity in Washington as
elsewhere, and scrubbinc is better than
starvation.
In company with the matron, Mrs
Skidmore | reviewed this broom brigade
the other dav in the basement after the
hours allotted to treasury visitors
Seventy-tive busters and sweepers seems
an imposing number, but when scattered
about the hall of the vast building at
their work they are few and far between.
The waste paper collected is sorted and
placed i'll three bins, for there are grades
even in waste paper Going to the top
floor [ found myself i'll lanes. passages,
highways and byways of treasury ac-
counts, ledgcrs. records, big books, little
books and millions of packages i'll millions
Of pigeon holes, all red taped and tagged.
It's friEhtiul to contemplate this ava
lanche of financial reckoning from all the
States. embracing custom house. army
and navy affairs, and all other business
since our government saw the light.
There isn't room for it. Pilcsof accounts
and well-w"rn lcdgers cucumber the land
ings and Railways. From the treasury
Garrct | WAS taken once more TO the treas
urv celler Here are the carpenters and
hlackstnitls' shops, for the treasury
makes all lis own desks and pigeon holes,
and paints and varnishca them. But the
chief anxiety WAS 10 show me the mace
rator. The macer;itor was ut work. The
maccrator Is the mill wherein is ground
to a soft, nasty pulp lin, called-in and
condemned green backs. 1t grinds to
utter paste and impossihility of rccogni-
ton from Sl0G, O00 to SJo0.O00 daily. Ii
has 10-horse power engine all to itself.
and grinds about two hours daily The
money goes into huge round caullron-
like hopper into which opens three small
dials secured by three separate locks.
The cbsequies OF the condemned green
backs are daily observed with n rigid and
precise fornaiily. Three separate United
States treasury officials. men of known
trust, probity and honor, ''highly rcspcc
ted by all who know them" carry the
condemned bills to the sacriticial hopper,
unlock the sacred doors, chuck them i'll.
lock them up and carefully watch each
other to see that none Of this government
paper sticks to their clothing or to the tar
ON their heels The hot water is let on.
and the cogs uf the government coffee
mill rrnI the tens, hundreds and
Thousand tiuiinI notes I" atoms. Nou
may look through little window in the
top of the hopper and see this process of
liquidation going on. The engineer
scooped up IL handful of the ground up
currency from II mass and put it near my
nose and eyes for inspection. 1t Is Il
nasty muck. Vt. since it has been
money, one g,,2es at II with grief. curios;-
ty and even respect. The Washington
people get hold of this financial filth
developed from rags. which after Il circll-
lation OF wears i'll greasy pockets and
pocketbooks, passing from dirty hands to
dirticr. from den TO dive. from disease in
fected clothing, hospitals and dead mems
clothes, until it returns 10 its birthplace,
whc nee once II started So crisp and clean,
laden with every vari, ~ Of infection, dis
ease, smallpox, yellow fever. the plague.
the itch, scrofuln, consumption. battle,
murder. sudden and slow death: they take
this ground filth. mould it into statuettes.
heads of Washington. Franklin. Jctfei-
son. or into the scmblanrc of bird and
animal, and keep these as household
deities, their 1.arcs and Pcnates. to he
reverenccd. since they are made Of money.