Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-10-07
How Greenbacks are Made at Washing

All paper money" said n treasury
oiileial in conversation with Chronicle
reporter few days ago, both legal.
tenders and national sec urities, is now
engraved, printed and fms he'd in the
bureau of engraving and printing at
Washington. Some years ago one-half
the note was finished in New York by
the Columbia banknote company, but
that has has been done away with for
some time. Under the act of Congress
building has just been completed for
the sole use of the bureau. Before
moving into this they occupied n part
OF the treasury department"
What about the process OF making
a greenbackP"
The process of making the green
back and other government securities
is this: The paper is first taken TO the
wetting division. There it is counted
and dampened. 1t is then delivered to
the plate printers, each sheet being
charged to them. They again count it
in the presence of their assistant, who
is n lady, and give a receipt there
for, the assistant certifying that she
witnessed the count. The receipts are
taken to the wetting division, where
they are compared with the books be-
fore work is begun, and must agree. The
paper is then given the first impression,
which is on the back. This is done with
hand press. Attached to all of these
presses are registers, whi ch keep count
Of each sheet of paper as it passes
through, so it is impossible for the
printer TO secrete any without being de-
tected. The note then passes into the
examining division, where it is counted
while wet and then placed in dry box.
When perfectly dry it is taken out and
again counted, and the work examined
by experts, all of whom are ladies. The
sheets found defective in any way are
Cancelled, and the perfect ones placed in
hydraulic press, where an immense
pressure is given them. When taken
out they are perfectly smooth. They
are then sent back to the wetting divi-
sion, where they are again dampened."
What is the next step in their man.
ufacture?"
well, they are taken to the printing
division, where they receive the second
impression, which is the black part OF
the face. after which they are taken to
the examining division, the dry box,
the hydraulic press, and back again to
the wetting division, the same as at
first. They are takeni'from here the
third time to the state printing division,
where the third impression is received,
which is the large red seal on theJface.
After this they are taken to the examin-
ing room, dried. pressed, counted and
examined, the same as on both previous
occasions. From here they are sent to
the numbering division, where they re-
ceive the numbers that are seen on the
upper right corner and left center
Both legal-tender and national bank =
notes are printed on sheets, and
there are always four notes on each.
After being numbered the legal
tender notes are taken to another room,
where the margin is trimmed from
the paper and the notes separated. This
is all done by machinery. After being
separated they are again counted and
placed in packages of 1000 notes each.
This Is also done by ladies, who are ex-
perts. One lady. Mrs. Silver, vii
count |, 900 notes in five minutes. This
Is the final count. They are then ready
for delivery 70 the parties authorized to
receive them. The national bank notes
are not separated, but are sent to the
banks that issue them in sheets of four
each, so that they may be the more
readily signed. The rules governing the
bureau of engraving and printing are
very strict. In fact, during working
hours the employees are treated more
like prisoners than they are like ladies
or gentlemen. From 1000 TO 1900 per-
sons are employed there, the ladies out
numbering the gentlemen considerably