The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1881-03-18
Printing Greenbacks.

Gan paper money" said Treasury
officer in conversation with a Chronicle
reporter, a few days ago, "both legal
tenders and national securities, is now
engraved, printed and finished in the
Bureau OF Engraving and Printing at
Washington. Some years ago, one
half the note was finished in New York
by the Columbia Bank Note Company,
but that has been done away with for
some time. Under an act of Congress,
building has just been completed for
the sole use OF the bureau. Before
moving into this, they occupied part
of the Treasury Department
What about the process of makinga
greenback?n
1.-The process of making the green
back and other government securities is
this:-The paper is first taken to the
wetting division. There il is counted
and dampened II 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 Il lady, and give receipt therefor,
the assistant certifying that she witness
ed the count. The receipts are taken
to the wetting division, where they are
compared with the books before the
work is begun, and must agree. This
is done with hand press. Attached to
all these presses are registers, which
keep count of each sheet Of paper as it
passes through, 50 it is impossible to
secrete any without being detected.
The note then passes into the eXamn-
ing division, where it is counted while
wet and placed in drying 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 a hydraulic press, where an immense
pressure is given them. When taken
out they are perfectly smooth. They
are then sent back to the wetting
division, where they are again dampen-
ed"
What is the next step in their manu-
facture?"
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 taken from here the third time
to the State printing division, where
the third impression is received, which
is the large red seal on the face. After
this they are taken to the examining
room, dried, pressed, counted and eX-
amined, the same as on both previous
occasions. From here they are sent to
the numbering division, where they
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. Aftel
being numbered, the legal tender note!
are taken to another room, where tn,
margin is trimmed from the paper
and the notes separated. This is al
done by machinery. After being separ
ated they are again counted anC
placed in packages of one thousand
notes each. This is also done by ladies,
who are experts. One lady, Mrs.
Silver, will count one thousand notes in
five minutes. This is the final count.
They are then ready for delivery to the
parties authorized to receive them.
The national bank notes are not separ-
ated, but are sent to the banks that
issued them in sheets Of four each, SO
that they may be more readily signed.
The rules governing the Bureau OF En-
craving and Printing are very strict,
In fact, during working hours, the
employees are treated more like prison
ers than they are like ladies or gentle
man. From one thousand to fifteen
hundred persons are employed there
the ladies outnumbering the gentle
men considerably"
o -