The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-10-07
descriptive grtitles,
How Money is Made.

- HOW money Is MauS. stL
The Curious and Interesting History of
a Government Dollar.
The fact that money is a subject of uni
yersal interest probably accounts for the
large number of visitors to the Bureau OF
Engraving and Printing at Washington,
where Uncle Sam prints his promises to
pay and the various stamps required to be
used on certain articles. No stranger on
short visit to the Capital will fail to visit
this institution and trace the history of
dollar, from the time it is simply sheet of
blank paper until he sees it bundled up with
a lot Of its fellows, ready to be sent to the
bank and paid out through the pigeon hole
of the paying teller.
The paper on which our National securi-
ties are printed is manufactured at present
in New England. The owners of the mills
that make it are the patentees of what is
called the ''localized blue fiber, " which runs
through the righth and end Of the United
States notes, and on the back of the bonds, &c.
The peculiar fiber is the great obstacle to the
counterfeiter. A Government officer re-
ceives the paper from the contractor, counts
it and holds it until it is needed at Wash
ington. Each paper-making machine has
an automatic register, by which the mill
owners account to the Government for every
square inch of paper they make, and the
key of this machine is held by Govern
ment officer who watches the work. The
paper, after it is made, is sent to the Treas
ury Department at Washington, and from
there the superintendent of the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing orders it as he finds
need. He gives receipt for the number
of sheets he takes, and the printer, who
next receives this precious blank paper,
gives receipt to the superintendent. And
now the paper is ready to receive its first
impression.
The number of persons employed in the
Bureau at present is 900, two-thirds of the
number being women. In the case of the
ladies who are engaged in examining,
counting, cutting the money and cumming
the stamps, they are employed directly by
the Government. In the case of the print
ers it is different. The printer, always a
man, is employed by the Government, and,
he hires such female hell as he needs.
The printer is paid by piece work, and no
matter how much or how little he earns
he must pay each of his female help S1.25
day. If he is sick and obliged to be alb
sent from business the pay of the girls goes
on the same as though they worked at such
times.
The department is divided into various
divisions, the building being four or five
stories high, the workers in each division
attending to only one of the many different
processes through which the bit of paper
has to pass before it comes out crisp, full
Hedged dollar. .-.
The first impression given to the sheet
is the face of the bill without the red stamp
or seal. The printer has received from
5000 to 10000 sheets in the morning, for
which, of course, he gives receipt. Should
but one of the sheets be lost or spoiled the
fact must be reported in the evening, and
the missing sheet must be found or salts
factorily accounted for before the man can
leave the building. And right here it may
be mentioned that no one is allowed to leave
the building until the close of working
hours, and not then without pass to show
that the examination Of the work of the
day has been completed and everything has
been found Irregular" :" 1t has sometimes
happened that an employe has been seized
with sudden sickness and had to be taken
home in the Government ambulance, but
that rarely happens, and when it does
proper precautions are taken to see that the
invalid has not taken any of Uncle Sans
paper-whether blank, or wholly or partly
printed.
The bills are generally printed four on
sheet The presses are worked by hand
and require the attendance of a printer and
one or two girls. The impressions are, of
course, from steel plates, the man mixing
the plates, wiping off the surplus ink, and
the girls putting the sheet on the plate and
removing it after the impression has been
made. After the face of the bill has been
printed the sheets are taken to the drying
room where they remain two or three days
to be dried. Then they are taken to an
other division, where second printer prints
the red seal upon each bill. Then it will
be taken to another division, cut up, count
ed and put into the vaults, for then it is
money. The signature on the bill is part
of the regular impression from the plate.
After the red seal has been printed on the
face of the note, it is printed on the reverse
side. Revenue stamps receive two impress
sions, but lager beer stamps are made with
one.
The system of receipts and checks upon
carelessness and dishonesty is simply per-
feet. In order to swindle the Govern
ment in this direction there would have
to be collusion through an almost inter
minable line of employees, beginning with
the men who make the paper and ending
with the officer who receives the packages
of bills to put them in the vaults In fact,
the sheets, whether blank or partly or
wholly printed, have to be receipted for by
each and every person through whose hands
they pass The superintendent receipts for
them as he receives them from the Treasu-
ry, the paper clerk as he receives them from
the superintendent, the printer as he re-
ceives them from the paper clerk, each su-
perintendent of division as he receives
the sheets partly printed from the printer,
and each sub-superintendent as he receives
them in turn from his superior, and SO on
up to the time when the banks send in
their receipts for the dollars when Uncle
Sam has finally parted with them never
more to see them, until they come back to
another branch of the Treasury in the shape
of old and worn-out bills to be burnt up in
the furnace after being replaced by new
ones. Indeed, this system of receipts is so
earnestly spoken of by the pleasant gentle
man who shows you around the building,
that at the moment you leave the place you
almost expect him to return you a receipt
for your precious person ere you are per-
mitted to depart. As soon as printer has
printed 200 sheets he sends them to the
division where the next process is to be
| oOne throuoh with There are four diyi-