The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1882-09-07
HOW MONEY Is MADE.


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 insti-
tuition and trace the history of dollar.
trom the time it is simply q sheet of
blank paper until he sees it bundled I'D
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 Sc
curities are printed is manufactured at
present in New England. The owners
OF the mills that make it are the pat
entees of what is called the "localizod
blue fiber," which runs through the
right hand end of the United States
notes, and on the back of the bonds, etc.
The peculiar fiber is the great obstacle
to the counterfeiter. A Government Of
hcer receives the paper from the con-
tractor, counts it, and holds it until it
is needed at Washington. Each paper
making machine has an automatic reg
fster, 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.
Ihe paper, after it is made, is sent to
the Treasury Department at Washing
ton, and from there the superintendent
OF the Bureau of Engraving and Print
ing orders it rs he finds need. He rives
n receipt for the number Of sheets he
takes, and the printer, who next re-
ceives this precious blank paper, gives
q receipt to the superintendent. And
now the paper is ready 10 receive its
first impression.
Ihe number or persons employed in
the bureau at present is nine hundred,
two-thirds of the number being women.
In the case of the ladies who are en-
gagged in examining, counting, cutting
the money and cumming the stamps,
they are employed directly by the Gov
ernment. In the case of the printers it
is different. The printer, always
man, is employed by the Government.
and he hires such female help as he
needs. The printer is paid by piece
work, and no matter how little or how
much he earns, he must pay each of
his female help $1.25 day. If he is
sick and obliged to be absent from
business the pay of the girls goes on
the same as though they worked at such
times.
The department is divided into vari-
Gus 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 ull-fcdged dollar.
The first impression given to the sheet
is the face of the bill, without the red
6taDn nr seal FNbo L,o ,,o
ceived from six to ten thousand sheets
IN the morning, for which, of course,
he gives a receipt. Should but one of
the sheets be lost or spoiled the fact
must be imported i'll the evening, and
the missinA sheet must be found or sat
isfactorily accounted for before the
man can leave tue 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 tho exami-
nation of the work of the day has been
completed and everything has been
found regular" 1t has sometimes
happened that an employe has been
seized with sudden sickness and had to
be taken home in the Government am
buiance, but that rarely happens, and
when 1t 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
a sheet. The presses are worked by
hand and require the attendance of q
printer and one or two girls. The i'm
pressions are, of course, from steel
plates, the man hiking the plate. 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 davs to
be dried. Then they are taken to an
other division, where a second printer
prints the red seal upon each bill. Then
1T will be taken to another division, cut
up, counted 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 impressions, but
lager beer stamps are made with one.
The system ofreceipts and checks upon
carelessness and dishonesty is simply
perfect. In order to swindle the Gov
ernment in this direction there would
have to be collusion through an almost
interminable line of employees, begin
ming 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
70 be roceiptcd for by each and every
person through whose hands they pass.
The superintendent receipts for them
as he receives them from the Treasury,
the paper clerk as he receives them
from the superintendent, the printer as
he receives them FROM the paper clerk,
each superintendent of division as he
receives the sheet partly printed from
the printer, and each sub-superintend-
ent as be receives them in turn from
his superior, and SO on up to
tho 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 shapa OF old and worn-out bills to
be burnt up ia the furnace after being
replaced by new ones. Indeed, this
evefenn OF receipts is SO earnestly
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