Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-09-28
COUNTING THE MILLIONS.
ILLS TO WHICH THE TREASURY
EMPLOYEES ARE HEIR.
Sores Caused by Contact with the
Arsenic in the Curreney-How FoIger
Eased His Tasks-HOw Chandler Re
membered Bright Ensign-FoIger
and Brewster's Signatures.


and Brewster's Signatures.
Correspondence of the Morning Ne,ns.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26.-Nearlv all of
the employees Of the National Bank Re.
demption Agency of the Treasury Depart
ment are females. There are about 100 of
them. Most Of them are young, and many
of them are pretty. So when Mr.. Rodgers.
chief of this division, asked me to take a
stroll through his workshop to-day / did
not refuse. The employees are in long
room and are separated from each other
by something like wire cages-a female
sometimes, too, in each cage Nearly all
of them were busy at work counting
money. They do nothing but count
from in the morning until
in the afternoon. Their hands
move with rapidity and nimbleness
seldom acquired by the most expert bank
clerks. As we walked through the room
where millions of national bank notes are
| counted every week | nOticed-it was
! about O'Clock in the afternOOn-that
nearly all in the bee hive looked tired and
had a hstless a.. / also noticed a num-
! Der otpretty young girls, and some who
/ were not pretty and not girls, who had
sores on their hands and wrists. There
! were some who had sores about the face
and head. l asked Mr.. Rodgers if the
cause of these eruptions was to be found
| In the work upon which the cOun-
| tesses were engaged. Hereplied: at is.
! very few who spend any considerable
| time III counting money escape Sores
| 1hey generally appear on the hands. FIRE.
| quently they break out on the head and
! sometimes the eyes are affected. There
! is nothing that VIII prevent them. All of
/ these ladies' f1kn tho ,f
| themselves in their work, but, sooner or
| later, they are afflicted with sores. The
| direct cause of the sores? 1t is the arse
mic employed in the manufacture of the
money. If the skin is the least abraided, /
and the arsenic gets under the flesh. a
| sore will appear the next morning. The
| haDlt that everyone has of putting the
hand to the head and face while not
| thinking, is the way that the arsenic
| poisoning is carried to those portions of
| the body. "See here" said Mr.. Rodgers,
stopping by the side of a young lady and
picking up glass vessel containing a
large piece OF sponge; "this sponge is wet,
and is used to moisten the fingers while
counting the money. You see how black
1t lsg That's arsenic. Every morning
new sponge is placed on the desk of each
emplOye, but before the day is over it is
as black as this" "DOes anyone become
so badly afflicted ON account of arsenic
pOASOilHS ILdJ MOIk nuSB De IlJllGlN
abandOnedN "Yes, they do. have |
known a half dozen cases where ladies |
have been compelled to resign their posi- |
tions. We have three now who had been !
here for six years before they ever were
afflicted with sores. About three months !
ago they were so visited by them that |
they had to quit work. They have now |
been about three months unable to come
to work. The physicians certificate in
each case says that their blood is poisoned |
by arsenic. "But," concluded Mr.. Rodgers |
with smile, ''althOugh there is danger |
~ the work, there is no difficulty in filling !
every vacancy that occurs. These ladies |
get S75 month";"
QUITE A REVOLUTION
has been made in the statements pre- |
pared by the office of the United States |
Treasurer for Secretary Folger's daily and |
weekly inspection. They were aWfully |
cumbersome. Some of them took up as |
much space i'm useless figures as is Occu-
pied by the front page of first-class daily.
AS there are about ten daily statements
ami half dozen weekly ones that have to
be examined and approved by the Secre-
tary of the Treasury, it was no easy lob
for him. About three months ago
Secretary Folger called on Assistant |
Treasurer Graves to devise better
forms for making out these statements.
Mr.. Graves has completed this work. He |
10 HOM dDlt w SlDiulb W but CGCTcIdII all
the information contained in the old forms
in about one-ifth part of their space and
figures. The old forms were large enough
ten years ago, but Mr.. Graves said that they
had been added to almost every month.
Mr.. Graves also acknowledged that a great
deal of unnecessary work of this character
is done in every government bureau. Ifthe
work was simplifed the force of employees
could be greatly reduced. The tendency
of the bureau officers is to make as biz
showing as they can. Therefore all papers
issuing from their offices are strung out to
an innumerable extent. To hint to them
that they are doing this to make a biz
show of things wholly unnecessary and
perfectly Valueless would be to invite
stare in its nature blOOd-curdling.
ENSIGN sTnIPsON J. BROWN,
of New York, was yesterday appointed to
be professor Of mathematics in the navy.
He stood one in his class at Annapolis
each of the four years that he was there.
He was very poor boy in New York. He
worked his way half through Cornell
University; he then entered a competitive
examination for appointment as cadet at
Annapolis. He got the appointment. He
is a phenOmenally bright mathematician.
He is something wonderful when he gets
to work on that dry science. But he was
never cut out for sailor He
has spent about three years at
sea. just as soon as his ship
would get to sea, he would Get into a cot
and stay there until land was reached.
That fearful thing, seasickness, came to
see him in its worst form and staid with
him. He could not afford to resign, and
he did not banker for the bounding sea.
Two years ago there were two professors
of mathematics to be appointed in the
navy. lie applied for appointment as one
OF them. There were about fifty others
after the same place. Brown was the
youngest of the fifty. He has had only
about tWenty-eight years III this vale of
tears. He passed the best examination,
but two old professors, one about forty
and one about fifty, got the place He
was told that he was too young. Secre-
tary Chandler, however, told HIM that he |
would remember him whenever another
vacancy occurred. The other day Brown !
was in the city. He had ceased tothink of
ever being professor in the navy. He was
trying to get ordered to the photographic
office to avoid another sea-vOyage with its
inevitable misery of always being sea-
sick. He was stopping at the Ebbitt |
House. He received word about 10
O'Clock of the day that he intended to
leave the city that Secretary Chandler
wanted to see him. He went to the de
partment expecting to receive a raking
fore-and-aft for trying to avoid sea duty.
He went into Secretary Chander's office.
handed him paper. ''That's your resig-
nation; sign it," he said. Brown
was so used to obeying orders !
that, although half-dazed, he signed
away his commission as an ensign in the !
navy. Chandler looked at him mo-
ment, handed him another paper and {
said, ''Sign that" Brown signed it and
was just sufficiently selfpOssessed to
make out that ii was an acceptance of a
position as professor of mathematics in
the navy. Chandler looked at him mo-
ment again and picked up another paper.
''This is your appointment as professor;
what shall / do with itY' he asked. !
Brown, who told me about it, said: II
just had enough reasoning left to tell him
to sign it, He did so. / was so elated
that did not know what to do. put the !
in my pocket and was clear
of the building before remembered that
had not thanked the Secretary. | went {
back and did it the best ] could. That's !
all right said Mr.. Chandler, Il told Won
two years ago that l would not forget YOU.
Good morning." {
BEFORE SECRETARY FOLGER
became the head of the Treasury Depart-
ment it was the custom for one Of the
Assistant Secretaries to sign thewarrants
for the payment of public money. Mr..
F0lger decided that the Secretary of the l
Treasury or the assistant acting Secretary 7
should Si0n them. This of course hrouobt