The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-06-06
REDEEMrNG OLD BANK NOTES.

Washington Star.

ture and requiring great accuracy is so SyS-
tematized that it runs without hitch. Even
if a mistake should occur in handling and count
ing the vast sums of money which constantly
pass through the bureau, the system of check
ing and receipting is so perfect that it would be
discovered in a short time, and its origin traced
almost simultaneously. The fifty-seven en-
plOyes of the bureau mostly ladies, who are
locked in a long room on the west side OF the
building, are the ones who count and sort the
old worn-out bank notes. which are sent to the
department for redemption. Each counter has
a separate table with compartments for differ
ent notes. The casual visitor to the depart
ment gets partial glimpse of the ladies behind
the wire screens, rapidly lingering the solled
and torn money which has just been with
drawn from general circulation, but, for pre-
cautionary reasons, visitors are seldom admit
ted to the interior.
The bureau will have been in existence just
ten years on the LIST of July, and the work ac
comphshed by it is invaluable. Since its
origin there has been redeemed 81, 39l, 1884,
007 10, or over twice the national bank circu
ton.
What is the average life of bank notelp
asked q Star reporter of one of the officials
about five years. was the reply. "Of
course" he added, tive have no other way of
finding out than by comparing the amount an
nually redeemed with that in circulation, about
20 per cent of the whole circulation being re
deemed every five years. The life of the legal
tender notes, being of smaller denomination, is
only about three years"
The amount of money received from year to
year varies from $50, 100000 to $240.0O0,0 600
This would be an average of $3.50, 900, 900, but
the clerical force can't be averaged in that way.
When the redemption is over 500, 900, 900 the
work is really more than ought to be done with
the present force There is promise of an ad-
ditional force before great while.
A Star reporter was escorted through the
division, the other day, by the superintendent,
Mr.. Rodgers, and the modus operand was kindly
explained. Money sent here to be redeemed
goes through three separate processes" said that
officer Packages are received from banks and
just in the shape they come are taken by count
ers, who give their receipts for Them to their
tables and are there sorted by denominations
These packages containing bills according to
denomination are turned in at night, and the
next day the counters divide the bills into
groups. We have forty two of these groups,
which include all the national banks, arranged
alphabetically by towns in which they are
located New York has group of its own, and
so has Boston, on account of the large number
of banks located in those cities. The group
packages are deposited in the vault, to be gradu
ally withdrawn and the bills separated according
to the banks Of issue. This constitutes the third
and last process. Bank notes which are fit are
returned to the banks of ISSUE and check
generally given on sub treasury sent for
those which are not fit. While the first two
processes are daily, the third is Of course not
The groups are taken from the vault in order
and the wnoie fity-two are GENERALLY gone
through with about twelve times year. When
the redemption isunder 800, 000 900 in a year
about IS per cent of the notes received here
have to be destroyed, very small proportion
proving fit to be used again When however,
the redemption is much over that, the proper
ton of fit notes is much larger"
II see the ladies are allowed to have comforta
BILE seats while at work; has that always been
the casel asked the Star reporter.
issNo. Several years ago they were compelled
to stand at these large cases and perform their
work But the constant strain from standing,
and from the use of the muscles of the shoulder
in handling the money, was very injurious.
The systematizing of the work. however, per-
mitted changes in the manner of performing it.
After five years of steady work i'll the old way
woman would be almost entirely used up.
This book" continued Mr.. Rodgers, turning
to a rather small account book, "shows the
workings of this division since its organization
to the present day, giving the result OF each
days proceedings. 1t is balanced daily, and
from an inspection of it. the workings of the di-
vision can be seen at glance. If a bank sends
more money than is marked on a package or
not much marked, it is noted here On
May you will see that there was shortage of
$500 That is rather peculiar, f. the package of
money came from the National Metropolitan
Bank of New York, just day or so before it
suspended. The officers Of the bank must have
received the letter from the department
noting the mistake on the very morning of sus-
pension, but l guess they were too busy with
more important matters to pay any attention
to it. That was the fourth time that there
were large shortages in the packages from
that bank in the past ten years, but every
time before the bank would not own the
mistake but insisted that the trouble was in
this office. Very often banks send more money
than they mark on the packages. In fact the
overs have exceeded the shorts amounting to
$40 800, and the shorts to $135, 800 In the same
ten years 81, 800 in counterfeit notes have been
discovered"
SIS it possible for an employee to extract note
and take it homer" asked the Star man.
''Yes it is possible, but not at all probable. If
it should be done mistake would be discovered
by means Of the checks and receipts, and the
point of disagreement would be soon located
Of course, if clerks were inclined to steal they
would be apt to take from an over package, but
mistake Of that character Is often discovered
at home, and reported here before we can inform
the bank. We can point to the fact of the overs
exceeding the shorts as a general proof of the
honesty of the bureau"
Of course everybody knows what becomes of
the redeemed notes. The bank notes are macer-
ated In the basement of the Treasury In the pres
ence of committee The United States notes
are similarly disposed of at the buSsdu Owen
craving and printing The pulp which remains
is often made into ornaments of different de-
signs and sold by private parties to curiosity
seekers The fact that each ornament contains
the remains of thousands of dollars is its main
attraction. The pulp is sometimes made into pa
per- but only the coarsest kind can be made in
fact not so good even as formerly when the notes
were printed upon better material than now
When the bank redemption agency was first es-
tabished the macerating process was in vogue in
the Treasury Department. Subsequently it was
abandoned, and large furnace used for burning
the notes.
This did not work satisfactorily, as the unusu-
al draft necessary to burn the notes would of
ten carry through the chimney notes only par
tally burned 1t frequently happened that |
these were picked up in the neighborhood and |
presented at the department for redemption.
One of the officials arranged plan to prevent
the difficulty by which the smoke had TO pass
through water This worked very well until |
one night the machinery was not left III proper
condition, the hues were closed or the drafts re-
versed, or something of that kind. At any rate, |
in the morning the contents of all the rooms
which were connected with the furnace chimney |