Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-07-25
USED Up BANK NOTES.
How They Arc Redeemed and Dis.
posed of,

posed Of.
ONE OF THE REMARKABLE SIGHTS IN THE
TREASURY Observation-Disclosures CUR
RENCY CoUSTERs-How CHARRED NOTES ARE
IDESTIFIED.
When the national bank notes have tramped
about the country until they have become rag
9cd and va-abond, and have reached the low
est depths of degradation, they are bundled up
and sent to the Treasury department for re-
deinption. Many million of these Migrants are
received at the department each year. They
have to pass in review through the national
bank redemption agency, where those that are
utterly depraved and good for nothing are sem
fenced TO be chewed up, and those that have
got in through the force of association, but are
still not SD far gone that so'ne good may not be
got out of them. are sent back into the service.
In the place Of those that are condemned nice,
new notes, crisp ana clean, are sent out. The
experience of these notes is varied, and I'm some
eases very novel ana interesting, but their tale
Is told only by their ragged ana dirty appear
aHce when they get back To the department.
Inc average length of time that Il new note can
keep up \ Respectable appearance is about three
years Some have been found ut the end of
twenty years to be crisp Is on the day OF their
issue, but these are exceptional cases, where
they have fallen into the hands Of people who
made pets of them and carefully guarded them
from rough usage. The wandering note soon
becomes - tramp. IT rapidly goes to pieces if it
starts out for the west. stopping along at the
saloons and i;tilS in with low company. Bad
habits tell on u bank note very quickly 1t Is
is in hard luck when il i;llis In with Il bloody
fingered butcher some have been known to
become good-ior-notliIs under such circum-
stances In few weeks. They are subject. too,
to ali sorts OF misfortune by lire and water.
IDENTIFYING NOTES WHICH HAVE BEEN
BURNED To A CRISP.
Many thousand get burnt up Then their
charred and blackened remains are sent to the
Treasury for redemption One lady in the
controllers office in this case has charge of
them. and they are sent to her for identifica-
ton before they can be redeemed. Her name
Is Fitzgerald. and she is said to be very expert,
seldom I.,iIng to identity note, giving its
proper naIe, date and classification, no matter
how badly burnt 1t Is. Sometimes packages of
several hundred. done up to be expressed, are
sent In NIL stuck together and burnt clear
through to 4 black crispy mass. She then sep
arateS them one by one with a very thin
bladed knife and places the charred remains
OF each one separately upon II glass slab and ex-
amines it very carefully with anaynifying glass.
She is familiar with all peculiarities of the
issues of the various banks, and IL note must be
reduced almost to ashes to he beyond her
recognition, though to an inexperienced eye it
might not be distinguished from piece of
grocer paper which had gone through the fire.
EXPERTS IN THE REDEMPTION AGENCY.
All those notes otherwise mutilated go d.
rectly to the redemption agency. The degree
OF expert efficiency displayed there is some
thing remarkable. This branch OF the service
was organized ABOUT eleven years ago by Gen.
Spinner. Prior to that there was systematic
redemption OF the paper currency rs it became
too worn for circulation. and Il good many r;iga-
muffin notes were wondering about the cOun-
try. The service began with about 152 people
employed in counting and asserting tue notes
THAI came in for redemption. Very nearly the
same amount of work Is now done by 81. The
Counting lii and asserting of the notes requires
great care. and it is only after long experience
that it can be done rapidly. There is a. aver
age o. about $50, 900. 600 notes per year han
died. and they have to be counted about fire
times If there is no hitch in the count and
,tSs,
the amount is variable from year to
year. and even from month to month
Ihe lowest number was i'll 1sSO-s1, when
90, 900 900 were redeemed and frOill that it has
run up as high as 2iO,OOO.OOD in \ single year.
some months il runs as low as four or five
million, then again It runs UP in other months
to q or 2O million. The mon his OF January
and June always take the lead, those being the.
periods ust after the fall and sprin-; tr:tie
SptctiNSiE. when the currency worn out from
the rough usage In traffic. is collected and sent
in To be replaced by new notes
COUNTING HALF a MILLION DAY.
The force of fifty-seven, all except two or
three OF whom are ladies, can handle just half
a million notes each day. This il very EXPERT
counting. The notes when they come to be
Judged have first TO be counted in Til, re-
quircs the counter in to go over them twice,
counterfeit, or the IS thus caused will be de
Quoted from her salary. She is given from six
to Ten Thousand notes. for which sue gives I, re-
ceipt; then she counts them iis, then she counts
them back. and if the two counts agree she is
given credit for them when she settles up
in the evening. turning in the money bound
ana Tabled with her name and amount each
package. II the packages. or any OF them, are
found short she has TO make good the def
Cheney Next. the notes have To be assorted
those in good condition from those in bad con-
dition; then they have TO be grouped as to de-
Nomination; then distributed into banks OF
lSsu", ana then into denomination, under the
heads OF banks. Then they are counted out
The "countcr-in" has tn handle them twice and
the "counter-Out thrice, but the former has
mo
pert The counter i'm handles from {, OOOto 1000
notes twice, or counts l., 900 to 10000 per day
while the counter-out handles from 5000 to
1000 three times, counts from Is 900 to
21 ,uoO per day. This is provided they make
no mistakes, which makes q recount necessary
and doubles the work.
To do this requires constant attention and is
A GREAT STRAIN ON TIE NERVES
as each note has to be scrutinized very closely
To see that it is not counterfeit, and the coun-
term must know the name of every bank that
has 1. counterfeit upon IL, and have in his mind
fun description of the false note rs to be
able TO detect it at sight The superintendent
says counterfeit notes thrown out by these
experts without hesitation every time they
come 10 them. They have a line of notes pass
Ing before their eyes all the time, and any flaw
or defect they notice on the instant.
Two hundred and forty appointments have
been made during the eleven years of the
agency existence, and forty OF the fifty-seven
employees now there have served from the first
a new hand Is doing remarkably well IL he or
she learns in six months to count We hundred
per gay on the assortment which Is the easiest
while these old hands will count ten thousand
day If the notes are fairly good. Wome, are
employed fer this business because of the deli
cacy OF their touch and on account of the fact
that they are not so apt to have bad habits, or
when they do, IL Is more quickly discovered
than in the case of a man. They must be young
quick and healthy and we'll educated. and
their salaries, which paid in through the
Treasury by the banks, for the three grades OF
work are rated at $500, SIC, 900 and 81 600
The cashiers and two or three OF the counters
men.
To witness the silence and system in the Office
Is IL remarkable sight: the eye OF the counters
cannot for an instant be taken from the notes.
ana their fingers fly through the money like
nae machinery; one greenhack following an
other In a never ending procession all ti;.y long
III is said THAT three counters tor see
every line Oh engraving on the Iilce OF q note at
q glance as IL passes through their fingers
Word for High License.
To the Editor of The EVENING STAR:
L. j. ;. asks the question how to reduce tine
number OF saloons, bars and other places where
liquors are sold ut retail in Washington. Why
not try the experiment made with success in
some o! the western cities? High license The