West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-06-05

bills, 1000 for $40 bills and 1000 for
so bills. Before these sheets arc
turned over TO the Superintendent of
the wetuhg division they are counted
10y a force of women specially employed
Tor tina purpose. Dampening the pa.
per and making il mellow for the i'm.
preston Is an important part of the
WORK. che sheets are placed between
wet clothes In packages of ten or fif-
teen each, and permitted to remain over
nlght, acquisitions being made i'm the
morning for the number of sheets re-
quired 10y each plate prirter. Rho has a
woman to assist him.
The printers start work at cipht
o clock. They ink the plates and revolve
them on the press, while the duty of the
woman is to rub the paper with damp
cloth, place it ON the press and remove
II when il has received the impression.
Few of the printers work later than
three o'clock i'm the afternoon. and on
completing their labor make a return
of the number of sheets printed and the
number left over. In order TO prevent
delay at the close of the work. the
printer sends his sheets i'm instalmcnts of
two-hundred TO the office of the Super
lntendent of the printing division. and
he Is credited with them on his pass
book These sheets are not counted i'm
the Office. but are sent in locked eases
to the Examining division on the floor
below Here an entry is made of the
number claimed, and few moments
later the report of the counter is
placed opposite Should a printer wish
to leave the building before four o. clock
he is furnished with pass. upon
three persons having certified that upon
actual examination that he has ac-
counted for every sheet intrusted 10 him
and returned the plate A coupon on
the pass is sent TO the ladies' dressing
room for the printers assistant; with
out these cards no printer or assistant
can pass the watchman at the doors.
Should four o. clock arrive and no sound
of the gong be heard, it is then under
stood that something is wrong. Per-
haps IL is only one sheet Of paper that
Is missing, but until satisfactorily ac.
counted for and receipted for. all of the
employees are kept i'm the building The
supervision is very strict IL is not often
that mistakes of this kind occur. and
when they do it is generally found TO be
in the counting. which fails TO make the
days work balance. H. is naturally
pretty hard when thirteen hundred pco
pie have 10 suffer for the mistake of one,
but 1t - only by system Of such rigid
discipline that the work can be salts
factorily performed.
And now where are wop I'm the dry
ing room, to which the sheets. still
moist from the presses, are conveyed.
This room Is perfectly air tight. and il
heated by steam To a temperature oi
25O degrees Fahrenheit Here the
sheets remain over night, and on the
following morning are counted by ex-
perts, who also look for impcrlections.
If there is a blot as big as pin : head.
false register or a slight tear, the paper
Is thrown ont and the initials ON the
corner fX the responsibility for the
fault. The imperfect sheets thrown
ont by the first examiners are after.
wards gone over by experts. who deter
mine whether the defects may be rem
cdied or whether they are Of sufficient
importance TO warrant the destruc
ton of the sheet The imper.
feet sheets are held for two On
three days, and are then sent
10 the Loan division of the Sccrctary's
Office. where they are DESTROYED by the
Destruction Committee of the Treasury
Department After the notes have gone
through the drying-room they are
rough and corrugated. What they now
need is to be polished. This is done by
placing the rough sheets between the
mill boards-twO sheets, back to back,
between each board. They are then
placed between hydraulic rams, which
exert a pressure of five hundred pounds
10 the square inch When taken out Of
the press they are smooth and crisp,
and resemble those i'm circulation ex.
cept for the fact that they lack the seals
and numbers. The seals are printed
from steel plates in red ink upon regu-
lar Hoe presses. The notes are then
taken upstairs again and numbered
The numbering machines, of course are
automatic. and will 20 up as high as
100000 600. The letter and characters
before and after the number on the
note, while serving TO identity the
series are intended mainly to prevent
the Unauthorized proiixino or anixino
Of other numbers
Now YOU have your money complete
except for the fact that there arc fom
notes 10 the sheet These are trimmed
and separated and receive their last
count before being done up i'm packages
for transportation TO the Treasury De
partmeut From the time the blank
paper is received at the Bureau until it
leaves as a finished note IL is counted
iifty-two times II is carried 10 the
Treasury Department i'm n wagon which
is literally an iron safe on wheels and
which is guarded by several men. The
amount Of money completed every day
at the Bureau averages about $3.50. OOO
The employees seem 10 forget after %
while that it d. money thpy are hand
ling They know Of course. that they
must constantly exercise a great deal Of
care. but beyond this are evidently not
very deeply impressed with the value OF
the material which passes through their
fingers. And so You have some little
idea OF how money is made-an awful
lot of bother, isn't it?- W0shingt0n
Cor. Br0Obiyn E0gie
He Was Too intelligent.