Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-08-13
MUTILATED BANK NOTES.
How They are Redeemed and Dispos
ed of
Sunday Star.

Irampeu ABOUT the country until they
have become ragged and vagabond.
and have reached the lowest depths
of degradation, they are bundled up
and sent to the Treasury Department
for redemption. Many millions of
these Migrants are received at the de-
partment each year. They have to
pass III review through the National
Bank Agency, where those that are
utterly depraved and good for moth
ing are sentenced to be chewed up.
and those that have got In through
the force Of association, but are still
not SO far gone that some 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 and clean, are sent out. The
experience Of these notes is varied,
and in some cases very novel and IN
teresting, but their tale is told only
by their ragged and dirty appearance
when they get back to the department.
The average length Of time that
new note can keep up respectable
appearance is about three years. Some
have been fouad at the end of twenty
years to be as crisp as on the day of
thei. 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 a tramp. Itrapid-
ly goes TO pieces if it starts out for the
West, stopping along at the cross
road inns, or If it frequents drinking
saloons and falls in with low cons
pany. Bad habits tell on bank note
very quickly. It is Ia hard luck
when it falls in with bloody finger
ed butcher. Some have been known
to become goOdfor~nothing under
such circumstances in a few weeks.
They are subject, too, TO all sorts of
misfortune by fire and water.
Many thousands get burned up.
Then their charred and blackeDed re-
mains are sent to the Treasury for re-
demption. One lady in the Comp
trollers Office ia this case has charge
of them, aud they are sent to her for
Identification before they can be re-
deemed. Her name is Fitzgerald, and
she is SAID to be very expert, seldom
failing to identify note, giving its
proper name, date, and classification,
no matter how badly burned it is
Sometimes packages Of several hun
dred, done up to be expressed, are
sent IN all stuck together and burned
clear Through to q black crispy mass.
She then separates them one by one
with q very thin bladed knife, and
places the charred remains OF each
one separately upon glass slab and
examines It very carefully with q mag
nifying glass She is familiar with
all peculiRrities of the issues of the
various banks, and a note must be
reduced almost to ashes to be beyond
her recognition, though to an mex
perienced eye it might not be distin-
guished from piece of grocer'S paper
which had gone through fire.
AL those notes otherwise mUtilated
go directly to the redemption agency.
The degree of expert efficiency dis
played there is something remarkable.
This branch of the service was organ
lied about eleven years ago by Gan.
Spinner. Prior to that there was no
systematic redemption of the Taper
currency as it became too worn for
circulation, and a good many raga~
muttin notes were wandering about
the country. The service began with
152 persons employed IN counting and
asserting the notes that came in for
redemption. Very nearly the same
amount of work is now done by 81.
The counting IN and asserting OF the
notes require great care, and it Is OulY
after long experience that it can be
done rapidly. There is an average of
about $50, 600 900 notes per year
handled, and they have to be counted
about five times if there is no hitch IN
the count, aud oftener if any mis-
takes are made But the amo3nt is
variable from year to year, and even
from month to month. The lowest
number was in 1880 81, when so, 0G0.,,
900 were redeemed, and from that it
has run up as high as 240, 0G0, 900 in
single year. Some months it runs as
low as four or five million, then again
it runs up in other months to $4,000
900 or 20,OOO, 600. The months of
Jar uary aud June always take the
lead, those being the periods just after
the fall and spring trade respectfully,
when the currency worn out from the
rough usuage in traffic, is collected
and sent in to be replaced by new
notes.
The force of fftyxseven, all except
two or three of whom are ladies, can
handle just half million notes each
day. This is very expert counting
The notes when they come 20 be
judged have first to be counted in"
This requires the counter IN" to 60
over them twice, and she must make
no mistake and pass no counterfeit, or
the loss thus caused will be deducted
from her salary. She is given from
5000 to 10000 notes, for which she
gives receip pit; then she counts them
I'm" then she counts them back, and
if the two counts agree she is given
credit for them when she settles up ia
the evening, turning in the money
bound and labeled with her name and
amount on each package. II the
packages, or any of them are found
short she has to make good the defici~
ency. Next. the notes have to be as