Sharp County record., 1885-05-28
MONEY FOR MILLIONS.
How Treasury Notes Are En-
graved at Washington.
Thirteen Hundred People Who Make
$25O,OOO Day-Every Finished
Note Counted at Least
Fifty-twO Times.

tuCy-UWO llHlcss
A little boy who saw one of the heavy
Treasury wagons rolling down PennSyl-
vania avenue yesterday asked this queS-
ton: "Papa, where Goes money come
from?" Most people know where their
money goes, but the question asked by
the boy is perhaps not so easily an
swered. Every Government or bank
note we handle tells us that it is print
ed at the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, but there is something singu-
larly vague and indistinct even in this
announcement. The history of the
bank note which comes to us clean and
crisp from the Government press is an
interesting one, and those who visit
Washington and fail to 60 to the place
where these notes are turned out miss
something which is well worth seeing.
The Bureau itself is right under the
shadow of the Washington monument
"a large brick building, not unlike a
factory, except in elaborate ornamental
ton, and gay with futtering flags and
tricolored streamers. 1t is compare
lively new, having been erected by Con-
gress in 1880 in order to relieve the
Overcrowded condition of the Treasury
Department, in which the work of pre-
pairing money had, up to that time,
been done.
When it is decided by the Treasury to
issue new note. the Engraving Bureau
is notified and the Superintendent di-
rected to prepare design, which he
executes in pen and ink, the drawing
oftentimes being as fine and delicate as
the steel engraving itself. This done,
the Secretary of the Treasury gives his
approval, and the drawing is handed
over to the engravers-please note the
plural, for no one plate is engraved by
a single person. One man cuts out the
portrait, another the scroll work, while
vet third attends to the ornamental
ton, and so on, until at last dozen
persons have had something to do with
the preparation. All these men are
experts, the Government paying hand
some salaries and sparing no pains to
secure the best talent in the market 1t
takes long time to engrave a plate.
For over two months the engravers were
at work on the picture of the late Pres
ident Garfield, which is to be seen on
the new five dollar bills, and yet q
fifty-cent piece would cover it.
From private manufacturers the steel
plates upon which the notes are en-
graved are bought, their fneness of quail
ity and perfect finish rendering them
extremely costly. Having engraved the
faces of single note it is easy to obtain
as many duplicate impressions as are
needed. The steel, soft when engraved
upon, is hardened in friedrich fur
mace, an intense heat being obtained
from four Bunsen gas-burners at cost
of ten or fifteen cents for gas. In thirty
minutes the plate is hardened into die
Upon this a roller of soft steel is pressed
and the softer metal sinking into the
grooves of the hardened plate receives
a raising impression. This roller in turn
is hardened into die, and in being
pressed upon soft plate the latter be-
comes perfect fac simile Of the origin
al. This is what is called transferring.
All of the dies, rolls and plates are ham
died with the greatest care, as would
be seen in few minutes spent inside
the grating which surrounds the engrav-
er. The Superintendent of the engrav-
inc division draws upon the custodian
for such articles as are needed, each one
being numbered, and giving separate
receipt for each piece received. The en-
gravers, in turn, give their receipts, and
thus there is not a moment when a
piece OF 5toui, Nc SIN Is
not accounted for, or is beyond the pale
of some ones care. When the days
work is over, tie engraverS surrender
their plates to the Superintendent and
the latter deposits them with the custo-
dian and obtains receipt
The vault is nothing more nor less than
an immense room built of steel plates.
The door is of iron, and it has three
locks. two of which are separate combl.
nations and the other time lock.
The two combinations are known to
one man each, and should either die
suddenly, an envelope which is in pos
session of Secretary Manning, and in
l:l A. oop,bina tion il contained