The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-09-04
VAGRANT BANK NOTES
PASSING IN REVEW THROUGH THE
REDE MPTlOfS AGENCY
Tho Near and Tear OF Bank Notes and
<:reeHi,ac!ls--r identification of ituraea
Notes Expert Counting Catching
the Counterfeits.
New York Post.

they bundled up ana sent to the trea 'ury
depart meat for redemption. Many millions
Of Theses Migrants are received ut the de-
partmant each year. They have to pass in
review through the national bank relcmp-
ton agency where those that are utterly
depravei and good for nothing are sentenced
to be cheweI up and those that have got in
through the rec of AS ,Ociation, hut arc
still not 50 far gone that some good may not
be got cut IF them, are sent back into the
service. In the place Of those that are con-
demned, nice, new notes, crisp and clean,
are seut out The experience OF these notes
is varied. and in some cases very novel
and interesting, but their tale is told only by
their ragged and dirty appearance when
they get back to the department..
The average length "t time that a new
note can keep up n respectable appearance
il about three years. Some have been found
at the end of twenty yeari to be rs cri p as
OH the day of their issue, but those are ex-
ceptional cases. where they have fallen into
the hanls Of people who made pets of them
and carefully guarded them from rough
usage The wandering note soon becomes
tramp 1t rapidly goes to pieces if it starts
out for the west, stopping along at the cross
road inns lf it frequent5 drinking saloons
and falls in with low company. Bad habits
tell on a bank note very quickly.
One lady i'll the comptrOller's office in this
case has charge of them, and they are sent
to her for Identification before thy can DO
redeemed. Her is Fitzgerald. and she
is said to be very export, seldom failing t'
identity note, giving It's proper name, date
and classification, matter how badly
burnt is l. Sometimes packages of several
hundred done up to he Expressed, are sent
ia all stuck together AMI burnt clnaT through
to black crispy mas. she then separates
them one by one with q very thin-blaled
knife, and places the charred remains OF
each one separately upon = g!l<S slab AMI
examines it worry carefully with q magnify
ing glass. She is familiar with all pecuii-
arities of the issues Of tho various banks and
a note must he reduced almost 10 ashes to b.
beyond her recognition, though To an ineE
i,erienced eve il might not b. distinguished
from piece of grocer's paper which hal
gone through the fire.
All those note5 othertvi - uut:lHt,i - d.
rectly to the redemption agencF Tie de
gree of expert efficiency displayed there is
something relnarkabie This branch IF the
service was organized about eleven years
ago by Gen. Spinner. Prior to that there
was no systematic redemption Of the paper
currency as it became too worn for circula-
ton, and a good many ragamutlin notes
wandering about the country. The
service began with about l53 people
i.inyed in counting and asserting the notes
that came in for redemption. Very nearly
the same amount of work is now done by
tifty-seven. Tho counting in and asserting
of the notes require great care, AMI it -
only after long experience that it can lie
done rapidly.
There Is an average of about 80, 001,019
notes per year handled, AMI they have to ba
counted about five times il there is 10 hitch
in the count, and oftener if any mistakes
are made. But the amount Is variatI, from
year to year, and even from month TO
Month The lowest number was in iSS0-Si
whan 60, 600, 900 were redeemed, and from
that it has run up rs high rs PIG, o0o, 900 in
singie year. Some months il rams as low as
1000, 600 or 1900. 900. then again it rams mp
in other months to IS, 00U, 600 20 900 900.
The months of January ami juno always
take the lead, those being the periods Just
after the fall and spring trade, respectively,
when the currency worn out by the rough
mage iii traffic is collected and sent in to be
replaced by new notes. The force Of fifty
seven, ali except two or three of whom arc
ladies, can handle just half million notes
each day. This is very expert counting.
Tie notes whom they come To be ju lged
have first to be counted in This requires
the "count, r. i'm to go over thom twice, and
she must make mistake and pass no
counterfeit, cr the loss thus caused viii be
deducteI from her salary. She is given
from q 091 L, 10, 600 notes, for which she
gives a receipt; then she counts thom "in;"
then she co1ntS them back, and if the two
counts agree she is given credit Tor them
when she settles up in the evening, turn
ing III the money bound ami labeled
with her mime and amount each pack
age. If the packages, or any Of them. AFRO
found Short she has 10 make good the de
tciency. Next, the notes have to he as
sorted those i'll good condition from those
in Lad condition; then they have to be
grouped as REORGANIZATION; thcn distributed
into banks of issue, and then intodeuomina-
ton, under the head, of banks.
Then they Counted out" The ''coun-
ter in' has tn handle them twice and the
Counter cut thrice, but the former has the
most responsibility, aud must be the most
expert. The Counter in' handles from
5000 to 10000 notes twice, or counts II 900
tn y. oo0 per day, while TIN Counter out
handles from 5000 to 900 three times or
counts from Is. 900 10 u ,00o per day. This
is provided they mako mistake, which
makes n recount necessary and doubles the
work To do this requires constant alton
ticn and is Il great strain on the nerves,
each note has To be scrutinizad very closely
To see that 1T Is not counterfeit, and the
counter IN must know the name of every
bank that has 4 counterfeit upon it, ana
have III his mimi a full de ,cri ptiun of tho
fai>e note, SO . to lee able to detect it at
tight
The snperintenicnt says counterfeit notes
are thrown ont hy these experts without
hesitation every time they come to them.
They have a line OF notes passing before
their eyes all the tnue, and any flaw or de-
feet they notice on the instant. Two hum
dre,i aud forty appointments have been
rnade during toe eleven years of the arency's
existence, and forty OF the fifty even en-
pioyes now there have served from the first.
A new hand i doing remarkably we'll if he
or She learns in SIX months to count 80 rer
day on the assortment, which i, tbs easiest
while these old hands will count 81. 00A alay
If the notei are fairly good
Women are employed for this business
because of the dcHCacy Of their touch and
on account of the fact that they are MT -
apt to have bad habits. They must be
young quick and healthy ami we'll ed heated
and their salaries. which are paid in through
the treasury by the banks. for the three