Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1885-08-20
Used-Up Banknotes.
THE NATIONAL REDEMPTION AGENCY.
CLERKS WITH QUICK EYES AND NIMBLE FIN
GERS.
Washington Star.l

| Washington Star.
| When the national bank notes have
/ ,ramped 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 Treas
ury department for redemption. Many mill
ions OF these vagrants are received at the
department each year. They have to pass
IN review through the national bank redemp-
tlon agency. where those that are utterly
T depraved and good for nothing are sem
tenced 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 NAV
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
interesting, but their tale is told only by
their ragged aud dirty appearance when they
get back to the department The average
length Of time that new note can Keep up
a respectable appearance Is about three
years. Some have been found at the end Of
twenty years 10 be as crisp as 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 wan
dcflng note soon becomes n tramp. |, rap
idly goes 20 pieces # Il starts out for the
west. stopping along at the crDssroad inns,
or Il It frequents drinking saloons and falls
10 with low company Bad habits tell On a
bank note very quickly. Il is ii hard luck
"hen il falls IN with a bloody fingered butch
er Some have been known 10 become
good for-uo'hing under such circumstances
in few weeks. They are subject, too. TO
all sorts Of misfortune hy fire add water.
Many thousand get burnt up. Then their
charfed and biackened remains ara sent 10
the treasury for redemption. Oae lady in
the comptrol.er's office in this case has
charge NJ them, and they are sent to her for
naturalization before they can be redeemed.
Her name IS Fitzgerald, and she j. SAID to
he very expert. seldom failing 10 identify a
note, giving Is proper name, date aHd cias-
.tilallon, no matter how badly burnt il H.
Sometimes packages Of several hundred,
done NJ 70 be expressed. are sent in All stuck
together and burnt clear through 10 a black
clIspy mass. Shc then separates them one
by one with = VERY thin t!alrd knife, anI
places the cbarfrd remains of each one sep
arately upon a gla.. slab and examines it
very carefully with maeu.tying glaS,. She
j. famuar With all prcuharitie. Of The issues
Of the yario., h,nk. an1 no,. r,,, NJ
reduced aImo., ,o s.h.. ~ Il. h.yonJ her
recognition. though 10 an inexperienced eve
Il NIGH, not he DISTINGUISHED FLA, /. u;sc,
of proc.r', psp,r Which had s,oo. ,brnnyh
the fire.
All tho.. pot.. o,b.,u,.. ,rrt,3,,.5 ",
DIRECTLY Ia the rrdomr,,.,,, ,,.srr, Th. H..
pre- of .xn,r, etFic,snr, d..,,t,y.3 ,her.
sousthinr remark ,hlr RI. branch ar tbs
service wa> or,aniz.d abop, eleven wears
aco Il, Gen Snipn.r p,i,-,o ,b,, tt.r.
vas M .,s,.rn,r,r r.,ia,,.,,.,., ,, 49,. ,,,,,,r
currsnc, as II became too vnrn far c;rr,il,.
iion and gool man, r,,,r,u.E,, ,a,. ..,e
vande-l,- ,hu,,, the. c,rn.,, r.. ..,vi,..
began with about lI1 ra,ni. ,r,ln,.d IL
count;n, and a,~or,;ng n. ra,es a. j, ~.
the notes that cam. IN f,r raJaD,,i,,
VERY nearly tho .,pe auo,,r, 4. wrrk
Is now do,.e by - The roro,in, IN and
asserting If The no,. r,ou,rs. gr.., r,r.
and II, on,v sfer lon., exn,riarr. ,A,,
i, can be done rsn-li, Th.y. +. an
average Of nh,t., 'li1 oop 0n1 rn,s.
per wear handled. AMI they haze "a Le
counted about fv,. limos Il ,h4r. <. ro ti,rh
in tie count. and ofterer Z agy mi,.skes ar-
made. Bu, the auou,, d. ,,f,ah.,. from
wear % YEAR. am even from month i n,o,,fa
Ih. lau.,t nuulfrr Vas IN lASn- 81 vh,,
90 900 600 were redeemed ana fro, rbaf h
la, ran up as hich a, 10000 oao n A III.
gle wear. Some month, i, has ran as low
as four OF FIVE million. then ayain VI rr,ps ,,r
in other month, 10 Is ar ~ milton Ta,
months Of January ond lam. ,1ua,. tai.
the lrad tta,. being tht p.riods VII. an4r
the Is. and ,prln, trad4 -,sn.,,ly.t, vl.n
the currrnc, worn o,,, fr,r, I'M. ,an,,t ,,.,...
in traffic. j. collected and IN, IN Ia b, r.
placed hy new notes.
The force or ffty.sey.p Ill aycent ia III
three of whom are ladies can handle inst
half million notes each d,y TINS yery
expert counting. The not.s vhen ,h,y
rome IN ba ;,d,.1 t,,. =. H., ..er,,,,ai
in." This requires the counter III" 10 %
over them twlcr. and She mus, make no mis-.
take and pas. no counterfeit, Or the ,oss thus
caused wiil be deducted rror ~ salary
She is given from SIX Ia ten thousand note,
for which she i, given 4 recein, then III
count; them a., then she counts them back
and If the two counts a,rss sbe /. given
credit for them when sba settles III n the
evening. turning in the money hound and
labeled with her name and iii amount on
each package If the nackage ~ apy II
them. are found sbor, .fa has m m,ke ,ooJ
the deficiency Ny, ~. b,v. :, L..
assorted. those in good condition fr,n, thosr
in bad condition then tb-v bay. 10 h..
grouped as 10 Denomination i,ndar ,hs hr,I
Of banks. Then they are ..cnun,at ant
The "counter-in" has IN handle ,hem ,v-ce
and the "counter-ou," th,ice bu, ,b. former
has the most responsibility. and mu,t be
more expert The counter-in handles fran
6 600 to 10000 notes ,,,;cs or counts -
900 TO 20. 900 p4r day. wbiie III conn,er-nnt
handles from ( Oon 10 : o0O ,brsa ,;mes or
counts from Il 600 II, 81 O0o Mar day Tb,.
i proyided they MAKE III ,ni.taka. wb;cb
makes A recount necessary and don,les tho
work.
~ Al ~. ,.,,,,:... o-.,.,..,. ,,,.,.;.., ~
is a great strain nm the nsrvas .acb ,ots
has to H. scrntipjzsd yerv closarv n I'LL tba,
il is not counterfeit and the ..conn,er.in"
must know the name of every bank that has
a counterfeit ,non il ana have in HI mind
a full dpscrlptioD of the false note so as 10
be able to deter, il q, SIGH, Tbe su,.r;n.
,enden, saws counterfeit notes are thrown
out by these experts without hesitation every