Sharp County record., 1885-05-28

ana can be easily lOulu, oolhO P,
being preserved which having nothing
more On them than mark OF the en-
gravers tool. The capacity OF the vault
is estimated at 10000, and when 1t Is
filled, a committee is appointed by the
Secretary of the Treasury to select the
plates which are deemed worthless and
see that they are destroyed.
The paper used at the Bureau does
not come directly from the mill, For
every sheet a requisition has to be made
on the Treasury, where it is stored. 1t
is very fine and heavy quality of pa
per, grayish in color, and irregularly
marked with threads of red and blue
silk. The requisition states for what
purpose the paper is to be used, thus:
1900 sheets for 81 bills, 5000 Tor 30
bills, 1000 for $40 bills and 1000 for
$50 bills. Before these sheets are
turned over to the Superintendent OF
the wetting division they are counted
by force of women specially employed
! for that purpose. Dampening the pa
per and making it mellow for the i'm
preston is an important part OF the
work. The sheets are placed between
wet clothes in packages of ten or III
teen each, and permitted to remain over
night acquisitions being made IN the
morning for the number of sheets re-
quired by each plate printer, who has a
woman to assist him.
The printers start work at eight
o'clock. They ink the plates and reyolye
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
it when it has received the impression.
Few of the printers work later than
three o'clock in the afternoon, and on
completing their labor, make 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 in instalments OF
two-hundred to the office of the Super
intendent of the printing division, and
he is credited with them on his pass
book. These sheets are not counted IN
the office, but are sent in locked cases
to the Examining division on the floor
below Here an entry is made OF the
number claimed, and a few moments
later the report of the counter is
placed opposite, Should printer wish
to leave the building before four clock
he is furnished with pass, upon
three persons having certified that upon
actual examination that he has ac-
counted for every sheet intrusted to 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 it is only one sheet OF paper that
is missing, but until satisfactorily ac-
counted for and receipted for, all OF the
employees are kept in the building. The
supervision is very strict. 1t 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
davis work balance. 1t is naturally
pretty hard when thirteen hundred peo-
ple have to suffer for the mistake of one,
but it is only by system of such rigid
discipline that the work can be salts
factorily performed.
And now where are we? In the dry
inc room, to which the sheets, still
moist from the presses, are conveyed.
This room is perfectly air tight. and is
heated by steam to a temperature OF
250 degrees Fahrenheit. Here the
sheets remain over night, and on the
following morning are counted by ex-
perts, who also look for imperfections.
If there is a blot as big as pins head,
false register or slight tear. the paper
is thrown out and the initials on the
corner fix the responsibility for the
fault. The imperfect sheets thrown
out by the first examiners are after
wards gone over by experts, who deter
mine whether the defects may be rem
edied or whether they are Of sufficient
Importance to warrant the destruc-
tlOn Ol UuG SucCl' IllC imp
feet sheets are held for two or
three days, and are then sent
to the Loan division of the Secretary'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 pressure Of five hundred pounds
TO the square inch. When taken out of
the press they are smooth and crisp,
and resemble those in 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-
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