The St. Johns herald., 1886-08-12
:. THE TREASURY STEEL VAULTS.
How the National Currency is Made.
 Counted ard Worn Ous.


 The great chilied-iron. and steel vaults of the Treasury ct Washington are objects of much interest to visitors. but only certain ores can be entered by outsiders, and these only on permit from the Treasurer.
 The five principal vaults are connected with the Treasurer's office, for the con- tents of which he is responsible. They are known as the cash vault, the reserve vault, the silver vault, the redemption vault and the national bank vault.
 The cash vault is used more than all the others combined, in the daily trans action of business, and presents more interesting features. It is eonstrueted on the most approved modern principies :. and is. strictly speaking, an iron-bound apartment lined with gold and silver. The walls, floor, and ceiling are of chilled iron, built in sections.
 These walls are over a foot thick, the space between the inner and outer plates of iron being filled with heavy iron balls, forming a compact mass. Inc removal of which would require much time, skill and labor.
 The Bureau of Engraving and Print ing, where all our national currency IS manufactured, occupies a large brick building built expressly for it, at cost of some $500, GOO. It has three stories and a high basement, and is Tn the Romanesque style of architecture.
 Here 250 plate presses are worked by hand. and over 800 men and women employed in the processes of printing sheets of bank-notes, bonds and inter- nal revenue stamps.
 The long, spacious room, running the entire length of the third story, is a sceneof intense activity during business hours. Six hundred sheets per day are printed on each press, and after each i'm pression the delicate copper and steel plate must be removed from the press, carefully wiped dry, polished with whiting, linked and then returned to its place for another impression.
 The fibre paper must be handled ex- pertly, and everything about the work done with precision and care. All is perfect system and exactness here.
 The greenbacks and other securities Issued by the Government, from the time the paper is manufactured until the finished note is issued, are subjected to q system of registering and checking at every step, so minute and precise, that the chance of any error or dishonesty In the handling of this most valuable product Is reduced to minimum.
 The sheets. before being wet, are delivered to the plate printers, counted and charged to them, and again counted fin the presence of lady assistant, who certifieS to the count. Attached to the machine by which the wetting is done arc registers which automatically count the sheets @ third time as they pass through.
 Next comes the examining division, where. after the fourth count, the sheets are dried and counted the fifth time. Lady experts then examine the sheets, and those which are pronounced perfect go into the hydraulic press. fnOm which powerful machines they emerge in @ smooth state ready for printing.
 Any sheets spoiled in printing-too light or too dark or otherwise imperfect are thrown out by the examiner, but cannot be destroyed until after passing through a regular prescribed course
 The lettering and ndnumbering divisions, and the engraving division, on the other floors. are interesting also.
 Visitors are permitted to inspect all llO AiNlDiO11o OA bAS VulCdds dll0 sA guide is provided to conduct all who apply on "tour of the rooms.
 Ofthe 500 or 600 persons employed ia the bureau, large majority are ladies. and some of the most difficult and responsible work Is performed by lady experts.
 The bureau turns out an average of $100, 900 in notes printed daily.
 The redemption division of the Treasury is one of the most interesting and busiest. Here worn and mutilated bank-notes, retired from circulation, are examined and counted previous to being cancelled. Every year currency to the value of $200,000 is counted, can. celled and destroyed.
 The counting is done by female clerks. many ofwhom acquire great skill and seldom make a mistake. Some of these countesses have been at work ten years or more, and have handled many millions of dollars.
 They sit on long tables on which the notes are piled, and package after pack age is opened, the notes closely scrutin- ized and counted, and then turned ever 10 the officials in charge of the cancell- ing machine. which is run by frrhino wheel