Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1888-02-04
PRINTING PAPER MONEY.
AN INDUSTRY MoNoPoLIzED By
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
Great Heaps of Paper Turned Into
Currency at tho Bureau of En-
craving and Printing

OTcdC heaps Oh IapeF LuThcu AhOO
Currency at the Bureau of En-
craving and Printing
These checks with which the Govern
ment surrounds the making of paper
money begin at one end of the line at
the paper mill, where the distinctive
paper on which notes of revenue stamps
are printed, and at the other end in the
engraving room, where skilled engravers
are engaged working out designs upon
plates of steel. Every scrap of the blank
paper has to be accounted for, and it is
guarded as jealously as though 1t already
had the seal of the Treasury on it. This
paper is kept in the paper room of the
Treasury, and is issued in quantities as
required by the force under Mr.. E. 0.
Graves, the Chief Of the Bureau of En-
craving and Printing The little bits of
steel on which the engravers work are
also carefully guarded. An official of
the Treasury Department receives them
from the engravers every evening and
locks them in strong vaults. The next
morning they are taken out again and
the engravers resume their work upon
them. In these vaults-there are two of
them-the Treasury Department has
thousands OF plates and steel rolls, used
in printing money and stamps of various
kinds. The vaults are, for convenience
sake, located in the Engraving and
Printing building, but they are not under
the supervision of that bureau. When
the bureau needs a plate out of the COL
lection, it borrows it from the Treasury
Department and has to give a receipt
for it. The plates required for use are
borrowed every morning and returned
every evening.
1t is in the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing that the paper, the engraving,
and the ink come together, and with the
aid oil manual skill and mechanical ap.
planes are transmitted into the dollars
that the American people are commonly
represented as struggling for with much
avidily
Up in the third story is the room where
the paper is received. A portion of the
room is divided from the rest by high
iron network railing. Clerks are busy
at desks and a number of young women
are there rapidly counting sheets of
paper. Just as the reporter enters two
large cases are rolled in ON trucks.
These contain paper, for which a requisi-
ton had been made on the Treasury.
The reQuisition, written on blanks pre-
pared for the purpose, contained many
items, each stating the number of sheets
wanted and what they were wanted for.
The sheets are counted and careful re-
cord made Of the whole transaction. Tho
paper is then moistened by being piled
in stacks with alternate layers of wet
cloths. From this division of the bureau
the paper is issued to the plate printers,
who make requisition for it as required
by them. Each plate printer has young
woman as helper. The helper comes
for the paper, signs a receipt for it, and
has to certify that she has received the
required number of sheets. She has TO
count the sheets in order to certify to this,
and the plate printer has to certify that he
witnessed the count. So it is known
exactly how many sheets each printer
has in his possession, and he has to ac-
count before leaving the building for
every one If for any reason he leaves
the building before his days work is
done he has to get a pass-card with
formidable array of signatures on it, be-
card has blank spaces in which are filed
in numbers showing the amount of paper
taken out, the amount of work done, and
the number of sheets returned. 1t has
to be signed by the clerk of the wetting
division, by an examining clerk, and by
Others who verify the figures.
When the days work is done the
printer returns his plate to the custodian,
who has desk in one corner of the
room. In the morning when the printer
gets plate he gives check bearing his
number. The custodian has a rack of
little hooks on which he hangs these
checks. When the printer returns the
plate the check is returned to him and he
gives the custodian the keys of his press,
which is hung on the hook in place of
the check. Thus by gancing at the
rack the custodian can at once tell what
printers have not returned their plates.
Among the Improvements Mr. Graves,
the chief of the bureau, is introducing.
is the lighting of the press room with
incardescent electric lights. Although
the building is well provided with win
dows, the printers at work at distance
from the windows find the light insuffi-
Gent on days when the sun is obscured.
Gas lights are Objectionable on account of
the intolerable heat made in connection
with the gas heaters.
From the press room the work goes
down to tie cxamining-room on the floor
below. Here the sheets are subjected to
a series of counts and examinations.
The first examiners throw out every
sheet in which they discover any imper-
lection. These selected sheets are again
examined by another set of examiners,
who retain all the sheets that will pass
liberal inspection or that can be made
presentable by little touching up. The
sheets, when they come to this division,
are still damp, and after the first count
they are turned over to man in charge
Of the drying racks Each package has
to have on it, in addition TO the name of
the printer and the various counters
through whose hands it has passed, the
initial made with red pencil of the per.
son who calls out TO another person keep
ing the books the name of the printer
and the number Of sheets in the package.
If this initial is not on the package the
rack man will not receive it. This is a