The Delta independent., 1890-11-11
THE MAKING OF MONEY.
One OF tho Easy Ways of Doing It-The
Printing of Notes.


The pressman rubs the plate first
with roller saturated with ink. Then
he rubs off all the superllous ink with
rag, and finally he poishes the plate
with his bare and inky hand. When
it has been thus made ready he places
the plate under roller lays sheet of
fresh paper upon it, gives a twist to q
big iron wheel that communicates the
hand power, and plate and paper pass
under the roller, the sheet coming out
with the faces of four perfect notes
printed on it. Four notes are en-
graved on each plate, you see. As fast
rs the sheets are printed they arc laid
neatly in pile by the young woman
assistant. who puts sheet of brown
paper between each two sheets to keep
them from rubbing. This same per-
formance is going on at more than 200
hand presses in the big room.
Revenue and custom stamps for
cigars, liquors and all such things are
printed by some of the presses on
blush green paper; but in money,
notes and certificates alone IN average
of one and half million of dollars is
printed in this room daily. All of
Uncle Sans paper cash is manufac-
tured there. The printers have to be
such skilled men that they are paid
from $6 to IS a day by the piece system.
After being printed. on one side the
sheets are printed in like manner on
the other though not by the same men.
For safety sake no one person is al
lowed to make note entirely. and by
this and other checks stealing is rem
dcred impossible.
The sheets thus completed are taken
to an Office off the big room, counted
and but into wooden boxes on little
trucks. Then the boxes are wheeled
upon an elevator and conveyed by it to
the examining room below. In tho
cxaming room they are taken and
counted by women. If their account
tallies with the count above stairs the
in such manner stack shape. that
dozens of layers of them can be placed
one of top of the other. The rack
stacks are piled upon trucks, which
are run by small railway across the
floor into an oven bigger than an ordl-
nary sized room, built of iron and
heated by steam pipes There the
sheets are left until they are dry, when
they are taken out and again exam
ined. all defective ones being thrown
aside and charged up to the boss of the
printing department.. He is allowed
a percentage of 2 per cent of spoilage,
but if he exceeds that he must pay for
the labor lost. Next. the sheets are
placed between oiled pastehords and
put on an hydraulic press, which sub
jccts them to n pressure of $500
pounds to the square inch. This makes
them smooth. After this they go to
another room, where the sheets are
clipped and the notes numbered by
machines. Finally they are counted
again and deposited in the great vault,
which has sometimes had in it as much
rs $4,OO0,OOO
Only the other day the vault keeper
sent over to tho Treasury little pack
age that you could have put comfort
ably into hand bag and carried away
containing $4,000. 900 in $40. 900 GER
titicatcs for legal tender notes. In
making such n transportation of wealth
the sheets of money are put into u
wooden lock box and showed aboard
huge chilled-stccl safe on wheels.
which conveys the millions safely
through the streets. The upper part
Of the big vault is lined with cup
boards, each one of which bears the
name of State. The cupboards are
receptacles for the national bank notes
of the various States. The notes and
certificates reach the Treasury in sheets
Of four-or, three in the case of the
bigger gold ccrtiticates-and are there
cut apart and stamped with the Treas
1ry seal. When the Treasury wants
money it simply makes requisition
upon the vault keeper of the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing for whatever
it needs. Authorities in the depart-
ment say that the greatest difficulty
eounterfeiters meet with in the imita-
tion of United States money is found
in the peculiar paper used by the Gov
ornment. which has silk iibers run
ming through it. You can pu., these
silk fbers out of one of Uncle Sans
notes without injuring it, but if you
split counterfeit iu two you will lind
any silk fibcrs that may be in it SIM
ply laid between the two films of pa
per. and they will not pull out at all.
The making of this paper is a Govern.
ment secret and is conducted ut Dali
ton. Mass. under the eye of Treasury
experts Washington Star.