Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-28

The Bureau Of Engraving and Printing will
not employ 1t to any extent. however, for
money patterns. because the symmetry il pro-
duces implies likeness of parts in the designs
which makes them easier to counterfeit
DESIGNS FOR POSTAL CARDS
The bureau has just completed its plates for
the new postal cards and Mr. wanamaker has
accepted the designs. Within few DAYS the
printing OF Thorn will be begun. They are OF
two sizes-an idea of the Postmaster Gem
erals-the bigger ones. which have twice the
area of the present postal cards. being in
tended For business communications that can
not very we'll be crowded and for other pur-
poses demanding space. Both kinds have IN
the right-hand upper corner. instead of the
representation Of a stamp, a small portrait OF
Zen. Grant, which Is regarded as the worst
ever executed 1t is poor likeness, morose Of
aspect and badly done The big card has
.'One Cent Postal Card; United States of Amer
lea on il, and the little one has Postal Card,
One Cent, instead
ATTEMPTS TO STEAL FROM THE BUREAU.
Only one attempt was ever made to steal
from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
An cmploye engaged in printing Is bills
brought a sheet of lead foil with him one
morning when he came 10 work and slid il
through his press without putting any ink ON
the plate that once. The impression that he
got OF the plate was first-rate. but he was
nabbed before he got out OF the building on
information by the girl assistant at his press,
VINO saw HIM do the act He was sent TO the
penitentlary, aud patent device was
promptly adopted for future protection, by
which each press registers every revolution OF
the cylinder that prints one sheet of notes.
Inc number OF notes printed must correspond
exactly with the number of revolutions, or
else there will be trouble and 70 lead foil or
wax either can be slipped through without
ieaVlng an unexplained record OF it's passage.
IT Is A GREAT sIeHr
to behold five hundred men and women in one
huge room on the top floor OF the bureau ali
engaged IN printing paper money. At present
they are turning out chiefly ones and twos, but
they can and do make twentles and ftties lust
as fast and for that matter ten-thousand-dollar
notes. The presses used are ali hand presses
AT each press stands a man and a woman The
man has an engraved plate for one side of a
note, say the face. He rubs it with black ink
Perhaps you never noticed that the faces OF
notes are printed merely IN black on the white
paper, though the backs may be green or
brown. This is because black docs not blur so
easIlv as colors and will stand handling better
by the butcher and the baker. For this reason
il lasts longer and is more difficult to counter
felt. Green stands use better than any other
color and so il Is more employed.
HOW NOTES ARE PRINTED.
The pressman rubs the plate first with q
roller saturated with ink. Then he rubs
off all the superfuous ink with a rag, and
finally he poiishes the plate with his bare and
inky hand When it has been thus made ready
he places the plate under a roller, lays sheet OF
fresh paper upon II, gives a twist 10 a 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 engraved
on each plate, you see. As fast as the sheets
nrlnfQ6 hav lat1 Loo ,,,a IL
the young woman assistant. who puts a sheet
OF brown paper between each two sheets to
keep them from rubbing. This same perform
ance Is going on at more than 200 hand presses
In the big room. Revenue and customs stamps
Tor cigars. liquors and all such things are
printed by some of the presses on BLUSH green
paper; but In money, notes and certificates
alone an average OF one and a half millions Of
dollars is printed in this room daily All OF
Uncle Sans paper cash is manufactured there
The printers have to be such skilled men that
they are paid from IS to % 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's
sake no one person is allowed to make a note
entirely, and bv this and other checks stealing
ls rendered impossible.
WHAT rs DONE WITH THE SHEETS.
The sheets thus completed are taken to an
Office off the big room. counted and put into
boxes are wheeled upon an elevator and con.
veyed by it to the examining room below In
the examining room they are taken out and
counted by women. Ii their account tallies
with the account above stairs the sheets are
laid across racks arranged in such a manner.
stack shape, that dozens Of layers OF them can
be placed one ON top of the other The rack
stacks are piled upon trucks, which are run bv
| small railway across the floor into an ove,
bigger than an ordinary 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 examined All defect
| i've ones being thrown aside and charged up
to the boss of the printing department He is
allowed percentage of per cent of spoilage
but If be exceeds that he must pay for the labor
lost. Next, the sheets are placed between
oiled pasteboards and put in an hydraulic
press, which subjects them to a 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 il as much
as S400, 900, 600.
HOW WEALTH Is TRANSPORTED.
Only the other day the vault keeper sent
over to the Treasury little package that you
could have put comfortably into hand bag
and carried away containing cas-, OOO, 900 in
$4,000 certificates for legal tender notes. In
making such transportation of wealth the
sheets OF money are put into a wooden lock
box and showed aboard q huge chllled-steel
safe on wheels, which conveys the millions
safely through the streets. The upper part of
the big vault is lined with cupboards, each one
OF which bears the name of state The cup
boards are receptacles for the national bank
notes OF the various states. The notes and GER
tificates reach the Treasury in sheets of four
or three in the case of the bigger gold certifi-
cates-and are there cut apart and stamped
with the Treasury seal- When the Treasury
wants money it simply makes a requisition upon
the vault keeper of the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing for whatever it needs Authori-
ties In the department say that the greatest
difficulty counterfeiters meet with in the imita-
ton of United States paper money is found in
the peculiar paper used by the government
which has silk fibers running through it. You
can pull these silk fibers out of one of Uncle
Sans notes without injuring it, but if YOU
split counterfeit in two you will find any silk
fibers that may be in it simply laid between
the two films Of paper. and they will not pull
out at all. The making of this paper is a gov
eminent secret and is conducted at Dalton.
Mass, under the eye of Treasury experts