The record-union., 1891-09-19
UNCLE SANS MoNRY FACTORY.

England for four mortal years.
EDGAR l.. WAKEMAN.
UNCLE SANS MONEY FACTORY.
How the Employees and Visitors are
Watched and Guarded.
If Palmer CoX's brownies should get
loose in Uncle Sans Bureau of EngraY-
ing and Printing some night, says the
| Washington Star, what a lot OF bloated
millionaires they would be before morn
! ing. The widest dreams OF the Green
hackers would be realized. But no less
mystical being than brownie has the
ghost of a show of getting at the presses,
plates and paper that are there giving
promise OF prodigious wealth to the
manipulation. An immense amount of
money could be printed there in notes of
big denomination if the public was given
full swing for few hours to do as the
Farmers Alliance song says, ''Set the
| Presses Going"
Of all the places Of public interest in the
| National Capital this bureau seems the
most attractive to strangers, who come
from far and wide to see how the Gov
ernment makes money. After seeing
how easy it is to strike Off a few million
dollars it may not be clear to the Western
| rural mind why money should be so
scarce UP in his part Of the country. 1t
looks to the casual observer as If there
were nothing to prevent any one about
the place from pocketing S2,000,000 or
s.. 100000 to take home with him after
his days work, or from taking an inn
preston from one of the plates and print
ing at his own home money enough TO
meet his daily demands.
With all the thousands of plates from
which money is printed there access to
which would enable man to all but
| bankrupt the Government and to tax it's
credit to the very extreme; with all the
possibilities for theft that access to such
| a place seems to open-that is, seemingly
its one of the freest of Government
buildings to the public. Visitors enter
without being challenged and are shown
| through without the consciousness of be-
ing watched. a polite guide shows them
to the door when they leave, and they go
their way rejoicing without knowing
that they have for time been prisoners
Of state. 1t is easy enough to get into the
building, but no man, woman or child
gets out without assistance.
That polite guide or that kind Official
who accompanies them to the door is
their passport to go out, and, if alone,
they would have to produce written
pass or remain prisoners until the proper
passport was procured. No one has the
experience Of being detained, because
that is carefully looked after, so that the
visitors are not conscious of any restric-
tions placed upon them.
All the employees are prisoners during
the day, having no freedom to leave the
| building until they have rendered a full
account of all that has been placed in
their keeping by the superior.
In the corridor at the main door, where
the watchmen sit silently all day, there is
a metal plate set in a frame in the wall
In this plate there are twelve little round
holes, one under another. Each hole is
labeled with name, as Wetting-room,
mess-room, vault, etc. Each hole repre-
sents one department of the bureau, and
as long as the hole remains empty the
| Watchmen Will permit no one from that
department to leave the building unless
he has special permit. When the force
of one department are through work for
the day and all have rendered their ac-
counts straight, the superintendent in
charge of that branch marches down at
the head OF the whole force and while
they wait places q little straight KEY with
a button at the end of it into the hole
designated as his division. Then there is
a loud ringing OF an electric gong that
sounds throughout the building, and the
watchmen, seeing the key in the hole,
permit the men to pass out. This is re-
peated as the days work of each division
is done. The last key to be put up is
that of the custodian of the vault where
the plates are kept, and when it is there
the building is supposed to be empty ex-
cept OF watchmen. Any found in the
building after that would have to remain
there until there was an order from the
proper authority to let him out.
The closing scene at the end of the day
IN this great money factory is interesting
! In the morning each man and each
! woman has been given the proper assign
ment OF work. The women are the
counters, testers, wetters, and helps to
the pressmen. Each employe on taking
| tOr hat fha,- &c,
or plates, gives receipt for it to the GUS
todlan. No one ever gives anything to
any one else without q receipt. The pa
per on which the money is printed is
counted as so much money, and every
time it changes hands must be counted
and receipted for. Even the girls who
act as helpers and carry the paper from
the wetting-room have TO count it for
their own protection and give a receipt
to clear from responsibility the superin-
tendent of that room. AT the end of the
day each must return in one form or
other all that his receipts show him to
have had during the day, and until he
has check showing that this has been
done he cannot leave the room. When
the paper and the notes and stamps have
all been turned in by those working on
them they are taken to the custodian of
the vault, in whose presence everything
Is counted and checked off. Every
scrap Of paper, blank or otherwise,
which was given out in the morning
must be returned. This being done the
custodian puts it all in the vault. Then
the keeper of the inner door of the vault
must pull that door to without as much as
putting his foot inside the vault, and,
while the rest stand apart from him so as
not to see the combination, must lock
securely. The custodian of the vault
then locks the outer door, which is pro-
vided with a time-locR, so that, being
once fastened, it cannot be opened before
the next day at the hour set. This being
done the custodian and his assistants are
free to go after the key has been put in
the board at the main door.
Then all the plates which have been in
use and all those which are in process of
| engraving, and all rolls and parts of
plates, have to be returned to the custo-
dian of the plate vault No man can
leave the room until every bit of engraved
metal has been returned and receipted
for by the custodian. If one of these
plates should be missing. not a soul
would be permitted to leave the building
until it was found. 1t is almost impossi-
bic for anything TO go astray, as nothing
changes hands. even for a moment, with
out the change being made of record.
Each man takes sole responsibility for
whatever he is charged with.
Good Man Goes Wrong.
/