The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-04-11
HOW THEY MAKE MONEY.
BUT THEY CANNOT POCKET A
SINGLE DOLLAR.
An Interesting Description Of the Govern.
mont Money Miil-Tho Bureau OF
Engraving and Printing
visited.


Il Coming out upon the wide, stretch
Ing plain, over which the Washington
Monument keeps silent guard, you see
large brick building, ornamented by
tower aud Q waving flag. Every
morning at eight o'clock nearly 1000
people paos under its arched doorway,
and at five o'clock they come out again.
In the meantime they make money,
make 1t In purely business way, as u
modiste fashions gowns to earn daily
living. Besides the national currency,
they make there bank notes, internal
revenue stamps, and silver and gold
certificates.
This building is known as the Bureau
of Engraving and Printing.
When congress has authorized a new
series OF notes, the first thing done in
the bureru is to draw what is called the
model. This is generally pen-and-
ink drawing OF the proposed note, and
when finished it is submitted 70 tie
secretary OF the treasury.
When the model has been approved the
next step is the engraving of the plate.
This is done in Il large, well-lighted
room on the first floor. The steel used
for this work is imported from England
and the instruments from Paris. To
engrave one note twelve workmen are
employed. The vignette is done by one.
the portrait by another, the border by
another. and so on. This engraving is
u tedious process, rs it requires the
| greatest care. Six weeks is the short
est time in which u portrait can be en-
graved. The highest salary paid the
engraveris 5000.
| When, after many weeks, all the en-
cravings are finished, an impression of
each section is taken upon solid plate
OF steel, each part being placed in the
| position 1t would occupy upon the note.
This plate is hardened, and across its
surface II small steel roller is passed
The impression from the plate appears
on the roller MS raised surface, and
when this is hardened it forms u die
This in turn is rolled by great pressure
upon II plate of soft steel Four i'm
pressions OF the die are made on one
plate, so that four faces, or backs. OF
the notes are printed at one time This
transfer process allows any number of
plates to be made.
From the engraving room the plate
goes upstairs to the printer. Every
printer has u woman assistant to place
the paper upon the plate There are
from 500 TO 1000 impressions every
day. These men are paid by the num-
Der of impressions they take; hence
they are careful not to waste a minute
OF time, and the majority of them earn
about IS a day each. The woman, or
girl, who places the paper on the plate,
works just as hard in her way, but as
she receives fixed salary. she earns
only about 81. % day.
When the sheet of notes has been
printed on both sides and examined
and counted many times. they are sent
to the numbering room. The number
ing is done by women, fifty-six in all,
who operate machines. The machines
number as high rs 80, 999, 500.
The sides of these sheets are trimmed
by machinery, and when this is done
they represent four perfect notes,
lacking only the red seal. which is put
on at the treasury. When this seal is
printed on the note the latter repre-
sents the coin of the land. The paper
upon which the money is printed is
made in Dalton. Massachusetts, OF Sc
lected linen rags bought from rag
dealers. 1t is shipped to the treasury
and from there sent to the bureau.
where it is placed for three days in the
wetting room to be thoroughly damp
ened. Then it is given to the printers.
one hundred sheets at time to each
one.
A sheet OF paper is counted fifty-two
times from the minute it enters the
building not worth IL whole cent to the
time it leaves. sometimes worth
100000. The counters are women,
and each one is required to put her
initials on every package she counts.
Every evening the plates, with the
initials Of the printer they belong to,
all the o:es and pieces OF steel are
locked up and receipted for. There is
vault IN the second story where. at
the end of each day, every scrap of
printed paper finished or unfinished,
is locked. This vault Is the size of an
ordinary room and is lighted by cleo
tricity. 1t will hold 10000, 900 one
dollar notes.
There are two steel doors to the
vault, with combination and time locks,
One OF the doors opens by a COM
bination of the letters OF the alphabet.
the other by combination Of figures.
These doors are in charge OF the
accountant and custodian Of the vault.
They are locked every evening and it
is the duty OF the custodian, whenever
a new combination Is made, TO write 1t
on slip Of paper, place it in an
envelope, seal it with wax and the
seal of the bureau, and give 1t 10 the
chief Of the bureau. Then, II he Is
unable to be at his post the following
morning, the chief Of the bureau opens
tie door Of the vault.