The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1893-10-28
PRINTING NATIONAL SANK Notes.

twelve round holes, and each hole was
labeled with the name of one of the.
departments of the bureau. There
were no pins or buttons in the holes.
but ! found that they all had to be
hlled before anyone could leave the
department. AS soon as an inventory
has been taken of the work OF a denarI-
ment at the close of the day. and all
accounts are found to ee Correct. the
superintendent 81 that department
marches down and puts a pin with a
button On the end into the hole marked
with his division. AS he does so an
electric gong rings and the. watchrmtaafn
permits the mcn of that division to 90
out. All of the heles have to be filed
before the building is empty, and if a
sheet Of paper, a bank note or a scrap
CT anything important is lost the en-.
ployes are kept until it is found. The
hands in this factory are prisoners dur
ing the day. The most OF them work
inside OF steel cages and the notes are
printed on the machine surrounded by
u great network of steel fence,
The paper used In this big money
factory is WORTH its weight in dia-
monds. At least if it is lost it MAJ
cost the Bureau or the clerks more than
its weight in diamonds to supply its
loss. Every sheet of it which is, made
Is registered at the mili at Dalton,
Mass, and the paper mill cannot make
q sheet which Must not be accounted
for to n government. The paper is
sent from the mills to the treasury, and
it is issued by the treasury department
from day to day to the bureau of en-
craving and printing. It Is carried
over in the big steel wagon which
hauls back the money, ami as soon as
it is Gent from the treasury it repre-.
sents SO much money. If,fcr instance,
q thousand sheets are sent over in hun
dred-dollar bills these thousand sheets
represents 800, 900, as there are four
bills TO each sheet. If in the printing
OF these sheets oue sheet should hap
pen to be lost the clert who lost it
would have to pay Si00 for it. If the
denomination Of the sheet was 81, 200
instead Of 500, he would be liable to
the extent of s 1000, and he or the
bureau would have to make up the
loss. took a look at a lot of this
paper the other day. 1t was piled away
in great stacks, much of it being
dampened for the presses. 1t is white
and it comes to the department in
sheets Just large enough for the print
Ing of four bank notes. Two sheets
pasted together would be the size of
n lady's handkerchief, and two lines of
silk thread run down one side of the
sheet SO as to make them go on the face
OF every note. l handled some of this
paper. 1t is crisp and strong. and |
would have liked to have carried away
a sample, but when | suggested ii the
superintendent looked at inc with hor-
ror and | found that all defective
sheets have to be accounted for as we'll
as h good ones, and that such sheets
are cai1ceied by holes punched through
them and they are sent back to the
treasury with the good money. Each
one of these sheets is counted about
forty times before it is turned from
white paper into greenback dollars.
Every man who puts his fingers on a
sheet has in solne way to leave Il
register of it, and if a printer spoils a
sheet in printing he is obliged to send
it in. The initials Of the printers are
on the plates they use, and it would be
great deal easier to carry off a half
dozen bags of silver from the steel
vaults OF the treasury than to crib ono
OF these sheets of blank paper.