Omaha daily bee., 1893-10-01
HOW BANK NOTES ARE MADE
A Glance Through the Bureau Of Engraving
and Printing.
SYSTEM THAT G ARDS LIKE A cERBERUs
Army OF Fifteen Hundred Employees Turns
Out Over n Million n Day-iIow En-
cravings Are Made-Mnlions
Ruu to Mush.

WAsHISGToN, Sept. ~2S.-fSpecial Core
spondence of The BEE. The present tinan-
cial troubles have made the bureau of Gu.
craving and printing the l~ivelicst depart
ment of the United States government. This
is Uncle Sans great money mill. 1t Is here
that all the new national bank notes are
being turned out, and ercenbacks are now
made by the million. At no time in our
history have the employees been worked so
hard. Their hours have been increased and
100 extra hands have been added in order to
hurry on the work. On one day during the
month n of September 81, 600, 900 worth of notes
were turned over to the Treasury depart
ment, and on the 18th of August last nearly
1000 plate impressions were made on bank
notes with hand presses. On the
18th of August 320,0 600 plate i'm
pressions were made, which is the
highest number ever made in the bureau
here, or any other bureau on the face of the
earth. In twenty-one days S27 100000 worth
of notes were made, and the average is now
more than 100000 a day. Mr.. john
son, the chief Of the bureau, emphatically
states that he can print all the money the
country can use if he has only the authority
OF congress and the treasury to back him,
aEd he has the great factory so organized
that its capacity is practically unlimited.
The money is turned ont in sheets with four
notes on each sheet and it's amount is deter
mined by the denomination of the bills. 1t
takes no more time to print four one thousand
dollar notes than four one dollar notes, and
the capacity of the bureau is measured by
sheets. In ordinary times it has turned out
only from 5000 to 5000 sheets daily. 1t is
now running out from SO, 200 to $1,000 sheets
every day and bank notes are being made
more quickly now than ever before. The
usual time required to make a pank note is
twenty-one days. This, under the present
stress, has been reduced TO fourteen days,
and the nerves of the engravers and muscles
OF the printers are strained to the utmost.
The increase of work in the bureau began
about the lst of July and went on steadily
during that month, August and September,
and today the hum of the machinery in the
bureau is like that of a great factory, and
its machines are rafting awav with such n
noise that they almost shake the Washing
ton monument which stands near them.
Millions in National Bank Notes.
The vast increase of work has come from
the demand for money from the national
banks Of the country. They have been de-
posting more bonds in order TO increase
their circulation, and it has been found that
q large number of them have been holding
bonds upon which they had not demanded
the currency. New orders for paper have
had to be sent to Dalton, Mass, in order to
supply these demands, and the great steel
van which carries the bank notes over to
the treasury has been making several trips
daily. Not long ago this van delivered
f3.OOO.0W to Secretary Carlisle in one day.
1t required two trips and it took 81 500, 900 at
each trip. / saw this big money wagon at
the door OF the department as l came up to
1t today. 1t is hauled by two horses, and il
is driven from the treasury to the bureau
with four guards, two of which hang on be-
hind and the others sit with the driver. 1t
Is securely sealed and locked before it leaves
the bureau, but it drives its way unostenta-
tiously with its millions over the cobble
stones and slips along across the asphalt to
the treasury. 1t looks as though it would
be easy to rob it, and it's guards carry only
revolvers. Nothing of the kind has, how
ever, been ATTEMPTED, and that old steel
wagon will go on carrying millions for
generations to come.
How Uncle S I'm Guards Ills Paper Millions
walked through the bureau of engraving
and printing this afternoon and watched the
LOO clerks working ava making these I'M
told sums OF money. / asked their wages
and was told that they ranged from a little
over 81 a day up to several thousand dollars
a year. 1t seemed strange to me that they
could resist the temptation, and | inquired
into the safeguards which Uncle Sam has
placed about his money. 1t seemed so easy
to slip away with u $1,000 note or to take
home one of these steel plates and print
enough to last you a life time. My lnvesti-
cation, however, showed me that no miser's
hoard has ever been guarded as is this money
OF Uncle SANS. This bureau must cover
several acres. 1t contains three stories and
q basement, and it is packed full of machin-
cry and engraving material. Every bit of
TINS material has to be accounted for every
night before any one can leave the building.
In the corridor as l went in | saw q
metal plate set in a frame in the
wall. 1t looked much like the electric
button plate at II hotel Office. 1t contained
Twelve round holes and each hole was
labeled with the name of one of the depart-
or buttons in The holes, but | found that
they all had TO be filled before any one could
leave the department. AS soon as an IN
yentory has been taken Of the work of u de-
PARTNER at the close of Il day, and all ac-
counts are found to be correct, the superin-
tendent OF that department marches down
and puts n pin with n button on the end into |
the hole marked with his division. AS he
does so an electric gong rings ana the watch
man permits the men of that division to 90
out. All of the holes have to be filed be-
fore the building Is empty, and if IA sheet of
paper, a bank note or a scrap of ANYTHING
important Is lost the employees are all kept
until II is found. The hands in this factory
are prisoners during 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.
Blank Paper Worth Its Weight In Dia-
r. monds.
The paper used IN this big money factory
Is worth its weight IN diamonds. At least If
IL Is lost II may 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 mill At Dalton, Mass, and
the paper mill cannot make Il sheet which
must not be accounted for to the govern
ment. The paper is sent from the mills To
the treasury, and 1t is issued by the Treas
ury department from day to DAY To the
bureau OF engraving and printing. 1t is car
ried over In the big steel wagon which hauls
back the money, and as soon as IL Is sent
from the treasury it represents so much
money. III, for instance, 1000 sheets are
sent over in 500 bills these 1000 sheets
represent $500 900, as there are four bills to |
each sheet. II IN the printing of these
sheets one sheet should happen to be lost
the clerk who lost it would have to
pay 500 for IT. If the denomina- !
tion OF the. sheet was 81, 900, Instead of |
500, he would be liable to tho extent of
$1,000, and he or the bureau would have 10
make up the loss. ! took n look at n lot of
this paper yesterday. 1t WAS piled away in
url.an sfanka ,t,c or Z, .s.-