The morning call., 1893-10-01
A MILLION A DAY
Money Ground Out by
5. Uncle Sans Mill. s
J..
BILLS FOR NATIONAL BANKS.
-: -. :,
Scenes i'm the Bureau of Engraving
:: and Printing = Guarding
Greenbacks. :. :
BILLS FOR NATIONAL BANKS.

financial troubles have made the bureau
of engraving and printing the liveliest de-
partment Of. the United States Govern
ment. This is Uncle Sans great money
mill. 1t is here that all the new national
bank notes are being turned out. az d green
ks 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 Of Septem-
Der 50. DOC. 900 worth Of notes were turned
over to the Treasury Department, and on
the 12lh of August last nearly 800. 900 plate
impressions were made on bank notes with
hand presses. On August 10 $4,000 plate
Impressions were made. which is the high
est mum Der ever 10 ade in the bureau here,
or in any other bureau on the face of the
earth. In twenty-one days $27, 00e 600
worth of notes were made, and the average
is now more than S1,0000O0 day. Mr..
Johnson, chief Of the bureau, emphatically
states that he can print all the money the
country can use III he has only the authof-
ity Of Congress and the treasury to back
him, and he has this great factory so or
gained that its capacity is practically
unlml ed.
l
four notes on each sheet ana it's amount is
determined by the denomination of the
bills. 1T takes no more time to print four
$1,000 NOTES than four ST. 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. It
is now running out from $4,000 to 60, 900
sheets every day and bank notes are being
made more quickly now than ever before.
The usual time required to make a bank
note is twenty-one days. This under the
present stress has been reduced TO four
teen days, and the nerves of The engravers
and the muscles of the printers are
strained to the utmost. The increase of
work in the bureau. began about the 1st of
July and went on steadily during that
month, August and September, and to-day
the hum OF the machinery In the bureau is
like that of great factory, and its
machines are rafting away with: such
noise that they almost shake the Washing
ton monument, which stands near them..
/: This vast increase of work has come
from the demand for money from the ma
tionaf banks of the country. They have
been depositiDg more bonds in order to in.
crease their .cIrcHlation,. and iLhas been
found that 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 tr supply these demands,
and the great steel van which carries the
bank notes.0 over TO the treasury has been
making several trips daily. Not long ago
this van delivered. So. 000. 900 TO Sc Rotary
Carlisle In one day. Itrequired two trips,
aud it took 81, SOC. GOO at each trip. / saw
the big MONEY wagon at the door OF the de-
partment as i came up to it to-day. 1t is
hauled by two horses, and is driven from
the treasury to the bureau with four
guards, two of which hang ON behind, and
the others sit with the driver. 1t is Sc
curely sealed and locked before it leaves
the bureau, but ii dives its way unOsten-
taiiOusly w.t. its millions over the Cob
blestones and slips across the asphalt to
the treasury. 1t looks as though IL would
be easy To roo ii, and its 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.
| walked through the bureau of engrav-
ing and printing this afternoon and
watched the 1900 clerks working away
mai king these untold sums of money. |
asked their wages andI was told that
they ranged from little over 81 day no
to several thousand dollars year. 1t
seemed strange 10 me that they could re-
slst the temptation. and i inquired into
the safeguards which Uncle Sam has
placed about his money. l seemed so easy
to slip away with $1,000 note or TO take
home one OF these steel plates and rrint
enough to last you a lifetime. My inves-
tga ton showed ME, however, that no
III ser's hoard has ever been guarded as is
this money OF Uncle Sans. This bureau
must cover several acres. 1t contains
three stories aud basement and it is
packed full Of achinery and engraving
material. Every bit of this material has
TO be accounted for every night before any
one can leave the building.
In the corridor as l went in saw
metal plate set in frame in The wall Ii
looked much like the electric button plate
at hotel Office. Il contained twelve round
holes, and each hole was abeled with the
name of One of the departments of thu bu-
reau. There were no pms or buttons in
the holes, but l found that they all had to
be filled before any one could leave the de-
par ment. AS soon as an Inventory has
been taken OF the work OF department
at the close OF the day, and all accounts
are found 10 be correct, the superintend-
ent OF that department marches down and
puts pin with button on the end into
the hole marked with his division. AS lie
does so an electric gong rings and the
Waterman permits the men OF that diyis-
ion to e. out. All of the holes have to be
Fl ied before the building Is empty, and If a
sheet of paper, bank note or anything
importantis lost the employees are allkept
until it Is found. The hands in this lac
tory are prisoners during the day. The
most Of<them work in side of steel cages.
and the notes are printed on the machine
surrounded by great network of steel
fence.
The paper used in this big money factory
is worth its weight in diamonds. At least
if it is lost it may cost the bureau or the
clerks more than Its weight in diamonds
to supply its loss. Every sheet of 1t which
is made is registered al the mill at Dalton,
Mass, and the paper-milf cannot make a
sheet which must not be accounted for to
the 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 engraving and print
ing. 1t is carried over in the big steel
wagon which hauls back the money; and
as sooa as il is sent from the treasury it,
represents so much money. If, for. in-
stance, thousand sheets are sent over In
hundred-dollar bills these thousand SHEETS
represent 100000. as there are four bills
to each SHEET. III in the printing of these
sheets one sheet should happen to belost
the clerk who lost it would have pay
$500 for 1t. If the denomination of the
sheet was $1,000 instead of 800 he would
be liable to the extent of $4,000, and he or
the bureau would have to make up the loss.
Itook Look at a lot Of this paper yes
terday. It was piled away in great stacks,
4 \ r.