Omaha daily bee., 1895-11-24


the Observers right are portrait heads Oh
Martha and George Washington. Mr. George
Schlceht engraved the face of this note.
The design for the face Of the new So bill
shows Science presenting Steam and Elec1
tricity TO Commerce and Manufacture 10
was done in oil by Edwin Howlands Blash-
field % New York.
The central group shows Science seated
with two graceful boys. representing Steam
aud Electricity, on either side Of her on
either side of this central group are two
graceful seated figures representing Cone
merce and Manufacture.
The back Of the note shows, appropriately
enough. portraits Of Fulton and Morse,
The general idea of the face OF the new
$40 bill designed by William Shlrlaw, Is
agriculture.
Ears and stalks Of corn are seen 10 the
Observers extreme left. in the upper cory
ner and fruit in the lower corner. To the
right. toward the center OF the design, s Q
recnmbcnt youth, representing the South;
over his head are oranges.
Further to the right is Agriculture, a
splendid woman holding a sickle; to tho
right, still Is Forestry, a rugged man, clad
in skins; to the spectators extreme right Is
the West, beautiful woman holding wine
jar. Over her head are balls of cotton, un-
der her feet. flowers
HOW A TREASURY NOTE is MADE.
famous artist conceves a noble design,
which will reflect some great patriotic idea.
He puts this design on canvas, In OIL with>
out color. The result is an oil painting. say
feet long by 2i1 feet wide. This painting
is put before the engraver. who studies It
day In and day out, perhaps. for weeks,
now and then tracing on a plate OF soft
steel, which rests table in front Of
him, his conception Of the line or lines
requisite to convey the artists conception
to the public mind. The outline of this
steel plate on which the engraver Ia work.
ing must be OF the exact size Of the note to
be printed. He engraves in sections, and
when the whole plate is finished the steel
die is hardened and the entire design trans
ferred to roll, the section Of cylinder, OF
soft steel. This roll in turn is then hard
ened The design is then transferred by
pressure from the chilled roll to large
soft plate. which is then chilled, and from
which the notes are directly printed ON
paper specially prepared by the government
at great expense
The bureau of engraving and printing"
said its chief Mr.. Johnson. which has to
do only with the printing Of notes and se-
curties belongs in the Treasury depart
ment and has been housed In large build.
ing at Fourteenth and streets, devoted
exclusively TO Its uses for about nineteen
years. The bureau was created in war time,
when paper fractional currency was first
printed. Early in its history, while it was
yet housed in the treasury building tho
printing OF bank notes and internal revenue
stamps was added to its duties. Surface
such as that of postal cards, has
never formed part of Its functions. We make
the plates from which the postals are then
printed for the government by the lowest
bidder. The government stationery in gem
eral is printed in the government printing
Office, an entirely separate bureau. The
stamped envelopes, which are embossed ork.
are printed by private contract also. They
are the only securities not printed in the
bureau, which is gradually embracing all tho
governments printing, and is growing with
the government printing office, since the kind
of printing we do is plate printing. while
theirs is surface or type work.
There are 150S persons rolls, and
we work from one years end to another.
also at night. In 1894 there were
55, SIG, 900 sheets Of securities printed here,
pension chscks and patent certih-
that fiscal year $777,S 400. This was an
increase of aggregate values for year OF
at least $50 900 900. There was no loss Of
any kind. In the year 1895 stamps have
first been printed by the government, private
contract having Heretofore supplied them"
Mr.. G. f. c. Smile, chief engraver Of the
bureau, perhaps the leading steel engraver
of the United States. is of Scotch descent
and was born in New York in 1854 He in-
herits his artistic tastes; three of his uncles
and seven Of his cousins have been bank
note engravers. The radical change in the
policy and artistic aims made by the present
administration appealed to Smillie's ambi-
tion and he went to Washington. There
were indications Of the revolution in paper
money and he wants to be identified with it.
AS chief engraver Of the bereau he receives
a salary of $4,000, and has no duties what
ever save engraving. He engraved the faces
)f the new two and five dollar notes.