The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-10
TURNING OUT WAR BONDS.
COMPLICATED TAsK IN C~LASSIFHTNG
THE APPLICATIONS.
More Than 500 Employees of the Treasury
Department Mt Work on the Wal
Lonn-The Routine Each Application
- 49, - c.....

Lonn-The Routine Each Application
Goes Through An Index by states.
WASHINGTON. July 4.-The turning out OF
S~200,000.000 worth OF war securities by ma
chine. as II we're. is q very interesting specta-
Gle. One may watch It's progress In the War
Loan ONCE which has Just been established In
the Post ONCE Building on Pennsylvania ave-
nue.. Hero. In several great rooms hastily i'm
provised. the building being as yet incomplete
and otherwise unoccupied. a large force OF
clerks Ia at work. The Treasury has been
obliged TO hiro 1916 extra persons TO attend to
the business details OF the loan. and every
effort is being made TO place the bonds in the
hands Of subscribers ut the earliest date.
Ono Of the rooms is occupied by about ffty
men and women who do nothing but open let
tiers and ASCERTAIN In n cursory way the nature
Of their contents. This is no small task, mas
much rs the number OF applications received
by mail daily from would-be subscribers TO the
war loan runs from 10000 to 10000. Nearly
all OF the letters contain checks representing. in
each case. the face value OF the bond desired.
The opener in every case compares the amount
Of the check with the value of the bond stated
In tho accompanying application blank. OF
course they must agree, or the application will
be thrown out and the check returned to the
sender. II It seems to be all right. the check
1t may be a draft, a money order, or OCCASION
ally even currency-ls pinned TO the application
and the two are put aside. on the top OF a pile
of others like them.
Messengers pick up the application blank
and checks thus prepared. and sweep them,
fifty or q hundred at q time. into shallow
baskets. From the baskets they dump them
upon a long table In an adjoining room. at
which sit ten extremely busy mon. Each blank.
with its pinned check. must pass through tho
hands of every one OF the ten. each Of whom ia
responsible for the correctness Of one or two
little points. not looking out for anything else.
For instance, one clerk does nothing but make
sure that the signature and address on each
application are clear and legible: another in
spects the form of the check or draft. to be GER
tain that 1t is not defective in any way.
Nearly all of the bids come in on the applica-
tion blanks which are furnished by the Treas
ury for the convenience of the public. This is
not essential. however. and subscriptions Of
fered In any clear and proper way are accepted.
After the papers have undergone the scrutiny
OF the half score OF judges referred to, they are
handed over to young women, who number
them with the stamps. In this way each appli-
cation blank receives its number, and the same
number is put upon the accompanying check.
This number follows the bid all the way
through the official processes. and eventually
will be found upon the bond itself, when issued.
Another room. occupied by more than 100
women and men. is devoted TO various kinds OF
clerical work in connection with the loan. Part
Of this consists in the making out Of lists. each
of which contains 100 names OF subscribers.
with their addresses. and in each case the
amount Of the bond and its character, whether
registered or coupon. is noted. Other employees
go over these lists to make sure that they are
accurate. taking one name at u time and COM
pairing the list record with the original applica-
ton to which the check still remains pinned.
Eventually the applications are filed In the War
Loan Office and the lists and checks are sent
over to the Treasury, Denartment.
c~lusively to the business Of considering sub
scriptions Of S5O0 and under: all the bids ex-
ceeding $500, go to another room. passing
through similar processes. All applications
from banks and other corporations are put
aside. and are not to, be considered al, all until
there, is, anything left oyer when the. people
have had all they want Of the bonds. then the
PnesSEs a 1ns S9aRSest ape t nsy tie Est r Z fhli men T Tiil
described, applies even to business, firms. and
out as Quickly Iskiy' as the STANDARD oil II Company M aT59"n
This is the first real %p9nplar loan ever issued
sion when Tneie Sam has had bonds 70 sell sell,
nearly all Of them have been secured by banks
Gmi Loan ean' I'm 1904. QUITO out Of T Witch S the people P @Rn-
aged to get about II per cent. financial con-
f Germs fSe zee InSivt r. Per mo cent. and and the 1fs1 rest was
I f% q az I'D s si:s.I IN l iss7ath + 3T5iSEH E isSnedi
cent. interest, with the requirement that not
more d than I a certain ssI9boeUGrnit should be sold to
SPs eds all p over the ' Country. and o specuIa Mers
tthS !i%it' each agent going to the
made. and so repeating again and again. Ii is
believed that the present loan has been hedged
man cannot get around ent them ne II there H9i Wers
enough bidders for $50 each to take up the
w who sp 5pnGd; 'f feEy $40 &0V Woa So r It ell; and a b6 mSPod Y
there. were q sufficient number OF subscribers
each for 500, and under to take It ALL they would
Mellne. Assistant Trcasurcr Of the United
aHybod S1 to I'D 5Efffo for more eth Than N $500. B Beeanse l By
doing so he would probably be thrown out al
ssGf6f6t aed under De o SrS iik TST to nf F@SfbSr tRe GntiT T5
loan, so that there will be nothing left for the
bidders OF larger amounts;
good deal OF extra work at the War Loan Office.
A little slip memorandum is made to represent
number Of the application and the amount OF
the bid The h. slips are printed by a young We.
passes w a narrow S1eS n sheet Il pSpeT h tmr9nSn o T9 fNet
In length. On this sheet she transcribes the
plumber and amount Of each application, giving
Ia one OF the slips described. The slips thus
prepared are then distributed among a lot OF
pasteboard boxes. All, Of the $50 bids go to-
gether into one box. all the $40 bids into an
other box. and 80 on up into the thousands OF
dollars.
Now. when the subscriptions are declared
closed. the box containing the $40 bids will he
emptied first, having the right Of way. Next
the box Of $40 bids will be taken. and so on up
until the total $20O.00O,OO0 is made up. Post
bly, the 1000 box will be reached and emptied
before the requisite total Is obtained. Nobody
can tell about this not even the %ofiCials them
n guess merely. but anybody who meditates a
subscripti9n had better adopt 1t lust the same,
what he does not know. about bonds is hardly
worth knowing. The lists. show that q great
many people have subscribed for S940, $500,
81 1000 mark. '"'
To complete the system a card index Is being
prepared. the cards being arranged in drawers
according to States. and under each State alpha
betically according to names Of subscribers.
Each subscriber 70 the, loan is represented by a
card, which tells his address. the amount OF his
bid. the number,o of the latter. DC, giving refer
enceS to the books Of the Treasury wherein his
claim nunipgf fha GoyarD m ant apnnoea Git,