Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-06-09
OUR PAPER MONEY.
A GLIMPSE CT THE BUREAU OF
ENGRAVING AND PRINTING.

A GLIMPSE CT THE BUREAU OF
! ENGRAVING AND PRINTING.
Engraving the Plates-Prntins the Notes
Numbering and Counting
Against Error From Miscount-Women En-.
ployed Exclusively in Handling and Count.
ing the Notes and Their Work Extremely Ac.
curate.
Washington Newsletter
This is large, red-brick building
located on the Agricultural grounds,
and specially adapted for the work for
which it was designed. 1t was built
by the government, and neither care
nor money was considered in its con.
struction. 1t is building which is
really a part of the Treasury, though
it is located one half mile distant. 1t
is isolated and said to be fre-proof.
This is the place where all the materi-
al is received out of which bonds,
greenbacks, national bank bills, and
all the paper currency are manufac.
tured, together with the postage and
revenue stamps, military, naval, and
diplomatic commissions, passports,
etc. Specimens of the work OF the
Bureau are exhibited in the waiting
room, and in the halls a series of cur.
rency is displayed in the various stages
Of completion. There is a series OF
old-time fractional currency, shin
plasters, and $4,000 silver certif-
cate, the largest now issued.
The actual work OF engraving the
plates is not shown. These are after
completion surrounded with the ut.
most precautions to prevent them be.
ing destroyed. They are closely
watched and guarded every minute,
day and night, in addition to being
locked in vaults from sunshine to sun.
rise. Impressions are not made from
the original plate, but replica or
copy of it is made for actual use in
printing the money. This is the gov
ernment's device to guard against be-
ing q counterfeiter of its own cur
rency; for if an accident should hap
pen to the plate, it would have to be
replaced by q new one, and no matter
how nearly like the original the new
one might be, it would not be that
original, but copy of it; and note
printed from the new plate would not
be an original but copy OF the origi-
nal, and therefore a counterfeit /;
whereas, if the replica or copy should
be injured a new one could be made
from the original plate. A specimen
plate is shown of the portraits of one
or two old bills which have been dis.
carded, and which do not belong to
the Treasury notes.
In the first process one witnesses in
the printing, there are over five hum
dred employees engaged all on the top
floor. The paper used is the peculiar
silk-fiber made at the Crane Mills, in
Dalton, Massachusetts,. These are the
only mills in the world that manufac-
ture it. The process of its manufac-
ture is closely guarded trade secret,
and the law forbids possession by
Others Of such paper or its imitation.
1t is received at the Bureau in pack
ages of one thousand sheets each.
This count, beginning at the paper
mills in Massachusetts,, is carried
throughout every department of the
Bureau, and is continued after the
notes reach the Treasury building.
To each pressman one thousand sheets
are given at at a time, being counted
out to him in his presence, and for
which he is required to give a receipt.
The printing of the notes is done
on hand presses for it is contended
by experts that product equally as
perfect cannot be obtained from the
steam press. Each pressman has a
woman assistant who lays the sheet
on the press and removes it. No man
is permitted to handle a sheet. We
do not know why this is, unless it has
been found that women's fingers are
better adapted to the light, delicate,
work. Each sheet makes four notes.
The back is printed first. The process
of printing "A sheet involves the clean
ing anew of the plate, polishing it
with the palm of the hand, reinking
and laying on the sheet, giving the,
impression. the removal Of the sheet
and its inspection for defects each
time. A pressman prints five hundred
sheets a day on one side only. From
this room the sheets 90 to the one be.
low, where, first of all, the count is
verified and each sheet. closely scru-
tinized for the detection of any i'm.
perfection in printing.
Then they are passed to what is
known as the numbering machine,
which impresses upon them in blue
| ink the distinctive series letter on the
face of each note. The machine is
purely automatic, as the progression
numbers with each new sheet as the
machine advances in notation by four
The number OF notes, still in sheets
are now passed to individual counters
by whom they are enumerated and