The evening times., 1899-07-13
AN EXPERT MONEY COUNTER.
A Chicagoan Who Can Count n Mill
ion Dollars a Day -r-

ftror1 tine Chicago Tribune
| S. Steele Finley the asserting teller"
| OF the United States subtreasury over in
| the Rand McNaIly Building, is the cham
pion money counterfof Chicago. Every day
he counts between $500, 600 and 81, SOC, 900.
Mr.. Finley's recOrd-breaking count, how
ever, far exceeds the latter figure, for in
| one day. Of only six or seven hours, he
| once counted St.907 900. The teller has
| held his place nearly five years, and in
| that time he has counted much more than
half billion dollars. 1t Is said in all
| probability no man in the country has
| counted SO large an amount in an equal
| length of time.
The asserting teller counts all OF the
paper money which comes into the sub
| treasury. He sorts out all OF the bills
which are worn and soiled and unfit for
circulation and sends them to Washington
| for destruction. Paper money pours into
the subtreasury from all Of the banks in
Chicago. from the custom house. the in
| ternal revenue office, the postoffice, and
Army sources and the task OF handling
| the vast quantities Is tremendous.
| The daily average which Mr. Finley
counts is half million dollars, and for
every dollar Of this he is personally re-
| sponsible to the United States Government
| He has acquired such facility in counting
during his long period of service that he
can count between 1000 and 1900 bills
every hour in the day. The magnitude of
this feat will be appreciated when it Is
explained that the teller must make good
TO the Government every counterfeit bill
which slips through his fingers 1t will
be difficult for the average man to under
stand low teller can spot counterfeit
when bills are flying through his fingers
at the rate OF about two each second. Blu.
Mr.. Finley does it with great expediency.
Very likely he is the most expert person
in that line in the city, for nearly every
bank in Chicago has sent counterfeits to
the subtreasury to be passed upon by Mr..
Finley. During his entire term of office
only three counterfeit bills have sue
ceeded in getting past the teller and only
one of these should be counted clearly
against him. The three together sggre-
gated $220, which was taken from mis-
salary
When he first began work as asserting
teller Finley let $50 counterfeit bill get
by him undetected, and sent 1t to Wash
ington. Not another counterfeit evaded
his eagle eye until the S1G0 bill counter
feits came along about a year ago. Before
the teller was warned of the issue he
passed TWO of the bills, and 5000 was sub
tracted from his salary. A former teller
once passed $500 counterfeit bill,
although he had been warned that it was
IN clrcuiatiOn. DeSplI6 the TACT lnat ne
had been warned Congress nevertheless
made good the mans loss by paying him
back the $500. Although Mr.. Finley had
not been warned of the appearance Of the
800 counterfeits, he has not as yet been
reimbursed for his loss.
All the paper money which comes in is
dumped on Mr.. Finley's desk behind the
bars at the subtreasurer's Office. The as
sorting teller then proceeds to do five or
six things at once. He looks out for coun-
terfeits, he counts the bills, he picks out
the bad money, which he thinks unfit for
further circulation, and he places the bills
in different piles according to their char
acter and denomination. BY vigorous rad
ical treatment the paper money circulating
in Chicago has been SO thoroughly weeded
out that 1T is now In good condition. For
merry 1t was in worse condition than Of
any other city in the United States. Then,
about three times. as much money was
withdrawn as at the present time. Now
about $1,000 is withdrawn from circulation
every day. All this is sent to the Treasury
as washington and destroyed.
Not only is the place of asserting teller
full of risk from a financial standpoint,
but from physical standpoint it is even
more dangerous. Disease and even death
lurk in the bad and soiled bills which find
their way to the subtreasury from every
section of the city. So far as is known no