Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-25
Plates That Made Millions of Money
to Be Melted.
UNCLE SANS WORN OUT ENGRAVING
New Notes Soon to Be Printed
Are Strikingly Beautiful.
THE PROPRIETARY STAMPS

| I'VE are making money here all the time
| No matter how dull the times are else
| where. the financial depression never af-
| fects our business. We keep right on max
| ing money hand over fist
That is what they tell you at the bureau
of engraving and printing, where 1000 peo-
pie are engaged in printing and counting
| Uncle Sans money. 1t is not only true
that in that plain building is the money
| of the country made ready for the every
| day use Of the people, but it is also true
! that there by the faithlessness of a single
employe the finances of the government
/ might be wrecked
/ In two vaults about the size Of a hall
bed room in a Washington boarding house
are kept the 65.09o pieces of chilled steel
| from which the money Of the land is pro-
| duced What a bonanza for the man who
| would dare 10 smuggle out of those small
! rooms two or three of those bits of steel,
| There are scores of government clerks who
| could steal a hundred thousand dollars, but
| sooner or later they would be caught, and
| the wheels Of government would go on un-
| disturbed. But the fellow who could get
| away with the plates that would print the
| face and the back of any government or
national bank note would be limited in his
| mischief only by the number of times he
| could make Il wheel turn round in a life
| time. He could turn out his particular bill
| in carloads and find plenty of helpers to
get them into circulation, until he might
| bankrupt the United States treasury itself.
| Guarding the Originals.
The faithfulness of two or three men
| stands between the government and the
| possibility of such wholesale wrongdoiug,
| The present custodian of the dies is MIR.
Joseph E. Ralph of Illinois, who was coli
lector of customs at the worlds fair in
| 1893 and since 1874 has been an employee
| of the bureau of engra wing and printing
| Upon him and his assistants. Mr.. Saunders
| and MIR. Ashworth old employees of the
| bureau. rest the responsibility for the safe
| keeping of the dies and plates On each of
| the big doors of the vaults three COM
| binat.on locks, one of which is time lock.
| AT half-past every morning these three
| men have 10 be present and open the
vaults After Mr.. Ralph sets The time
| lCck his assistants each has his lock
| to attend to. After he opens his lock- still
| the doors will not open until the other two
| men in turn unlock them. Every morning
! the plates and dies used In the days print
| ing and all the plates or dies on which the
| engravers are at work arr checked out. a
| quick, active young clerk pulls out of the
vault one after another, half dozen small
cars, Opening the box on the car with
| key that IS kept constantly in sight Of all
| present. he calls off the various pieces
| within. "Two-cent ordinary Ghls is the
| common two-cent postage stamp; One
l cent documentary. llDlS Is the war stamp
| for receipts and telegrams): WHOLESALE
liquor dealer 4153r' Beer S151:' "Oleo
| 4o7331!' - L. S. bonds.'' Every piece" as
| plate, die or roll is called. has its number
| $40 plates and 1854 rolls. The rolls are
| steel imprnts made from the originals
| From these rolls in turn, after they have
! been hardened, a design is transferred any
| number of times by heavy pressure in
| special presses, to the steel plates. In this
| way, for instance, ordinary postage stamps
| are printed in sheets of 400 each.
| Strange it may seem, not one of the
| thousands of plates that have been made
| in the bureau in the past quarter of a GEN.
| fury has been lost. All that have ever
! been made have been accounted for. The
custodian keeps three duplicate books of
registry of every piece. In the office of the
controller of the currency another set is
kept. Annually, under the controllers d.
| rection, committee of the most expert
enced clerks, appointed by the Secretary
| of the Treasury, examines the vaults and
checks UP the plates. The committee for
| this year Is now at work. 1t consists of
| Mr. V. n. Stiles, who represents the Sec
| retary's office; Capt. E. NJ. Truell of the
internal revenue bureau and Capt. c. j.
Stoddard of the controllers office Taking
small iron safe containing the controllers
books with them, they camp down for
month at the doors of the vaults and slow
| ly and with infinite painstaking go over the
plates and the books and make a history
| for every piece of steel used in the nations
| fiscal printing.
Marked With a 3D."
One of the important and impressive du-
ties of the committee is to destroy obsolete
plates, dies and rolls. They have this year
| marked for destruction 1000 pieces, the
weight of which is fourteen tons. Uncle
SAM when he is through with plate which
has ceased to print sharply, where a ma
tional bank has gone into liquidation or
closed up and no longer needs bank bills.
lag-t lot -
like to leave them around to tempt good
| men to be bad. One by one the committee
men carefully single these plates out and
mark big d. against them on their
books. This means destroy. The plates are
packed in stout, iron-bound boxes on which
is placed the seal of the Treasury Depart
meut.
For every "piece" destroyed the chairman
of the committee, Mr.. Stiles, countersigns
after satisfying himself that the transac-
ton is correct. Nailed in every box is a
schedule of the contents. a duplicate sched-
u1e is retained by the committee.
When the work Of the committee is done
and the last plate is nailed In, the members
of the committee heavs sigh of relief and
their eyes sparkle with the liveliness of
men who are looking forward to a good
thing. Where the drudgery ends fun be-
gins. They now let a contract for hauling
the many tons of doomed plates to the
navy yard Here, in one particular blast
furnace, where tons of steel have been
melted to make guns for the navy, the
dies are melted down. Seven or eight men
employed in the navy yard carry the boxes
on the elevator and they are hoisted up to
the top of the cupola or furnace. Here
each box is chopped open and once more
the plates. dies and rolls are examined,
their numbers called off and checked on
the schedules. Then headlong they go into
the furnace along with tons of pig iron
The plates and dies are very hard and ii
takes hours to reduce them to a molten
state, but at length the cleaning white
metal pours from the furnace and in molds,
already made In anticipation of the event
the workmen cast souvenir paperweights
When the task of melting the plates is done
the commandant of the navy yard usually
invites the committee to dinner. Thus the
destruction of plates has grown to be an
event of interest at the yard.
Valuable Work. Done.
Some of these old plates that are boxed
up for their fiery fate have done good SER
vice. The plate for an ordinary $40 bill is
used for from 10000 to 10000 impressions
There are four subjects or duplicates of the
print on each plate That is, at every i'm
preston on the press the plate prints the |
g. l~-~l L.