New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-12-31

girl, calls at the grating of the wetting division
and asks for enough sheets to occupy her PRIMER
through the day; her requsiton is entered upon
a book as 100 sheets. II Dbl. beer ooo CT
gars 600 one dollar certificates" or whatever
she may ask for. The responsibility Tor those
sheets is then transferred to herself ana her
printer. where it remains until they are sent 10
the examining room and proper receipt Is re-
turned.
The scene in the pressroom Is busy anu III
tcresting one. Each Of the 32S hand presses re-
ouircs two opera tives. who afford a most curious
contrast-the .rawny printer GriIhed anu
smearcd all over his face and arms with green
red black or orange ink, and the girl MS as
sstaut as fresh and specklessly clean as ihoush
she had never stood near the dirty INK padS'
II is a surprise to discover that the process 81
taking a plate impression has undergone niue
ur no change or improvement since the time II
was first developed by the goldsmiths OF FLOR
euce The plate when not in actual use rests
above a little gas jet. which keeps 1t warm anu
prevents the ink from dragging. The printer
APPLIES the ink thickly with a roller wlpihS
nway the surplus with cloth and pohshlhg the
surface Of the plate with the palm OF his hahd'
The plate is then put under the press the as
sistant places on it A sheet Of paper, remoist-
ened a moment previously, the printer gives the
wheel a few quick turns, and the sheet Is mn
ished for the time being. Each press has at
tacAed to It an ingenious automatic recorder
which registers each impression, and every
evening balances accounts with the assistant
CHECKS ON THE PRINTERS
The printers work industriously, as they are
IL, 1
produce as many as twelve hundred impressions
a day In the afternoon the printers lock their
presses but they are always carefully examined
afterward, and If press is found unlocked that
printer is liable to a severe reprimand and sus-
pension. When he turns in his key brass
check is handed him which. with a receipt for
his days work, constitutes a pass by which he
may leave the building. In the morning he pre-
sents this check receives his key and the plate
upon which hc Is working. sends for some paper
and starts to work. II must be understood that
two ard sometimes three printings are necessary
for each sheet "a sheet contains four notes.. and
that the back is printed first and aftcrward the
face
From the pressroom the sheets. still damp
from the ink, taken to the drying room.
where after being counted and examined they
are laid in racks and dried for some time in a
temperature Of about ljU degrees though this
varies somewhat according To the different
colors Tho next stage in the development Of
the note is found in the hall ~ expert examiners.
when one enters here his ears are gssailcd with
a steady and sustained nut;-r like the murmur
Of innumcrablc forest leaves s~ayed hy tho
breeze. 1t is caused 10y ihc rapid vning Of
hundreds Of money sheets under e. loft fingers
Of a corps Of women. who display the most re-
mGrkablo accuracy. together with an astonishing
degree Of speed while the writer was standing
by one Of the examiners and watching her turn
the sheets which moved so swiftly that they
could not even be distinguished by unframed
eyes she detected minute defect in one Of the
bills-a little white spot which certainly could
not have been large as pin head. All de-
fcctiye bills are removed and cancelled, and, to-
gether with old money redeemed by the Treas
ury, destroyed in the macerator
After having gone through So many different