The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-21
A POSTAGE STAMP MILL
Billions Turned Out Annually for
the Government.
Operations of the Bureau OF Engrnv-
ing and Printing - Description of
the Process of Manufacture The
Amount Used by Cuba and the COL
Onies-The New Currency Hills.


reney bills are being turned out by Inc
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, to re-
place the defaced and worn out green
backs which are constantly coming back
into the Treasury, to be eventually
ground and smashed up into pulp. Huge
printing presses are constantly at work
in the steel protected rooms of the Treas
ury Department. 1t is, in fact, safely es-
timated that by the close of the present
year these presses will have turned out
enough greenbacks to furnish each of the
&c, 600, 0GO inhabitants of this land with
about $40 each. This means that 107 $780,,
900 of crisp new bills of various denomi-
nations will be used.
In the matter of postage stamps, the
figures are even more enormous. 1t is
estimated that on an average every man,
woman. and child in the United States will
use fifty-three postage stamps during the
year 1901. forty of them being of the popu-
lar 2-cent denomination. The total num-
her consumed will be over four thousand
million, and nearly one thousand million
Of these will be of the 1-cent variety. One
person out of every ten will send a spe-
cial delivery letter In the course OF the
present year.
Cuba. in 1901. will require about 10000
goo ordinary stamps, with 100000 special
deliveries" all of which will be turned out
at Uncle Sans money mill in Washington.
The Philippines Will use up 5000, 900
stamps; Porto Rico. 100000. and Guam.
$50, 900 OF course, Guam, Porto Rico, and
the Philippines have no stamps OF their
own, properly speaking. but are supplied
with the ordinary United States postage
stamps. altered simply by the addition Of
word printed across the face of each one
in unornamented black letters. Thus all
Guam stamps have the word Guam"
marked on them, as If it were for caneella-
ton. and the word philippines" makes
our common stamps serviceable for car
rying mail matter in Uncle Sans new ORR
entail archipelago.
The first process in the manufacture Of
stamps at the money mill is to count the
sheets of blank paper, which are pur
chased by contract. This work is done by
women. who. indeed. perform most of the
labor in the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing. simply because they have proved
themselves more capable than men for
business of this description. Each sheet
is the proper size and shape to make 400
printed stamps, with small margin. At
ter they have been counted the sheets are
moistened by laying wet rags between
them at intervals of twenty, and the fol-
lowing morning, when the rags are re-
moved the sheets are ready for printing.
The press for printing postage stamps
is a queer looking machine half automat
ic in It's action. 1t is quite small affair.
with four square steel plates, set hori-
zontally, occupying the four sides of
horizontal square.
These plates. always horizontal travel
around the four sides Of the square at
moderate rate of speed. passing in TURF
beneath an ink roller Each of them is
engraved with the faces of 400 stamps
ard after being linked by the roller goes
under a mechanical rubber which re-
moves most of the ink. Then the plate is
cleansed OF all the rest OF the ink save
what is in the craven lines. by man
who rubs it with cloth AID his bare hands.
and finally II goes uEa sr a dry cloth-cov-
cred roller. which, a sheet of white paper
being interposed. does the printing All
OF these processes are accomplished four
times inside OF half minute.
girl supplies the fresh white sheets.
as the plates come round to her in quick
succession. and another girl takes them
out, fresh printed as they appear on the
outside of the cloth-covered roller, piling
them neatly as she does so. Then the
sheets. so new and beautiful with their
bright colored impressions. are carried
to another room to be counted. after
which they are laid on racks in wire
cages on wheels and hauled into steam
drying room to stay over night.
On the following morning they are
taken into the examining room, where
each of them is carefully inspected for
defects Torn or otherwise imperfect
ones are rejected. but all fragments are
carefully stuck together. so that each
sheet may be accounted for. Each person
in this department of the money mill is
expected to examine 1880 sheets in a
days work.
Now comes the cumming of the stamps,
which is one OF the most interesting steps
in the whole process. Each sheet of 400
is taken in its turn and placed between
a pair of delicate steel hands, which pass
it beneath a roller that carries d solution
of fine gum composed chiefly of dextriu.
An endless belt carries the newly gum
med sheet through a wooden box 100 feet
in length, which is lined with coils of
steam pipes, so that it comes out at the
other end few minutes later perfectly
dry. being received thereupon by def
fingers of steel and laid accurately upon
a pile of similar sheets.
The gummed postage stamps before they
are ready for use must be perforated, so
as to be torn apart easily. and this pro-
cess is performed by machines with rows
of small toothed wheels Of brass set par
alleI TO each other.
MANY SUNDAY SCHOOLS RALLY.
Large Meeting Held Mt Trinity