The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1902-09-23
UNCLE SANS MONEY.
THE SAFEGUARDS THAT HEDGE
ABOUT ITS MANUFACTURE.

THE SAFEGUARDS THAT HEDGE
ABOUT ITS MANUFACTURE.
Care with which Even the shavings
of the Peculiar Paper Used Are
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and RecOunting
the Treasured Sheets.
Uncle Sans paper money has its
birth in the bureau of engraving and
printing in Washington. Here a corps
of engravers cut its lines into plates
Of steel Five hundred men and wom-
en- are in one room. 1t Is the largest
printing Office in the world. Here are
struck from these plates the notes
which we give the butcher and the
baker. Each steel plate when not in
actual use is stored away In a great
burglar proof vault to which only the
highest officials know the combination.
At the side of each printing press is a
little indicator like a bicycle cyclone
ter, which keeps tally of every piece of
paper money printed. Thus is Uncle
number of paper notes of all denomi-
nations which leave his presses daily.
If there is any secret which Uncle
Sam jealousy guards, 1t is the process
of manufacturing the fiber paper upon
which bis money notes are printed.
He pays a Massachusetts firm a big
price for it, and this firm does its work
,,ndor fho St1rvofIlanoa ne q zyovarr.
ment agent The paper is manufac-
tured of the finest rags. cleaned, boiled
and mashed into pulp. AS it is rolled
| into thin sheets silk threads are intro
duced into it by secret process.
These are the distinguishing marks
making imitation of the paper well
nigh impossible.
The sheets of paper, already counted
twice and placed in uniform packages
at the paper mill, are stored in treas
ury vault and issued to the bureau of
engraving and printing as wanted. Be
| fore leaving the treasury they are
counted three times more, and the re
ceiving official at the bureau must re-
ceipt for them. Then the bundles are
unwrapped, and the sheets are counted
twenty-eight times by a corps Of wo-
men. This is to insure that each print
er gets the recorded number-no more,
no less. Before any employee of the
division in which this paper is kept can
leave for home each night he must ex-
hibit to a Waterman at the door pass
certifying that every fragment of every
sheet passing through his fingers has
been accounted for.
If one sheet of this precious paper be
lost, the entire force of men and wo-
the displacement has occurred are
kept in, like so many school children,
to find 1t. Each sheet Is. issued from
the vault for the printing Of a definite
amount of money upon it. If the lost
sheet were intended to ultimately rep
resent $4,000 worth of notes, the group
Of employees to whom the responsible
ity of it's displacement has been traced
must make good that amount If they
cannot locate 1t within a reasonable
time.
Twenty-four times more are the
sheets containing the printed money
counted after leaving the presses. Then
they are sealed in packages of 1000,
placed on racks in a drying room Of
100 degrees temperature, unpacked,
thoroughly examined, smoothed in
powerful hydraulic presses and packed
in wooden cases. These cases are haul
ed to the treasury in an ironclad wag-
on. Six guards, heavily armed, accom-
pany this wagon whenever it makes a
trip.
No attempt to steal Uncle Sans mon
ey while undergoing any of these stages
of manufacture has yet been detected.
As a matter of fact. the money would
be practically useless, for its printing
! is not completed until after it makes
! this guarded journey to the treasury.
There the finishing touch is added in
the printing of the colored seal upon
/ the face of each note With the six
sealing presses the same precautions
are taken as with the two hundred and
fifty big money presses in the other
1 building. Each sheet coming from the
former has a row of notes printed upon
: it. The sheets are put through small
machines, operated by girls, who cut
out the individual notes. Even the
small strips. falling like shavings from
their machines, must be carefully col
lected, sent to the bureau of engraving
and printing and there boiled into pulp.
An employee found with even one of
these ribbons of waste paper Is liable
to Imprisonment for fifteen years and
a fine of $1,000.
Between these different processes the
paper money has been counted and re-
counted six additional times. Finally
the single notes are placed in stacks of
/ 100, with all of the blue numbers print
ed on their faces in sequence. They
are then wrapped in paper, labeled,
sealed with red wax and stored in the
great treasury vaults. Thus each piece
of paper money now in circulation has
times.
In our mints the system of account
ing for the blank metal out of which
the finished coins are stamped, of keep
ing tally on the coming machines work,
of counting the finished product, of
packing it. of sealing it in cloth bags,
of transporting it under guard. of
counting It many times again and final
ly of storing it away is practically the
same
There is not day in the year when
any one of the seven great treasury
vaults does not contain in coin, bullion,
notes, certificates or bonds sufficient to
make you or me one of the richest of
the worlds mnltimillionaires. The most
capacious of these strong boxes are in
the basement of the treasury. A large
guard of men-mostly old soldiers.
commanded by captain and lieutenant
/ watches them day and night These
! guardians are heavily armed. and they
patrol their beats every quarter hour
throughout the night.-Saturday Even
, ing Post.
willing to Go without.
| Henry Clews. perfectly bald, was
once travelling on a western railroad
Sitting directly behind him was COARSE