Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1902-11-20
UNCLE SANS MONEY.
THE SAFEGUARDS THAT HEDGE
ABOUT ITS MANUFACTURES.


Notwithstanding and accounting
the Treasured sheets.
Uncle Sans paper money has its
birth in the bureau of engraving and
printing IN Washington. Here q 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 Il bicycle cyclone
ter, which keeps tally of every piece Of
paper money printed. Thus is Uncle
Sam kept Informed as to the exact
number of paper notes of all denomi-
nations which leave his presses daily.
If there is any secret which Uncle
Sam jealousy guards, ii IS the process
of manufacturing the fiber paper upon
which his money notes are printed.
He pays Il Massachusetts firm big
price for it, and this firm does its work
under the surveillance of a govern
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 Il 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 a treas
ury vault and issued to the bureau CT
engraving and printing as wanted. Be
fore leaving the treasury they ale
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
or gets the recorded number-no more,
10 less. Before any employee of the
division in which this paper is kept can
leave for home each night he must ex-
hibit TO 4 Waterman at the door Il 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-
men having access to the room where
the displacement has occurred are
kept in, like so many school children,
to find it. Each sheet is issued from
the vault for the printing OF 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 its displacement has been traced
must make good that amount if they
cannot locate it within 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 Il 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
trip.
No attempt to steal Uncle Sans mon
ey while undergoing any of these stages
of manufacture has yet been detected.
AS q 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
building. Each sheet coming from the
former has 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 $4,000.
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
been officially counted siXty-three
times.
In our mints the system OF account
ing for The blank metal out OF when
the finished coins are stamped, OF keep
ing tally on the coming machines WORK,
of counting the finished product OF
packing 1t. OF sealing it ~ cloth bags,
OF transporting it under guard, OF
counting it many times again ana nnal-
ly of storing it away is practically the
same.
4 IL, hn