The Cairo bulletin., 1904-05-28
FATE OF OLD BANK NOTES.
TO De More Thoroughly Macerated,
For Pieces Have Been Redeemed.

TO he More Thoroughly Maceratcd,
For Pieces Have Been Redeemed.
Through an order promulgated 10y
the treasurer of the United States the
old maceratlng machine In the sub.
basement of the treasury at Washing
ton has been pat out OF commission,
and hereafter all paper money, whcth-
er issued by the government or by IA
tlonal banks, will be reduced to pulp
in the large maceratcr at the bureau
of engraving and printing
This order was brought about by a
protest made by national bankers
claiming that the old machine failed
to do its work perfectly and that the
bank notes dumped in,o it not infre
quently turned up in sections for re-
demption by the banks of Issue, that
the pulp sold to various makers and
manufacturers of images. to Ike resoll
as souvenirs, was filled with large
pieces of bills ana that these We're
picked from the pulp images ana Of
fcred for redemption, Notwthslanl
ing the fact that the treasury macera.
tor has been in service fer many years
and has reduced TO pulp many trillions
Of dollars in bank notes which had
ceased to he current, this complaint
was the first one ever made against its
nonpcrformancc OF duty but the treas.
urer got such positive evidence That
the bankers were correct IN their as
sertlons that he issued the order.
Washington souvenir dealers have
long realized that the pulp images
found a heavier demand than any 9th
en-. and those made from the pulp OF
the notes last destroyed-or partly So
by the treasury macerator have always
brought higher price than the ones
manufactured from the pulp Of the
macerator at the bureau Of engraving
and printing, this being due entirely
10 the fact that images from the latter
contain not a speck Of grecnbucks, the
notes being reduced to almost whit
isl pulp. Naturally visitors prefer an
image "made from real money" in
which some of the money would be in
evidence. The treasury macerator pro
duction, or output, was therefore worth I
great deal more to the mauufactar-
ers and always brought much larger
price In fact, the bureaus pulp was
almost a drug on the market.
But now the images busts of presl /
dents the Washington monument. tn
Gle Sans hat, the national emblem ttbe 4
eagle the capitol. the treasury, cats, /
dogs, frogs, etc. each representing /
from S5.000 TO $4,000 must be made /
from the bureau pulp or a first class \
counterfeit, for every note destroyed I
must be in this specially constructed /
macorator which works every day and 7
night in the year except sunday there I
being from S1,500.000 to $2W0.000 !
macerated every twenty-four hours. I
This work of maceration and the prep /
aration for it are under the personal I
direction of representatives Of the /
u NttNAA1if AlAt N'tlNlNiNf AllE EbHfE AiAI~ .
Ter and the register, and these repre-
sentatiVes 20 With the heavily guarded (
wagon containing the money to the bu-
reau, where it Is taken from the steel
boxes, checked of, placed In the mae
orator, the iron doors closed locked
and sealed, and then the machine be-
gins its work of destruction. The large
boiler or vat In which tho money is
placed Is filed with some kind of chem
icais, and network of machinery
keeps UP continuous churning and
grinding until II O'Clock the following
day, when it is stopped, the pulp taken
out and another million or two placed
in, to be treated In the same way for
the next twenty-four hours
BY this process OF maceration II is
utterly impossible for any one 10 find
any evidence of money in the pulp.
even the small silk threads which run
through all genuine notes being entire
ly destroyed save 10 form a part of the
WlitiSh min -Epy York Trihaap