Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-08-18
FATE or OLD BANK NOTES.
To be More Thoroughly Mncerated,
For Pieces Have Bccn Redeemed.

To be More Thoroughly Mncerate6,
For Pieces Have Bccn Redeemed.
Through an order promulgated by
the treasurer of the United States the
| old macerating machine in the sub
basement OF the treasury at Washing.
ton has been put out of commission,
and hereafter all paper money, wheth-
cr issued by the government or by ma.
iional banks, will be reduced to pulp
in the large mucerator at the bureau
Of engraving and printing.
This order was brought about by n
protest made by national bankers
claiming that the OLD machine failed
to do its work perfectly and that the
bank notes dumped into 1t not infre-
qucntly turned UP in sections for re-
dcmptiou by the banks of issue. that
the pulp sold to various makers and
manufacturers of images to be rcsold
as souvenirs, was filled with large
pieces of bills and that these were
picked from the pulp limoges and Of
fercd for redemption. NOtWithstand-
Ing the fact that the treasury macera-
Tor has been In service for many years
and has reduced TO pulp many trillions
| of dollars in bank notes which had
| ceased TO be current, this complaint
was The first one ever made against its
! nonpcrformance of duty, but the treas
| urcr got such positive evidence that
| the bankers were correct In their as
| aortious that he issued the order.
| Washington souvenir dealers have
! found n heavier demand than any 9TH
or. and those made from the pulp Of
! the notes last destroyed or partly so
| 10y the treasury maceratcr have always
| brought higher price than the ones
manufactured from the pulp Of the
| nlaccrator at the bureau OF cngru wing
and printing, this being due entirely
to the fact that images from the latter
contain not Il speck of greenbacks. the
! notes being reduced to almost a whit
| ISL pulp. Naturally visitors prefer an
| image "made from real money" in
which some of the money would be in
| evidence. The treasury nacerator pro
| ductiOn, or output, was therefore worth
a great deal more to the manufacture
ers and always brought 4 much larger
| price. In fact, the bureaus pulp was
| almost drug on the market.
But now the images busts of presi-
! dents, the Washington monument, I'm
Gle Sans hat. the national emblem Gho
| eagle, the capitol, the treasury, cats,
dogs. frogs. etc. each representing
| from $1,000 to $4,000 must be made
! from the bureau pulp or a first class
counterfeit, for every note destroyed
must be in this specially constructed
maCerator, which works every day aud
night in the year except Sunday, there
being from Sl,50O0OO to $1,000 600
! macerated every twenty-four hours
| This work OF maceration and the prep
aratiOn for ii are under the personal
direction OF representatives of the
treasurer, the secretary, the cOmptrol
Ter and the register. and these repre-
sentatives go with the heavily guarded
wagon containing the money to the bu-
reau, where II is taken from the steel
boxes, checked off. placed in the mac
orator. the iron doors closed. locked
md sealed, and then the machine be-
! gins its work of destruction. The large
boiler or vat in which the money Is
| placed is filled with some kind of chem
| icGls, and network of machinery
| Keeps up n continuous churning and
| grinding until 12 o'clock the following
day, when IT is stopped, the pulp taken
ont and another million or two placed
IN, TO be treated in the same way for
| the next twenty-fOur hours.
by This process Of mnceration 1t Is
utterly impossible for any one TO find
any evidence of money In the pulp
even the small silk threads which run
through All genuine notes being entire
~ destroyed save 10 form q part of the
vhitiah pulp.--New York Tribune.