Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-06-17
PAYING OFF 10000 HANDS.
A Big Task Done Weekly in Twent.
 Minutes.

a DIE 4dSA OOu0 WGchly All A WELL
 Minutes.
 Tn a town which contains the chief plant of one of the biggest manufac- turing corporations of the country, every Friday at a, m. policeman emerges from the door of a bank closely guarding three men who cross the sidewalk, enter a waiting carriage with bulky packages and are rapidly carried away. When the office of the corporation is reached, three or four workmen come forward and help the men in the carriage to carry the pack ages to the paymaster's department. There they dump bills, silver dollars, halves, quarters and cents to the amount of $12o,000 upon one of the tables.
 Then every one gets busy.
 It is S:15 o'clock by the big office clock, and that great pile of mixed money must be counted and verified to the last cent, and then be distributed into 10000 envelopes in amounts of wide variation; and this must be ac- compIished by 2 o'clock.
 Coats and waistcoats are thrown aside, shirt sleeves rolled up, and six teen clerks jump to their places, know ing that the next six hours will de- mand a closeness of attention and nimbleness of action rarely called for in ordinary business.
 There are four polished tables, each accommodating four clerks. The pay master, who holds a memorandum of the contents of each Of the money packages. throws a heavy bag of coin on a table. Instantly it is united and eight hands pull piles of the coins tor ward them, and the counting begins.
 At the other tables more coins or bills Of various denominations are being counted. As each bag or pack age is completed the paymaster checks 1t of on his list.
 About an hour is consumed in this preliminary work. As the last bag is checked off the paynaster heaves a sigh of relief The first stretch is passed; the amount is correct and they can now get to the real work of the day.
 Tn front of the first man at each table are placed pile of bills with small change, and tray containing rows of pay envelopes. The hands in this factory are all numbered, and the envelopes bear on the outside the printed number and the amount due to that man.
 The computation of these amounts has. occupied force of two dozen o1 moro clerks the whole preceding week Much of the factory work is done by the piece which entails an immense amount of work in collating and flgur ing.
 Two days before pay day checks are distributed to the hands, showing the amounts due to each, and any error, il promptly reported, is corrected thu same day.
 To return to the tables. The frs man at each of these soixes an en yelope, rapidly counts out the money it calls for and passes both to his right hand neighboF, who in turn counts fl and passes it to the next man. H. also counts 1t and passes it on to tho fourth man, who packs 1t into the en velope. Thus each is counted threC times, and the possibility of error al most eliminated.
 Silently and swiftly the sixteen meI rush the work along, with an occasion al brief pause to test a coin or pass doubtful bill over to the chief for in epectfOn, while now and then comes sharp call for More fivesT or Nickel herel'
 Gradually the great piles of none. diminish and the trays of filled en velopes pile up until at 2 or 2:30 howl of relief, a stretching of tire, arms and the stamping of crampe feet proclaim the end
 Quick work this. Four men nav counted out 10000 pay amounts in nv hours. That means nearly ten eac minute, and the amounts vary fror $2 or $8 to $2O and $25, and call fo all kinds of change,
 But the paymaster is not throug work yet He has much yet to do, an not superhuous minute to do 1t in.
 Hastily mmching a sandwich, h counts over the money left and thu veri1es the correctness of the amount put up If there's an error, his tror bles have just begun; but it is re markable fact that in five years, durin which the sum of more than $20,OO0 900 has been paid out in wages, onl once has recount been required.
 Finding the account correct, he prc eeeds to make any reduction whic may be necessary-purchases made D workmep, trustee wHits and assign nnents to no-money-down concerns hay to be taken care of-and with muc grooming of spirit he calls an assistan to take out the required envelopes an help him to mark the deductions 0 them, and again make the props change.
 1t is o'clock by the time this strengthened out, and preparation must at once be made for the final dii tribution Of the pay. There are sl1 teen pay stations at various points i ehis great plant. and the pay envelope must be properly deposited in heay tin boxes for transportation to thes stations. A clerk is In charge of eac box. ana it 1s nqW hig dptT to .oouF