Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-23

while serving upon the committee regularly
appointed to burn all redeemed money. In
stead of throwing all packages intrusted to
him into the furnace he would turn his back
upon his co-workers, slip package after
package into his pocket and return with
them into the redemption division. Here he
would substitute the old money for new
notes of equal amount. Such theft would
be Impossible today.
Colored Woman Found $4,000.
The most notable exhibition of honesty
within the history of the Treasury Depart
ment was made by Sophie Holmes, a col
ored woman. first employed forty years ago
by Gen. Spinner-then the treasurer of the
United States-as a temporary charwoman.
One afternoon in April, 1862, while sweep
ing and scrubbing the floor of the issue di-
vision, she found a package full of crisp
thousand dollar notes. which some careless
clerk had neglected to return to the safe.
She determined to stand guard over the
treasure and to confide her secret to no one
but Gen Spinner himself who slept in the
treasury building during those troublous
war times. She swept the dust of the room
into one pile. then another, scattered 1t
about and swept it up again and again,
just to keep up the appearance of industry,
and to make the atmosphere of the room
as uninviting as possible to the treasury
guards who sauntered in and out of the
different rooms. From sheer weakness she
finally fell asleep until past midnight, when,
imagining she discerned a figure moving in
the room, she -grope1 her way to the val
liable bundle, secreted it between two desks
sat upon 1t, and while continuing her vigil
thus fell asleep again. About o'clock in
the morning she was awakened by Gen
Spinner's footsteps. Although she gave the
treasurer a great fright, he rewarded her
with a life appointment as matron of the
issue division. And he did justly. When
the package was examined 1t was found to
contain about $4,000.
Checked Up; Not Spied Upon.
In the treasury bureaus there are no spy
turrets such as the government erects in
the large city post offices. The treasury
has its own corps of sleuths, constituting
the secret service under Chief John E. VIII
kie who has been ferreting out the Chicago
subtreasury frauds These detectives, how
ever, do not watch treasury employees I'M
til they have fallen under suspicion. The
handlers of the nations hoard all work
under a checking system and the account
of each division wherein money is made or
stored is balanced frequently-ln some cases
daily. Each superior checks up his imme-
date interiors, and being, in turn, checked
I'D by those over him. This system COM
mences even with the men who handle the
raw material out Of which our money is
made-the secret process paper for green
backs and the ingots for metal money. They
tell me at the bureau of engraving and
printng-the nations great greenback fac
tory-that from the time the distinctive pa
per leaves the mill-where 1t is made and
shipped under the eyes of government in
spectors-until 1t is turned out in the form
of legal money, each separate piece has
been officially counted siXty-three times.
The exact number of sheets issued to the
mammoth printing room is always known
and each press contains an automatic reg
;z%e III oh, OF thn nd ~ ha
shows how many sheets have received the
printing which, when completed, converts
them into money. The records of all these
indicators when daily added must agree
with the amount of paper issued to the
printing room minus the blank paper not
used The printed paper is hauled across
the Mall from the bureau of engraving and
printing to the treasury in wooden chests
locked in a great vault on wheels drawn by
three white horses and protected by six
armed guards, two in front and four upon
the rear running board.
At the treasury the girls who cut the in
dividual notes out of the big printed sheets
containing rows of note designs must save
every bit of the trimmings, which are reg
ularly counted and sent back to the pulp
mill. When there is shortage in finished
money or even blank paper traced to any
room the employees are kept in at the end
of the day until the loss is recovered. If
good. The same checking and counting
system obtains at our minis.
All coin in the treasury, except that kept
in the cash vault for current use, is stored
in the two great underground vaults, enc