The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-12-03

the temptations surrounding them. As one looks at the women who handle 1 the money and are the most expert counters in the world, it appears easy to make way with $1,000 note as their nimble fingers count large pack ages of these bills. Their fingers go like lightning as they rattle off the bills at the rate of,100 a minute with out a word or lift of their eyes. It is seldom that mistakes are made, but when they are they are charged against these expert counters.
 Take for example the new issue of certificates of indebtedness; the pa- per from which all paper currency is made is different from any other kind in the world Last year more than 45.- 900, 900 sheet of this paper were turn ed into government securities of one kind or another, Each of the sheets measures 8 1-4 by 13 1-2 inches, and prints four bills of any size that is 1 issued. Each sheet of this blank pa- per must be accounted for as careful ly as if the government had obligated itself upon it's face to pay S100 or $1.- | 900. In every 1000 sheets of the pa- 1 per from which all government se- curities are made there are 12 pounds and the mills receive 43 1-2 cents per pound for making it. The great care taken to account for each sheet is not because of it's intrinsic worth to the government but because it might be taken by counterfeiter and turn ed into bill which the government l might have to redeem, or it might fall into the hands of dishonest emplove who might make use of a sheet bv printing bills.
 About 16O,000 blank sheets are is- sued each day to the bureau of en- craving and printing, and each sheet Is accounted for in the form of print ed currency or in mutilated sheets. If a sheet is lost the bureau is called up- on for the exact amount of the bills that were being printed upon the pn per that day. For example, if $20 bills are the ones in course of print and there should be a sheet missing, the bureau would have to hand out SS0 This is only one of large number of precautions taken to protect the gov ernment against the misuse of this distinctive paper.
 Before 1880 the paper was manu- factured near Philadelphia. About that time the contract was awarded to Crane & Go, at Dalton, Mass, who offered more acceptable paper at a large reduction in the price. The pa- per out of which the money is made to-day is of pure linen, with two rar- row zones of silk fiber running cross- wise of the note, and for bonds it is so arranged that a portion of the silk zone will be on each coupon. The material from which the paper is made Is gathered from all parts of the world where flax is grown in great quantities, and it usually consists of the cuttings left from the manufac- ture of linen shirts, tablecloths, col lars and cuffs, and other linen textile fabrics
 l As soon as the design for new se- curity has been approved by the sec retary of the treasury, it is placed in the hands of engravers for the execu- ton of their respective lines of work, which are three-vignets, titles and ornamental work, When the engravers have finished their work the steel plates are prepared, and when finish led and ready for printing are placed in charge of the custodian of dies, rolls and plates, together with all the 1 dies and rolls that have been made by the bureau, This officer preserves them in burglar and fire-proof safes, and issues them only upon the order I of the secretary of the treasury. The paper is issued from the treasury de- pertinent from day to day to the bu- I reau of engraving and printing, and is carried over in a big steel wagon drawn by three horses, which haul back the money.
 For example, if thousand sheets are sent over in $100 bills, these rep resent S4O0,O0O, as there are four bills to each sheet. Each one of these sheets is counted about 40 times be- fore it is turned from white paper in- to greenback dollars, and every man who puts his fingers on sheet is re- quired to leave register of it in some way, and if printer spoils a sheet in printing he is obliged to send 1t in. After visit to this great money mill one can see that it would be much easier to carry out dozen bags of silver from the steel vaults of the treasury than to slip away one of these sheets of blank paper without being detected
 With equal care the steel plates from which the money is engraved are guarded, It can be safely said that they are worth more than their weight in gold. Guards are stationed by day and night around the four great vaults in which these plates and dies are kept, and the combination locks to the great steel doors are each i known to but one man, who keeps the