The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-26

lRON1N LAUN
ploy starch, but another stiffener which
works better. This is added by the
sizing machine" that shown in the
picture, where the girl With the white
shirtwaist sits with her back partly
turned and with tall stack Of money
at her left hand. Before her is a sort
of gridiron OF narrow felt bands re-
volving over rollers. This gridiron
is partly open. and into 1t she slides
the freshly washed notes. one by one.
The top and bottom rows of belts como
together upon the moving row of bills
and carry them down into tank filed
laundry employs in lieu of starch-a
solution of glue. alum and water, heat
ed to 100 degrees. q
| Sterilization IS the third process.
From the sizing bath, another COM
blnation of felt ribbons carries the
notes into tank filled with a volatile
antiseptic, of the nature of formalde-
hyde, devised by Burgess Smith, a
chemist of the bureau of engraving
and printing. who had direct charge
of the practical end of the laundering
process. Microscopic tests being made
| at the hygienic laboratory of the public
health and marine hospital service show
that this antiseptic readily kills all Of
the germs upon the soiled notes, and
these psychological tests have been
made with notes with one half nearly
black with dirt and the other half
Numbered.
WrlnEinE and Ironing Machines.
wringing machine is the next piece
OF apparatus to catch the moving pro-
cession of bills. Still another grldiron
of straps carries them out of the an
tisepttc bath and feeds them to pair
OF big rubber rollers held tightly to-
gether by weight pressure. And after
passing through these, they are dropped
into conveyor. which carries them
through a chamber about ten feet long,
heated By coils. BY the time they have
reached the end of this they are
thoroughly dry.
And finally comes the ironing process.
Forty notes are piled one upon the
other and placed between top and bot
tom layers Of press board" the leather
) like glazed cardboard which is used
, in making the flexible covers of blank
. !. books. Thus put up in packs, the new
ly washed, sized and sterilized notes
:, are passed between heavy steel rollers,
;, which subject them to a pressure OF
- thirty tons and squeeze each stack
as 1t passes through to the thinness
a of pasteboard This process irons out
, all wrinkles, closes up all creases and
, imparts a finish hardly distinguishable
from that of brand -newness.
, There his been loud popular clamor
for cleaner money, to obtain which
some individuals have resorted to wash
ing their greenbacks in their homes
, before handling them. Thus I heard
from government official to-day the
story of an old lady in Massachusetts
who long made 1t practice to wet
all soiled greenbacks which she receiv-
ed, and then spread them upon a plate
! of glass that held them fiat while she
, scrubbed first one side and then the
. other side with brush wet with soap
and ammonia water.
Dirty money has long been nuis-
! ance, especially in communities far
! from the Treasury and Subtreasuries.
to which institutions banks of indivi-
: duals can take soiled notes and ex-
q change them for new bills without eX-
9 pense. But away out In the Northeast
! and Southeast and through the West,
until the gold belt is reached. filthy
notes accumulate because the banks
a have to pay from 60 to rs cents per
: thousand dollars worth to have their
= soiled greenbacks transported to the
Treasury or Subtreasuries. To relieve
:, this condition bill has been befors
: Congress Ito establish and maintain
the physical cleanliness and serviceable
character of all the United States pap
;. er currency in circulation" 1t pro-
. vdes that all national banks and other
banks that are national repositories
shall send every bit of their dirty cur
rency to the Treasury for the purpose
of having it reissued in clean bills, the
g cost Of transportation both ways be-
ing borne by the government. 1t also
: permits idividuals. corporations and
money establishments of all sorts tc
enjoy this privilege
Filthy Lucre, Indeed.
How foul our paper money becomes
It before being retired from use Is best
seen at the retention office in the
Treasury, whose money handlers some
/, times have to go SO far as to fumigate
m notes sent in by persons desiring new
w money in exchange This had to be
ne done in the recent case of a man drown
We ed q the Potomac River, and whose
re body was not recovered until foul
Id months later, when some bills fount
.ir in his clothing were sent into tn,
ID Treasury for redemption, In another In
. stance a box OF money was brought t,
er the Treasury from Cuba by a govern
;f ment undertaken who had recovere,
Iy 1t from the bodies of dead soldiers. o,
= still another occasion steamboat ex
plosion on Lake Michigan caused tn
It's death of a purser who had $50 in bill
n on his person. He foated about 70
It, some weeks. at the end Of which tn
1t, cash was recovered and sent throug
iyI a bank for redemption at the Treasur,
an Then there was the case OF a German
tramp who died in barn up In New
Ia York State,
He lay buried in the potter's feel
- until a letter. from his brother in tn
" old country led to his elimination an
VI $4,000 In paper money was found In
20 secret money belt hidden beneath hi
ael undertaking. These notes. like thos
recovered In the preceding cases. ha
- to be handled at the retention office.
note worn in tralnp's shoe dur
ing a seventy-five mile hike throug
Minnesota was another specimen receiv
ed recently at tho Treasury, Thl
man started from Mankato to 21inne1p
m. oils with twenty dollar bill secrete
In each shoe as a protection aGains
IS hold-ups. but at the end OF tina two-da
ADD trip he was horrined to discover thu
i I. To- IT, =