Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-10-07
By
Frederic
j. Haskin

ment has. Its receipts amount to sew
eral hundred million dollars severy year.
II was organized early in. the history
of the nation. What the bank bill was
at Philadelphia or the shilling piece at
Lancaster, that was whisky to the town
in western Pennsylvania in 1871. A
CANON of good rye whisky was worth
exactly a shilling piece, and constitut-
ed. so to speak. the coin of the realm.
In that year a tax of from to is cents
a gallon was levied on whisky, and this
tax led to the first resistance against
the government Of the United States.
These violators of the law were the
forerunners of the present generation
of moonshiners. The present high tax
Of s1.1O a gallon makes moonshining a
profitable business, and there are no
drawer men to be found than the reve-
nue. agents whose duty il is to seek out
and bring the moonshiners to Justice
The most interesting part Of the
work of the treasury department is its
process of keeping the nation supplied
with money. This process, in the case
of paper money, begins with the pur-
chase Of the raw paper and the engrav-
ing OF the plate. The paper is made aft
er a secret formula. The plates are en-
graved with most exacting care. The
public is not permitted to see the en-
gravers at work, nor is any one engraver
permitted to prepare a whole plate. the
money is never printed from the original
plate, but duplicates are prepared from
it by a mechanical process. II this were
not so. 1T would be practically impos-
sibIe 10 detect counterfeiting. since
no two plates for printing money OF
the same denomination would be ex-
actly alike. The fine lines on the paper
money are engraved by a machine which
has as many combinations as the best
safe lock. each combination producing
different design and no one but the OPP
orator knowing these combinations.
These lines can never be successfully
initiated by hand.
The highest bill printed has a face
value of $4,000. Few ever come back, as
the banks prefer them to any other
kind of money. Twelve pounds of them
take the place OF 1000 tons Of silver
in a bank vault. II costs the govern
ment IL cents to issue piece of
paper money and redeem IL. / takes
about 80 days to complete the printing
of a piece of paper money, and each
bill is counted 81 times during the pro-
cess.
The main province Of the secret service
is to prevent counterfeiting. although 1t
has many other activities. The best
guardians of the currency are the tellers
of the banks. More than nine-tenths of
all the counterfeit money in circulation
is detected by them. The counterfeiter
takes advantage of every modern pro-
cess in his work, and through the photo
mechanical methods is able to produce
results that can be detected only by the
skilled handler of money. The United
States minis make the coins in circulation
in the United States. Except the gold
coins none of them is worth their face
value. and in 1903 the profit from their
making amounted to SS,000,000 Nickels
and pennies by the hundred millions are
required. and there is a profit of at least
30 per cent in their coinage. The gov
eminent always stands ready to redeem
them. but puts them into circulation
again.
With its holdings of more than quarter
of a million of dollars in money and bull
lion. II becomes necessary strongly to
guard the treasury building. A large force
of watchmen patrol the building at all
times. Electrical alarms are maintain
ed and tested every half hour, and
enough arms are stored to arm a thou
SAND men to the instant. Besides this
there is connection with Fort Myer, the
arsenal and the police department, SO
that any organized effort to storm the
treasury would be impossible.
The comptroller of the currency has
supervision over the national banks of
the country, and the comptroller of the
treasury passes upon all expenditures by
the government, where there is any ques
ton raised. His decision is final, except
that IL may be reviewed by the courts.
The books of all the departments are kept
by auditors appointed for that purpose
and their decisions renewable by the
comptroller OF the treasury.
The public health and marine hospital
service cares for disabled seamen and
frames regulations for the prevention of
the Introduction and spread Of contagious
dis ASes. The surgeon general is
C.srged with the investigation of con-
tagious and infectious diseases and the
publication of weekly health report. He
looks after the enforcement Of the inter-
state sale OF vaccine viruses, cerums
toxines and analogous products. 1t is
TO this service that the country owes
some of its greatest advances in medi-
cal progress and sanitation. II also has
charge of the medical inspection of the
al ~ inf