The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-04-11
tAmerican News Service)

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Washington. April Washington
| at this time of the year, is the mecca
for tourists from all over the country.
Naturally. their interests center on the
public buildings OF the city into which
| they flock by the thousands. After
seeing the White House. the halls OF
congress and the Congressional library
the tourist shows much interest in the
| treasury building and the bureau OF
Engraving and Printing, the two great
money centers. The first question us
| ually put to the guides by sightseers,
/ is How much money has the govern.
! ment put into circulation since it be
came nation:'' No guide possesses
| this specific knowledge, as it is an ut
ter impossibility to name anything
| like the correct amount.
Statistics gathered from various
treasury reports, however, show that at
present there is in circulation between
twenty-five and thirty hundred million
OF dollars in paper money alone. OF
the amount of coin in circulation no
man now connected with the govern
ment, has the faintest idea: only a
rough guess that has been made,
places the huge pile OF wealth at
about from twenty-to twenty-five mil
lion of dollars.
The government minis and the bu-
rea of engraving and printing are push
ed to their utmost capacity in making
new money to keep this vast circula-
ton up to the required standard. The
records disclose that there is an aver
age of $1,000, eco made every day in the
year in the mint at Philadelphia, New
Orleans and San Francisco and in the
bureau of engraving and printing at
Washington. The minis stamp into
coin between $4,000 and and 5000, 600
daily, while the Bureau prints about
$2.O00,O00 each day of paper money.
While the United States is said to
stand pre-eminent among the various
nations in the manufacture of its paper
money, the establishments where it is
made do not compare in any way with
countries The quality of it's work,
however. is such. that very few, if any
counterfeits, are not discovered.
AS an example of the economy of the
government, the bureau of engraving,
an antiquated building, stands promi-
nent. The building has been con-
demned as unsanitary. and not fit to
house by one-third of the employees.
Anticipated methods, too, are used to
manufacture money. In the bureau
a printer and a girl assistant, using a
simple hand press, which possibly saw
it's palmiest days a century or SO ago,
can finish about eight hundred sheets
of bills day, each sheet containing
four bills. The type OF this press, &C
cording to the printers, has not chang
ed since the government began max
ing it's paper money. In the building
there are perhaps between six hun
dred and fifty and seven hundred
printers, some of whom are engaged in
printing stamps. bonds, or other forms
of government securities, but most OF
them are engaged in printing money.
A visitor to the city seldom fails to
visit this building. It's intense activity
fascinates one; the dexterity of the
clerks who count the money after 1t
has been printed and the methods en-
ployed for safeguarding the money.
form, perhaps, one of the most inter
esting sights of the national capital.
With nearly three thousand employees
who are actively working from
O'Clock in the morning until the same
time the next day in shifts of thou
sand, the bureau turns out nearly $685.
600 900 in paper money year. beside
supplying the postage stamps and 9th
err securities required by the govern
ment.
It is Of course, necessary, in the man.
ufacture of paper money that one piece
of money should correspond with an
other of like denomination. Hence
the engravers and their work are OF
the highest standard. Each bill made
is an excellent example of the finest
steel engraving, but the dexterous
clerks who count hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars every day, can detect at
once any Irregularities in the curren-
cy.
This department of the government
put out five different kinds OF paper
money. The silver certificates In de-
nominations of one. two. five and ten
dollar bills with which the people are
more familiar, and the gold certiti-
Gates, which are in less general use,
in denominations of ten, twenty, ETC.,
form the bulk of the work. These
bills are printed as a matter of gen
eral convenience, for the reason that
experience shows the public desires
paper money in preference to coin.
Coin, however. is extensively circu-
lated in the West. while paper money
is more generally used in the East.
There are outstanding about four
hundred and seventy million dollars
in silver certificates. To the initiated
this reckless output of money seems
to portend utter financial dissolution.
but such is not the case. The govern
ment can not issue all the money it
wishes: it is confined to stringent
rules and can only issue money in
two ways in which it becomes legal
tender.
Ii one should deposit silver or gold
coin or bullion with the treasury Off
Gals, authority is given in law to is
sue therefore silver or gold certifi-
Gates, or worn certificates may be