The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-05-22
The End of Old Money.

= Everyone. has at some time or anoth-
ler, received in change a ragged bill,
sometimes In such a dilapidated con
dition that it is held together with
pieces of gummed tissue paper, made
expressly for that purpose. When such
bills. are received. the desire is to get
rid Of them as quickly as possible,
and so they pass from hand to hand
until finally they reach some bank tina;
wild turn them into one of Uncle Sam 5
treasures.
Uncle Sam would like to keep his
paper money clean, and he endeavors
to withdraw from circulation every
ragged bill. Eventually almost every
bill finds it's way back to the treasury
after life of from two to four years
except those that are lost, or destroy
ed in fires, and so forth. 1t is an al
most impossible task to recall them all,
yet the number that is withdrawn pro
vides work for a large department IN
the treasury building in Washington.
If one should pass through the CORR
doris and glance into this room, he
would see lot of girls busilv count
| ing bundles of dirty greenbacks of all
denominations. When the count Is
carefully tabulated, the bundles are
stacked on the floor in small piles.
| The end of these old bills that have
served their purpose so faithfully has
a certain amount of pathos. If one is
| fortunate enough to be present when
a committee of three officers of the
treasury send them to their destina-
/ ton, a curious, almost indescribabie.
sensation will creep over one This
destruction takes place in a room in
the treasury building. There is a
small table in the center of the room
and on this the bundled bills are piled
in reckless confusion. Through two
/ holes in the floor at the end of the
table can be seen the large cylinders
or maceraters, into which the bills are
| placed They are about the size of
locomotive boilers. A large funnel l.
inserted in one of the holes. and 1t
connects with one of the maceraters
The bills are then united and thrown
into the mouth of this funnel 1t is
amusing to see one of the committee
take stick when they become
damned, and prod them through. Wher
the last one is safely in, mixture OF
lime and soda ash is placed in the
macerator, cover is clamped over the
hole, and each member of the com
nlittee fastens it with a separate lock
/ Steam is then turned on, and the eylin
/ ders are set in motion. When tho
bills have been thoroughly macerated
the pulp is drawn off and taken to ?
paper machine, where it is made into
sheets of paper, and afterwards sold.
| Some one suggested the idea of usins
| part of the pulp to make little fancy
images. The idea was adopted, and
| dainty little knie k-knaclIs made of the
pulp can be bought In the stores II
| Washington. The statesmen often in
duce the possible purchaser to buy b,
| telling him that the image at one tim
represented a large sum of money
To pick up one of these images is to
give rise to thought, for here, embodie
IN small compass, is that which wa
once part of the greatest power in ths
world.
| The treasury department, for a yea
or so past, has been experimenting Wit
q machine for washing bank-notes TIL
process saves considerable money, an
with increased frequency banks ar
sending soiled bills forward for cleans
| ing, before they become very old Th
process is done without charge. and b.
this means banks all over the countr-
can have clean money at only the COS
of express charges.