El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-02-26

! The government money mill has sue
ceeded in obtaining from Germany a
| cargo or pigment material enough to
| print the paper currency and postage
stamps for whole year. Recently. for
! the stamps, the bureau Of engraving
has been obliged to use American
pigments, which were found very in
! terior for the purpose. lacking the
brightness Of the imported product
For the printing Of our paper money.
As wen AS postage stamps the cOlOrs
SSn, ,l employed are red like, earmine.
blue, green, and black The reds are
used for seals and the backs of bonds.
Green Is Tor the backs of 'greenbacks.H
Black is for the faces Of notes. The
to the black
COlOrs From Coal Tar Now.
IN former days red lake was obtained
from the madden plant: and carmine
was Vas 9eIlNed from cochineal insects
AIOuhd on certain tropical cactib To-
OOO or which were required to make
a pound. These bugs. bv the way.
native TO Mexico, were largely cultf-
tSl "a, a WINE cage ago in the West Indies.
the canary Islands, and Algeria. But
at the present time both red lake and
carmine are produced from old tar.
The blue pigment used by the govern
ment money mill is Prussian blue
(prussiate Of potash. and, like the
carmlne and red lake, is imported from
Germany. Green is obtained by mix
ing this same prussiate of potash with
IS composite. its chief ingredient be-
ing vine black" made in Germany
by carbonizing the ''pOmace" (residue)
from wine presses.
All these cOlOrinE materials reach
the bureau of engraving in the form
Of dry powders. packed in barrels.
They are converted into printing inks
by mixing them with linseed oil and
grinding the compound to a homo
geneous fluid between steel rollers
The oil, before being used for this
purpose, is heated to a high temper
allure in huge iron pots and then set
on fire. 1t is allowed to burn from
20 minutes TO three hours, according
to the kind of ink that is to be made
the object of this performance being
TO render It thick and sticky. so that
II may cling to pigment and paper. Ink
thus made will not blur.
Has Big Ink Plant.
The money mill maintain the largest
plant in the United States for the
manufacture Of printing inks. more
then 800 different grades and tints
currency, postage stamps. and internal
revenue stamps. Stamps Of course,
are Of all colors. and the revenue hues
are much more varied. special ones
being used for playing cards. cigarettes.
etc. The postage two cent red" is an
aniline local tar) pigment, guaranteed
not to fade under any circumstances.
All the inks used. indeed, are under
otbVN " bD AdlH- PANNA- " uNMNNHH a
fresh batch is made. a print Is made
with IL on a paper strip, and the latter
is exposed to powerful ultraviolet
rays in an electric cabinet. Part of
the strip Is covered, to protect il
against the rays: and II after several
hours the covered portion and the ex-
posed portion are found not to match.
the pigment from which the ink was
manufactured is rejected and returned
to the contractor who furnished it.
For each Of the 900 and odd grades
and tints a standard sample is kept
in stock, 10 afford means Of comparison
The gold tint used for the faces Of
gold certificates, by the way, is
chrome yellow a mixture Of lead
chrOmate and red lake. For the gold
figures on these securities chrome yell
low is likewise employed
Depend Upon Germans.
For the pigments required for our