Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-28
The HQSkin Letter
BIZ
J. S
SIGNATURES

reau. Last July. the bureau sent out
631,7 $50 checks, or nearly $4,000 a day.
This would be more than 100000 a
year. Mr.. Holmes has two assistants
who help him, but he does most of the
signing himself. AS it would be a
physical impossiblity to sign 25,OOO
checks a day every working day, a ma
chine is used. 1t is called a signo-
graph. 1t consists of a light frame
which holds usually 10 fountain pens.
The checks which are to be signed are
placed beneath the frame. The signer
grasps the pen at the lower left-hand
corner of the frame and writes his
signature in the proper place. The
frame is so constructed in relation to
the uniform size of the papers to be
signed that each of the other pens
writes the exact duplicate of what the
signer writes, in nine other places.
These machines are used in all govern
ment departments where many checks
have to be signed by hand.
Treasurer a Busy Signer
The postoffice department has some
pension office 100000 checks. The
treasurer of the United States is n
of the busiest of the ~signers. Treas
urer Frank White and his chief deputy,
Frank J. +. Thiel, sign away more
money than probably any of the others,
as their checks frequently are for
very large amounts. The regular treas
ury warrants which they sign number
about 100000 a year, while miscellane-
Gus checks number 10000.
Disbursing officers of all the gov
eminent departments, boards, bureaus
and commissions must be included IN
this group of busy signature writers.
All of those whose signing u into
the thousands employ the signing ma
chine where it is possible . The limita-
ton of the machine is that it can sign
in duplicate only where the papers to
be signed are uniform in size and
shape and where the signature is to be
placed in precisely the same position
on each paper. This limitation pre-
vents the use of the machine for sign
ing the general run of papers and cor
respondence.
Outside of the government but in a
manner connected with it are the sign
ers of the national currency. Readers
will recall that all national bank notes
bear the signatures of the president
and the cashier of the issuing bank.
In recent years some of these officers
have used rubber stamps, but by no
means all. Many of them, probably
most of them, sign the notes with pen
and ink.
The annual total cannot be precisely
arrived at because there are new issues
and ~unrenewed retirements, but il has
been estimated that about 75,000,0 900
notes are issued each year by the ma
tiOnal banks. There are nearly 5000
national banks, so a division would
give each bank nearly $500 notes a
year to sign, or about 80 a day. In
times of initiation, when larger sums
are issued, this number increases ma
t~erially.
The banks have urged congress to
permit them to have their officers sig
natures engraved on the notes but con-
gress never has given this permission.
On United States currency the names
of the treasurer of the United States
and of the secretary of the treasury
are engraved. If they were not those
officials could scarcely find time to do
anything but sign money, so numerous
are the notes.
1t is nothing new for the writing of
official signatures to be regarded as a
b~urdensome duty by persons in high Of
flee. 1t is an historical fact that Carl
nus. one of the emperors of Rome
about the second century, either was
too lazy or too busy to sign his name.
he made inquiry in the prisons TO find
out who was the most dexterous and
skillful forger in custody and had him
freed and promoted to the post of sec
rotary. where his sole duty consisted in
initiating the emperor's signature and
aiflxlng 1t to documents of state.