Evening star., 1927-05-29


ture of paper pulp.
All unknown to the consumer, the
greenbacks and yellowbacks which he
expends for provisions, perambulators
and pneumatic tires eventually may
return to his home, to rooSt in the
efTectual disguise of superior station
cry and Inequality printing paper.
You may never recognize your gold
and silver certificates and national
bank notes under the alias of coarse
! cardboard, shoe counters and useful
fiberboard. yet, Notwithstanding, they
may be serving you most effectively
in their renewed non-negotiable form.
Diamond rings are purchased and
encircle youthful fingers as pledges Of
troth as a result of love letters writ
ten on note paper made from macer-
ated currency. Theater programs.
sale advertisements and auction an
nouncements may be printed on made
over miscellany of eX-currency paper.
For national greenbacks ranging in
denomination from one to one hun
dred dollars apiece are reduced only
10 scraps of paper when robbed of
the printed characters and insignia
which identify them as legal tender.
Dust to dust returneth: in money
manufacture and ultimate maceration,
as in all else.
The life of that crisp and cracking
dollar bill which occupies part of
your semi-monthly pay envelope. if
YOU be Government employe, is now
about nine months. 1t has been in
creased approximately one-half during
the last two years. Organized science
at the Bureau of Standards has deIyed
deeply into the riddles of paper money
ana has produced a reinforced cur.
rency.
Our paper money at present is ex.
posed TO more severe circulation ext.
gencies than ever before. We Ameri.
cans carry much more paper money
than We did 10 or 20 years ago, We
run 1ewer bills and pay spot cash
"nefe we formerly used charge ac.
counts.or did not make anything but
essential purchases.
HE advent and countrywide con.
quest OF the motor cars have af.
1ected paper currency in a vaSt va.
rlety OF ways. They have lured mil.
Mons from savings accounts, invest.
ments, sugar bowls, old socks and
other strange hiding places. They
nave placed an ever-increasing stream
Oh new money in circulation.
This immaculate. spotless money
has soon been soiled, smeared and
smirched by the greasy hands of the
automoolie industry. 1t has been
folded and refolded thousands Of
times. 1t has been stuffed into dirty
pockets and stored in oil.stained
! 'ttlls." 1t has been exposed to haz.
ards and rigors which it never expert.
enced during the days when grand.
rather played duck on the rock"
Ihe annual spending spree in which
the United States now engages taxes
the capacity OF our Federal money
manufactures.
Some 1850 tons of worn-out paper
currency are returned annually TO the
treasury Department from all sec.
tions or the country for redemption,
In the neighborhood of 40 carloads of
ollapidated currency--the uncouth and
unkempt tramp of the financial world
return to the National Capital in
much worse condition than ship.
wrecked mariners. Uncle Sam ex.
changes new money for old and con.
signs the discarded paper dollars to
financial destruction in a battery of
10 Federal maceraters. In addition
to the redemption currency, small
amounts of spoiled paper and trim
mings from the many currency proc
esses accumulate at the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing and have to
be destroyed.
This large amount of money after.
math might be assembled in a nam.
moth pile and burned to powdery
ashes. Such procedure would speed
the destruction Of the residue and pre-. |
vent any unlawful attempts to obtain |
some OF the treasure in order to use 1t |
Tor illegal purposes. Some Of the for
frio of,
money in such fashion. Business
efficiency and the commandments of
conservation prohibit such wastage in
the United States.
The salvage value of a small freight
train OF redeemable currency is con-
siderable. Following the policy of the
American packing industry, which
saves everything except the shoat's
squeal, the chickens cackle, the
bulls below and the rams roar, the
Treasury Department salvages what
soever of value it can obtain from our
'money mincemeat."
At present tons of paper cur
rency, reduced to rags and tatters un-
der the strain of severe service, are
macerated daily at the Bureau of En-
craving and Printing. The piecemeal
material, which resembles chicken feed
after it is macerated, is reduced to
paper pulp and sold to commercial
firms. This pulp contains 20 per cent
water and practically all the ink. On
account Of its large content Of impuri-
ties. it is suitable only for the produc-
tion of coarse paper products, such as
fiberboard, wallboard and similar ma
terials. No attempt is made to clean
the pulp, the salvage process being
carried only far enough to comply
with the requirements for Federal
protection against the unlawful use
of the waste paper. The macerated
money is completely defibered so that
none of its original printed characters
are distinguishable. All the distinc-
tive features of the currency paper, in
fact, are obliterated.
The low grade paper pulp which has
been produced for many years COM
mands a correspondingly small price
The Bureau Of Efficiency, in searching
for skeletons in Treasury Department
closets and loopholes of loss which
might be plugged, came face to face
with the money maceration puzzle.
Efficiency experts decided that the
Maceration Division not only could be
reformed so that present debts would
be metamorphosed into credits, but
that the enterprise could be revised to
produce a good quality of letter and
printing paper and SlZaDle rroflt.
This conclusion was based on the fact
that the original paper currency is
made from the best grade of linen and
cotton rag fibers. The evidence was
that the mutilated money would yield
satisfactory material for the produc-
tion Of good grade of paper pulp.
* X X
THE money mincemeat," as now
handled, presents unusual resist
ance to the ordinary deinking treat
ments, owing to the hardness and
toughness of the improved currency
paper, the large amount of Ink pres
ent and the resistant quality of this