Evening star., 1936-03-22
By James Nevin Miller.

TEw national enterprises are
- more interesting to the Ameri-
can people today than the
\ making of the bonus bonds for
World War veterans. Why? Because
every one of us is directly or indi-
rectly concerned. Surely we all have
at least one friend or relative who
will benefit to the tune of at last a
couple OF hundred dollars. American
Industry will profit materially because
SS,000,000 bonds will be issued, each
valued at $50. At least 100000
worth of this is expected to go into
circulation within the next three or
four months.
Bearing all this in mind, visit to
The bonus bond "facory" II Washing
ton ought to be an Illuminating ex-
perience. Shall we, therefore, go
down to the Bureau Of Engraving and
Printing, Fourteenth and c streets
southwest, and see how the Federal
specialists are breaking all speed rec
ords in grinding out the new service
certificates? Reports have 1t that
they have developed wonder working
machinery and efficient methods Of
production which have no parallel
elsewhere in the world.
But before actually starting your
tour of the bureau, take a good look
at the bonus bond, or, the adjusted
service bond, as the Treasury De-
partment prefers to call it. In size
it's about 312 times that Of a dollar
bill. The border Is Of an attractive
pattern with an ornamental design
In each of the four corners. In the
upper center is beautiful portrait
of Andrew jackson, the Soldier
President" On either side of the
portrait are two conspicuous orna-
mental counters with the denomina-
ton 80" appearing plainly on each.
Across the bond, directly under the
portrait in black Roman lettering is
the title, The United States Of Amer
lea" Below this Is ample space for
the name of the inscribed holder of
the bond as the registered owner.
Under this space and across the upper
center again appears the denomina-
ton in attractive black letters, read
ing. Fifty Dollars"
THE lower half Of the security con-
- tains the text which explains the
terms and conditionss ending with
the notice: This bond Is not trans
5erable."
The color scheme is a delicate sun
burst ray printed in green. The tint
underues the text, across the face Of
which appears in large white letters,
Adjusted Service Bond" In the
upper left and right corners and the
lower right, respectively, appear in
red the interest rate, date Of maturity,
bond number and Treasury seal.
And now for your trip through the
bureau! First you visit little room
on the ground floor of the "old" Bu-
reau of Engraving Building on Four
teenth street and Independence ave-
nue.. Here you are privileged to meet
humane, pleasant, cordial and alert.
He's the chap whose genius was re-
sponsible for the lovely design Of the
new bonds. Meissner employs two
designers In his wee ONCE and two
engineers, who assist with the de-
signing work. They are all busy at
their boards. All around them on
desks, tables and walls are their brain
children in various stages of COM
pletion.
One Of the most interesting men in
the entire Government service is this
gifted artist. He has been with the
bureau about 10 years and prior to
working there he served 20 years In
the Geological Survey as an artist.
Meissner designs bonds. notes, Sc
curtties Of all kinds, diplomas and