precaution be employed for the security of this room. It is really a "safe," more secure than any which we have seen, unless, perhaps, that in which the Assay Office keeps its bars and cheeses. Passing onward, we glance into the Paper Wareroom, where a large stock is always kept in store. This is of no small importance; for the quality of the paper is one of the points to be considered in judging of the genuineness of a bank note. In the English notes this is the principal security, the engraving being of less importance. With us the quality of the paper is of less account. Still, as the paper used for bank notes is of a peculiar character, made for this special purpose, by only a few manufactories, it is essential that it should be closely watched. PAPER WAREROOM. Not a sheet can leave this room without being accounted for. We now pass to the Counting and Packing Room, where a variety of operations are performed. Here the work is given out to the printers. Each man in the morning receives the plate which he is to print, and the necessary paper. These are charged to him. At night, when he has finished his day's work, he brings back the plate with his printed sheets, which are credited to him on the books. Here also the printed sheets are dried, pressed, counted, and sealed up for delivery to the persons authorized to receive them. We now ascend a flight of stairs, and reach the Printing Room. This room, or rather series of rooms, present a busy aspect. They occupy three sides of a hollow square, of which the Rotunda of the Exchange forms the centre. Our illustration shows only a half of one of these three divisions. Turning around, a similar scene is presented to the view, which will be repeated at each of the three sides of the square. Rows of presses are ranged through each division. On some are being worked the black plates of a note; on others the green backs and checks; on others the red patterns which appear on various parts of the notes. According to our count there are in this room about 100 presses, giving employment to nearly 200 persons. The necessity for this large force will appear when we remember that each note, as now produced, requires at least three separate printings: First the black, NUMBERING PRESS. Bank notes were formerly numbered with a pen. The numbers are now usually printed in red, by means of a very ingenious little press, so arranged that the action by which one number is printed changes the type for the next impression to the number immediately succeeding, without any possibility of error. Thus, if 666 has been printed on a note, the figures for 667 are presented for the next. The machines are arranged to present any number up to 7 figures. That is, they will give any number from 1 to 999,999. No two notes of the same "letter" can have the same number; so that a record of the "letter" and "number" is sufficient to identify any note numbered by the machine. Not only are skillful workmen and accurate machinery requisite for the mechanical perfection of a bank note, but all the materials used must be of the best quality. Much depends upon the ink. This is all made by the Company, of much finer materials and more carefully prepared than is requisite for ordinary purposes. For black ink a carbon of the purest quality and deepest color is required. Formerly that made by burning the refuse of the wine-press was considered superior to any other. Now, however, an arti calcined in an air-tight iron vessel, and the result is a powder of intense blackness, capable of the most minute pulverization. It is carbon almost absolutely pure; chemically, as far as science can detect, this black powder is identical with the diamond. The black figures "500" on a bank note, which one gives for a diamond, by our most accurate analysis, differ nothing from that of the precious stone which is received in exchange. secondly the green upon the face, and third the green check upon the back. A fourth printing, usually red, is frequently added upon some part. Notes also wear out more rapidly than is gener-cle quite as good is made from sugar. This is ally supposed. A curious table, compiled from the records of the New York Banking Department, has been prepared by Mr. Gavit, showing that the average "life of a bank note" is about three years. That is, taking one with another, notes in three years become so worn and defaced as not to be fit for circulation. When such a note comes back to the bank it is destroyed, and is replaced by a new one. This period might be shortened with advantage to the public. The Bank of England never re-issues a note. If one was paid out yesterday, and comes back to-day as fresh as when issued, it is put away to be destroyed. We can not see the necessity of this; but we think a bank should never re-issue a note which has become at all indistinct. A portion of the colored work of a note is printed from raised plates, like type, upon the ordinary hand-press. But the greater part of the printing is "copper-plate." The plate is laid on a brazier containing fire, for it must be warm to keep the ink in a sufficiently fluid state. The ink is applied with a roller all over the plate. The workman gives it two or three dextrous wipes with a cloth, and one or two more with his bare hand, removing all the ink except that which fills up the lines of the engraving; then places it on the press, lays the sheet of paper upon it, and by turning a winch passes it under the roller, which gives the impression. The whole operation is one of great nicety, for if the plate were not wiped perfectly clean the whole note would be blurred over; the paper also must be laid on in exactly the proper place, otherwise, when the colored pattern is added, it will nɔt fall exactly in its right position. The presses must therefore all be of the most accurate description. In a small room we find a machine, for the invention of which almost every one has daily cause to be thankful. It is used to perforate those little holes in a sheet of postage stamps which enable us to separate them so readily. It consists of a couple of cylinders revolving to PERFORATING MACHINE. gether. The upper one is studded over with little punches which fit into holes in the lower one. A sheet of stamps-already gummed, dried, and pressed-is passed between these cylinders, and each punch cuts out a piece; the lower cylinder being hollow these pieces fall into it, and do not clog the punches. A hundred stamps are usually printed on a sheet, and 250 of these sheets can be perforated in an hour. Simple as this machine is, no one hit upon it for years after the introduction of stamps. A statistician might make a curious estimate of the number of years of human life that would otherwise have been expended in searching for knives and scissors, and then cutting stamps apart, which have been saved by this machine. Thus: It took so many seconds to cut off a stamp; so many hundreds of millions have been used; multiply these figures together, and reduce the product to years or centuries, and we have the saving. The cylinders are made in sections, like a row of wheels, so that the points may be adjusted for stamps of any size. In all the American Bank Note Company employs about 350 persons, of whom more than 100 are females. There are about 60 artists and engravers ; 250 are employed in the Printing and Counting Rooms; the remainder being superintendents and clerks in the various departments. As we have seen, the presses and lathes are all worked by human power. Still there is employment for a steam-engine of 20-horse power. It pumps water, moves the elevator, works the hydraulic presses, turns the ink mills, heats the building, and makes itself generally useful in a variety of ways. As may be readily conceived, in so large an establishment savings small in detail amount to large sums in the aggregate. Thus, the cloths with which the plates are wiped formerly consisted of rags from the paper-mill. But the supply from this source adapted to the purpose has of late fallen short of the demand, and it has been found necessary to have a fabric made for this special purpose. It is thin and soft, costing about six cents a yard. Formerly these cloths, when saturated with ink, were burned up; but as each printer will use about six cloths containing a yard each in a day, the entire cost for 100 amounted to a large sum. We saw a single bill of $2500 for this cloth paid by the Company. Now these cloths are all washed out by the steam-engine, and are used over and over until worn out. Then of the ink laid upon the plate, more than three-fourths is wiped off by these cloths. Now this ink is costly. The powder, for instance, which forms the basis of the green ink, costs a dollar a pound; that for the best black ink, costs not less than 50 cents a pound. This was all wasted when the cloths were destroyed. Now the green pigment is separated from the water in which the cloths are washed, and again made into ink, to be again wiped off and again recovered. The saving from absolute waste of cloths and ink can not amount to less than $5000 a year. This saving ultimately accrues to the public; for it enables the Company to do their work so much cheaper. If so much wiping cloth and so much ink are wasted in printing a note, its cost must be charged indirectly to the purchaser. This purchaser is immediately the bank, but ultimately every man who has occasion to use a note. ENGINE ROOM. This and the following page contain representations of one of the United States "Demand Noter," and of one of the 7 8-10 per cent. notes. They are not intended as perfect fac-similes. No attempt has been made to represent the lathe-work checks and counters, beyond indicating their position and general figure. The parts which in the notes themselves are printed in green, are mentioned in the brief descriptions which are given of each denomination. The backs of all the notes are printed in green. They consist of elaborate combinations of lathe-work, differing entirely for each denomination, each containing the letters and figures which show the value, repeated many times. No one who observes this, and notes the brief descriptions of the character and position of the different parts of the notes, will ever be defrauded by an altered Treasury Note. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 5. No Vignette. Crawford's statue of America on left end. "United States" at top in Old English letters. In centre, large "5" in green between two oblong checks, with "Five 20. Fimette, Liberty, with sword and shield. On each end oblong check, in green. Counters, black, with "20." Green checks on each side of Vignette. UNITED STATES TEN DOLLAR DEMAND NOTE. Vol. XXIV.-No. 141.-X of the United States." The places of the signature are indicated in our representation.) (The Treasury Notes are signed, by different clerks, "For the Register of the Treasury" and "For the Treasurer |