The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 18, 1901, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY 'MAY 18, 1901. 1 Oommunications t» W. 5. LEAKE, Manager. | Telephone Press 204 | PUBLICATION OFFICE...Market and Third, S. F. Telephone Press 201. Agaress A MANAGER'S OFFICE. ZDITORIAL ROOMS. ....217 to 221 Stevemson St. Telephone Pre:s 202. Delivered he Carriers. 15 Cents Per Weelk. Single Coples. 5 Cents Terms by Mail, Including Postager TATLY CALL cincluding Sunday), one year. DAILY CALL (including Sunday). § months. DAILY CALiL (nciuding Sunday). 3 months. DAILY CALL—By Single Mcnth WEEKLT CALL, One Year All postmasters are a subscriptionx. Eample coples will bs forwarded when requested. o nwd 358332 receive Mafl subscrihers In ordering chanee of address should be particular to give both NEW AND OLD ADDRESS in order %0 insure a prompt and correct compilance with their request. DAKLAND OFFICE ...1118 Broadway €. GEORGE KROGNESS. Manager Foreigo Aévertising, Marquette Building, Chissg>. (Lopg Distance Telephone “Central 2619.") YORK REPRESENTATIVE: NEW €. C. CARLTON.. ...Herald Square NTATIVE: NEW YORK REPRES s Tribune Building BETEPHEN B. SMITH. NEW YORK Waldorf-Astoria Hotel; Murrey Hill Hotel CHICAGO NEWS STANDS: Sherman House: P. O. News Co.; Great Northern Hotel: Fremont House; Auditorfum Hotel. WASHINGTON @D. C.) OFFICE. ...1408 G St., N. W. MORTOXN E. CRANE. Correspondent. BRANCH OFFICES—27 Montgomery. corner of Clay, open ©oti]l 8:30 o'clock. 300 Hayes, open until 9:30 o'clock. €33 | McAllister, open until 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin. open un®il 950 o’clock. 1941 Mission, open until 10 o'clock. 2261 Markst, corner Sixteenth. open until § o'clock. 1086 Valencia. open wrtll § o'clock. 196 Eleventh, open until § o'clock. NW. cor- per Twenty-second and Kentucky, open until 8 o'clock. J AMUSEMENTS. NEWS STANDS: A. Brentao, 3 Union Square: Central—**The Bowery After Dark.” 1 Tivo “The Toy Maker.” heum—Vaudeville. Sag Harbor.” jends.” house—*“Government Acceptance.”” rbara Frietchle.” er Mason and Eddy streets—Specialties. | Theater—Vaudeville every afternoon and and seball. Ferry Buildin; Flower Show, May 16, 17 and 18. Excursion to Santa Cruz—Sunday. ing. | ck—Races to-day. | iagainst resistance than if it encounter none. E have endeavored to make it plain that all GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP. sides of public ownership, or administration, ~ U of public service industries should be con- sidered, studied and understood by every municipality which proposes to adopt that policy. Putting Government into business, making it a proprietor of business plants and using it in their ad- ministration, means to introduce a very great change; and it will be more likely to succeed if it come Profes- sor James Bryce has said: “The greatest changes are often introduced with the least notion ot their conse- quences, and the most fatal are those which encounter least resistance.” We have endeavored to develop the evidences of the incapacity of municipalities for the administration of a business. When a public service industry is in private ownership the losses due to incapacity fall upon its stockholders. When it is in public owner- ship the loss falls upon the taxpayers. If only two- thirds of the water delivered and consumed in New York City is paid for, by reason of the dishonesty or incapacity of municipal administration, the cost of storing, conducting and distributing the third un- paid for by its consumers falls upon the taxpayers. As the investigation made by the Merchants’ Asso- ciation in New York shows that one-third the water goes unpaid for, and that the municipal accounts are so kept that no one can tell what is due the city, nor who owes it, it is seen at once that the cost of water to the people of that city is not shown in the rate paid by the consumers, but consists of what they contribute as ratepayers and as taxpayers. In Philadelphia Mayor Ashbridge sought to straighten out the municipal water accounts, and found as far as he was able to go that for years the city had been losing annually $800,000 in water un- paid for.© Of course that loss falls upon the city as owner of the plant, and has to be made good by taxa- tion of the people. The Merchants’ Club of Chicago has investigated the bookkeeping and accounts of that city, and re- | ports the result as “a revelation of wholesale mis- management, incompetency ~and plunder,” and that | the city is conducting its business “under conditions that would have brought bankruptcy to any mercan- tile firm.” The club found a discrepancy of four million dollars | in the cost of Chicago’s water supply, as shown by two sets of city books, and also a variation of one | and a quarter millions in the sinking fund to meet water bonds. The postal system is habitually referred to by ad- vocates of municipal ownership of public service in- | dustries as a model that should be followed and proof to be any decline in the amount of money they ex- pend. The drain in payment of ocean freight rates will | vanish as soon as Congress puts American merchant vessels on an equal footing with subsidized Euro- I pean ships. The sums that go to pay interest on European investments in this country will diminish from this time on, for we are now not only financ- |ing our own enterprises but are -lending money to Europe. In a comparatively short time, therefore, i Europe will have to meet our trade balances in some other way than at present. The United States has be- come a creditor instead of a debtor nation, and the change is going to make an enormous difference in the commerce and finance of the world. LONG LIFE AND WORK. OME happy-hearted men in the city of New S York who enjoy life as a good thing have or- ganized a club for the purpose of finding out the causes which have enabled some persons to live more than one hundred years. Up to this time they have found nothing more than wide differences of opinion. One set of authorities maintain that long life is most common among ignorant and unenterpris- ing people, while another set holds to the belief that intellectual exertion tends to prolong fife, and that in proportion to the numbers of the two classes there are more old men among the learned than among the uneducated. % The first authorities rely upon statistics collected by a German medical journal from the census of va- rious nations. These show that in countries where iIli;eracy and poverty are common there are pro; ! portionately many more centenarians than among more highly educated and prosperous peoples.. In Servia at the last census there were found in a popu- lation of 2,500,000 no less than 575 persons more than 100 Years old, while in Germany, with a population of 55,000,000, there were found only 78. The statistics collected in that way are scoffed at by the advocates of the opposing theory. It is | claimed that the illiterates and paupers who assert their age to be/in excess of 100 have no proof what- ever of their asserfions. Educated people have few centenarians among them because the record of their birth is known and there is not the same opportunity for errors or willful deception. Upon those grounds the arguments drawn from the census reports are de- clared invalid, and the solution of the question is left to the investigation of cases where there ‘is indis- putable proof of life exceeding 100 years. ‘In France there has been a careful gathering of facts relating to the subject, but no evidence has been obtained that confirms the view of either party. The French investigators found about as many old people proportionately in one class as in another. Some PAPERS ON CURRENT TOPICS | PREPARED BY EXPERTS AND SPECIALISTS FOR THE SAN FrANCISCO CALL. Elaborate System Employed by the Federal Government to Manufacture Stamps and Pape r Money. By Willilam M. Meredith. DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING. e (COPYRIGHT, 1%01.) — XIV.—MAKING BANE NOTES, BONDS AND POSTAGE STAMPS. It has been said that one of the great- est benefits resulting from the civil war was the paper money issued by and under the supervision of the United States. The notes thus issued, being comprised in a few well-recognized designs, superseded the thousand and one notes of every con- ceivable design issued by banks scattered | over the entire country and of whose gen- uineness no one could tell. As a direct result of the adoption of this currency there has grown up in the Treasury De- partment one of the largest manufactur- ing establishmenty under Government control in the world, known as the bu- reau of engraving and printing. Starting in a small way in the Treasury building early in the '60s, it now occupies a puilding of its own upon a commanding site on the banks of the Potomac River, in the shadow of the Washington monu- ment. This building has been twice en- larged since its original occupancy in 1880. The building and site represent an outlay of $500,000, while the machinery and fixtures represent another outlay of $1,000,000. It employs 1010 men and 1336 women and expends for wages alone over $1,600,000 & year. The main work of this establishment is the manufacture of the notes issued by the Government and by the national banks of the country, but it also makes the internal revenue, cus- toms and postage stamps and all of the checks used by disbursing officers of the United States throughout the country— in fact, everything that is defined by law to be an obligation or security of the United States. As fts main product is coveted by every one, its principal alm is to prevent an easy imitation of it, oth- erwise known as.codnterfeiting. To this end it employs all the processes of en- graving and printing that are most ditfi- cult to imitate. It se¢ures the most talented engravers, at the highest com- pensation, and the most skilled printers obtainable. Preparing the Design. When it is determined to issue a new security of this Kind the matter is dis- and receipted for by a representative of the printing division of the bureau. Printing Paper Money. An assignment to printers is made by the chief of the printing division, and each printer so assigned is given an or- der which entitles him to receive the nec- essary. plate and his assistant to receive the necessary paper in the quantity which he may determine for his day’s work. The paper must be counted immediately upon receint as would money paid at a r ven. The printer and his assistant now become xi' tached to each printing press is an auto- matic device which records each impres- During the day, as impres- slons are completed in hundreds, they are taken to the examining division of the where they are counted and bank, and a receipt must be sponsible for the plate and the paper. ‘sion printed. bureau, placed in the racks of the drying-room. gereceipt is given the printer for the num- T of impressions so delivered by him. At ‘the close of the day the printer is required to return his plate and any un- printed paper, which is credited to him on the books 'of the wetting division. A comparison is then made of the number of impressions charged to the printer.in the wetting division with the number of impressions delivered by him to the ex- amining division. must agree. When they agree the printer and his assistant are relieved from fur- ther responsibility and the employes of t}Jes(:] divisions are dismissed upon a given signal. The freshly printed impressions remain in the drying-room securely locked dur- ing the night. At the commencement of business the next morning they are taken from the drying-room and placed in the hands of expert examiners, who carefully scrutinize them for imperfections in print- ing. Perfect impressions are counted and made into packages of 100 sheets, and these are stacked into packages of 1000 sheets. The imperfect sheets are made ::r;nto such packages as may be neces- Preparing Postage Stamps. At this point there is a difference be- tween the treatment of notes and bonds and that of stamps. Notes and bonds re- quire more than one printing. The print- ing above described is for notes, the first These three accounts of a shortage being claimed by a postmaster the persoms upon whom the responsibility rests for such error may be determined. The stamps are then taken to what is known as the finished vault, Where a stock of 100,000,000 1-cent stamps, 200,000,000 2-cent stamps and relative quantities of other denominations is constantly kept on hand to anticipate requisitions from Postmasters, The stamps are distributed to Postmasters on the orders of the Third Assistant Postmaster General, the utmost care being taken to insure the greatest accuracy in filling these orders. The Post- master at Chicago. for example, calls for as many as 10,000,000 1-cent and 20,000,000 2-cent stamps a month, Smaller postof- fices make requisitions about once a quar- ter, and at these quarterly issues the bu- eau forwards by registered mail as high fs 1500 packages a day for, several days unti! the 40,000 or more Postmasters of the country receive their quarterly stock of stamps. Finishing Notes and Bonds. ‘We left the first printing of the paper money in the vault drying and season- ing for use in the second or face print- ing. When necessity arises a requisition is - made on the vaultkeeper for the number of impressions of the first print- ing needed, and they are passed through the same manipulations that were de- scribed »for the first printing. In due course they are returned to the vault as perfect impressions, having two printings upon_ them. t has been found that in the succes- sive wettings a considerable portion of the sizing originally placed in the paper is removed, and to insure good wearing qualities in the note it is desirable to replace this sizing. To accomplish this the sheets are now passed through a bath of paper sizing at a temperature of 135 degrees, by which they become thor- oughly saturated with the size. Then they’ are locked up over night in special- ly prepared iron safes, where the size is fully absorbed into the fiber of the paper, and the next morning they are placed in the drying room and thoroughly dried. They are next placed, four sheets back to back, between the smooth press boards and subjected to a pressure of 5000 pounds to the square inch. Numbering Notes and Bonds. Then they are delivered to the numbfi ing division, where the edges of tl sheets are trimmed and they receivs the blue numbers at the lower left-hand and upper right-hand corners. This number- ing is executed on special numbering ma- chines designed by employes of the bu- reau. The machines change the n o automatically. This bureau was the first establishment to effect this result, as well as to adapt steam power to the operation of such machines. Prior to that all num- bering machines were operated by foot treadle. The greatest care must be exer- cised in the numbering of these notes to prevent duplication or other error, as such errors migh lead to uncertainty as to the genuineness of the notes in the hands of the people. To avoid this, in addition to the care exercised by the numberer, there is a special corps of ex- aminers of numbered work, who carefully examine each number to determine Iits correctness. After this examination the impressions are made up into packages of 1000 sheets and delivered to the Treasurer of the United States, where the blue seal is fm- printed upon them. The sheets are then cut up into single notes and put into packages of 100 sheets each, and In due course of time they are issued by the Treasurer and the Assistant Treasurer in fulfiliment of the liabilities of the Go or green printing on the backs. The per- felct. iimipres}?lans xlesumng lhe;ef‘rcm are placed in the vault to awalt their use in ".“:}Zé‘.fiieé‘i?, the §§2f‘“ms;‘$?n§“:h$ et making the second or face printing. The Sesigner, which is gubmitted for the criti- |, e o e o B e cism of the officers who Tui}:icussoeddelfl}: Thaetx; these stamps are forwarded through the ter in the first place. R o 1L, | remaining processes toward completion. modified in accordance with their critl-| First, two sheets are placed back to back, ernment. The stamps and gotes are now in the hands of the people. What vicissitudes they pass through we cannot tell, but much can be imagined. ANSWERS TO QUERIES AUCTION SALES. were rich, somé were poor, some were learned and | some were ignorant, some lived temperate lives and some were intemperate. In one case a man was found whose birth record showed him to have lived 112 | years, who was reported to have been an habitual | cussed by the officials having charge of | positive of the capacity of Government for business. the several branches of the service in- It is continually proposed to put savings banks and | telegraphs into the postal system. But Mr. Henry D. | Castle, auditor of the Postoffice Department, is not | an enthusiast for any of these plans. He says that the e—Monday, May 20, at 11 o'clock, 60 head street S | postal savings bank and telegraph propositions are full | drunkard. Another attributed his 128 years to the 5..-15lms, arfmnx‘s finally :;gpr(‘l)\;leg &yt;r;e:g; ge&iweelfi smooth press-boards, and, in a : 5 : 2 ; e Treasury. s ) > T 10 SUBSCRIBERS LEAYING TOWN FOR THE SUMMER. | ' pitfalls, and after an elaborate statement of the | practice of taking an occasional dose of gunpowder. | Teten Dastances of thia kind s the new B e Mt hah p}:coe:’ff}“gI.L::e_fi;)(""shg‘l‘yés‘;;’:":,‘;“fi | a; : > H im- 2 Jife 1 . | silver certificates, of which the ones, 08 | which reproduces the smooth, glossy sur- | difficulties of Government accounting and the im- | A woman of 124 says her long life is due to her habit |Silver certificates, ot 0 ed, and which are | face of the paper that was lost in wetting | °1d colns pay & premium for. ©Osll subscribers contemplating a change of residence during the summer months can have their paper forwarded by mail to their mew addresses by notifying The Call Business Office. This paper will also be on sale at all summer | Fesorts and is represented by a local agent im | il towsns on the coast. T ment differing widely from the rest of the con- tinent. California has natural features not found elsewhere even on this coast. This State is nearest in its climate and unchangeable conditions | to area that was made memorable by the rise and confederation of the Greek tribes. That old land was more Asiatic than European, and it produced a peo- ple vill influence the intellect of the world to the end THE COMING GREEK. HE President stands here in a physical environ- Here in ost identical conditions we behold a European race transplanted in Asiatic soil. ‘ It is a great physical truth that men are a crop produced by the soil from which they grow. They are as much a field crop as the fruit and grain which ! share with us as tenants of the soil. The crop of men grown in California by analogy of conditions be the Greeks of the future. Their environment is already tending to that type. The special flavor here of art and literature, the in- tellectual precocity of the people, their spirit of ad- venture enterprise, are all markedly Greek. | The President touches the hand of men in Califor- nia who are of the type of Demosthenes, of archi- tects that are worthy of the Corinthian age, of artists that are brothers to Praxiteles, writers that mentally fellowship Xenophon, and satirists and dramatists that are as keen as Aristophanes. This Attic air and scenery form and fashion the minds of the men and women of California, and our vices and our virtues are Gregian. We may banish Aristides, but our con- ditions produce him. The noblest crop is to be cut down, but it must first grow. In our vices, our too apparent jealousies and exhi- bition of competitive tempers, too, are exactly Greek. We can no more help these things than we can help the fine tint of our skies and the fruitfulness of our Under them is a fine foundation of manliness and generosity. Indeed it is questionable whether perfection in anything is appreciated without a foil as its back- So let our manifest envies and occasional collisions of view be taken as the rugged, rocklike collective character, on which grow he g st and the fairest. It will be evident to our visitors that we do not yet understand ourselves. It is certain that the Greeks did not, or they would not have banished Aristides nor poisoned Socrates, nor forced so many of their best minds and men into exile and not a few of them into treason. But seen in perspective, as to-day’s California will some time be, the Attic commonwealth is the finest spectacle that the race has furnished since it emerged into seli-consciousness What we are, we have to be. will ground. formation of our flow Every drop of water has to follow the stream, and not, one can turn against the current, nor make landing to explore the valley through which it flows. The whole of Californian life must move forward to jts united destiny, and when its mission is accom- plished there will be dedicated to the best uses of the future the very excellent in art, literature, science and character. Draper and the evolutionists have demonstrated that all life is ruled by the unchangeable physical en- vironment, and that even the religious idea is as much a matter of climate in its origin as is the grass that grows underfoot. o e—————— Already the Eastern States are complaining of what they call shirt waist weather and are figuring up the amount of the ice supply. | the telegraph service. | upon the actual users of the telegraph it will be'seen | that the rates must have been so much larger as to possibility of checking losses says: “The obvious conclusion of the whole matter is that the postal sys- tem, being a purely commercial or financial enterprise under Government auspices, is an abnormal function, requiring special treatment and embodying peculiar risks. The branches already in operation present enough complications, defects and possibilities of per- version to warrant the strenuous efforts of the high- est wisdom for their immediate improvement. Until its defects are remedied, and until progress on the | present basis can be more accurately forecast, the statesman, the publicist and plain citizen may very judiciously withhold countenance from plausible inno- vations.” Since that was published by Mr. Castle last month Mr. Henniker Heaton, in the English House of Com- mons, has called attention to the annual loss of £700,- 000 in the English postal telegraph administration, amounting to nearly $50,000,000 in the last twenty- nine years. American advocates of Government ownership { point to the rates paid for telegrams in. Eng- | Jand by those who use the wires. But it is plain that those rates do not 1~present the cost to the pzo- | ple, who as taxpayers have contributed $50,000,000 to Had that vast sum been put deprive American advocates of public administration | of business plants of their best argument. —————— OFFSETS TO EXPORTS. ADABAHAI NAOROJI, an East Indian D financier, recently addressed to the Treasury Bureau of Statistics the question, “What has caused so much produce, merchandise and specie of the United States to go out of the country without the ordinary corresponding return?” The reply given by the chief of the burcau, which has just been made public, reviews facts which are in a general way familiar to all Americans who have given any study to commercial topics, but is interesting because of the detailed estimates officially wade of the various off- sets to the balance of trade in our*favor. “Until very recently,” says the chief of the bureau, “the main factors in offsetting American trade bal- | ances have been the payment of interest on American | securities held abroad; the payment of earnings of foreign capital invested in business enterprises in the United States; the payment of foreign freights car- ried in foreign vessels, especially freights on goods | imported into the United~States; and the expendi- | tures of Americans traveling abroad. Within the last two or three years, however, three further factors have apparently been added—the cancellation of American indebtedness abroad, including a return to | the United States of the railroad and other securities thus held; the sale of foreign securities in the United States, such as.the German, British and Russian se- curities which were placed upon the markets here dur- ing the last year, and in most cases quickly taken to the amount of probably $100,000,000 in the year; and | the credits ‘which now stand abroad in favor of our exporters, and which are permitted to so stand be- cause better interest rates could thus be realized than | by insisting upon their immediate payment.” In considering the comparative values of the various factors the chief estimates the amount paid to foreign vessels as freights on imports at about $50,000,000; in- terest on and earnings of foreign capital, $75,000,000" to $100,000,000; money expended abroad by Ameri- | cans, $75,000,000 to $100,000,000; American funds in- | vested in foreign securities in 1900, about $100,000,000; and credits permitted to stand abroad in 1899 and 1900, " each $75,000,000 to $100,000,000; to which must be | added the amount of our foreign indebtedness actually + canceled by the return of securities for which no defi- nite estimate has been made. . It will be noted that these factors are with one ex- | ception rapidly diminishing. The travel of rich Ameri- cans to Europe will continue, and there:is of drinking large quantities of strong coffee. Finally, a man enjoying life at 114 says he rarely eats anything but fruit, principally melons, and continually chews lemon peel. In such a mass of contradictions there is no sure guide to a system of long life. Perhaps the best way, to attain more than 100-years is not to worry about it or about anything else. o A LOST OPPORTUNITY. HEN the speculators in Wall street found Wth:mselves caught in that famous lead pipe cinch that carried’ Northern Pacific stock out of reach of any one worth less than the Standard Oil Company or the steel trust one speculator who had contracted to deliver the stock applied to Judge Gildersleeve for an-injunction restraining those who are supposed to have arranged the corner from. en- forcing the contracts. The injunction was granted, but it appears it is not to be pressed as the parties have found means of settling the controversy out of court. It is to be regretted that the case has been dis- missed, for the trial would have been an interesting one and might have established a principle of law that would to some extent restrain the more unscrupulous activities of the street. The grounds upon which the application was made were stated by the counsel for the plaintiff as follows: “The proceedings were based on the theory that at the time the plaintiff sold Northern Pacific short fo defendants the latter knew that they had a corner on the market and that they held all the available stock, so that it would be impos- sible for the pla'wtifi to deliver to them any such stock, inasmuch as all the stock outstanding and available was already in the defendants’ possession. Our theory was that such a contract was one which the law would not countenance, and which not only could not be enforced, but would be enjoined by the courts.” It will be perceived the point raised is one of con- siderable force. All reports from New York agree that the men who manipulated the Northern Pacific deal virtually controlled the available stock. In'fact, before the cinch took place Russell Sage had pointed out that the Standard Oil magnates and others of their class can hardly be said to be speculators in the street, since they have control of sufficient money to buy anything they wish and hold it at as high a point as they please. Of course no great amount of sympathy is to be wasted on the speculators who enter Wall street to play the game. It is nothing more than gambling _pure and simple with most of them. They enter into contracts to deliver something they do not possess. They are free agents and they expect to make a profit. Consequently when they lose they have only themselves to blame. When all that is conceded there remains the public interest to be considered. It has been found necessary to protect the public against lottery games and gold brick swindlers, and it now seems about time to do something to regulate the tactics employed in Wall street so as to give a specu- lator a chance for his money. The injunction granted by Judge Gildersleeve would have made the basis of a famous test case had it been pressed, and it is to be regretted such an opportunity of learning what the law has to say on the subject has been lost. " Wall street men insist that the big slump in stocks recently was not a panic, but a “twitter”; and now further alarm. No one appears to have been hurt much by the recent slump in Wall street, but if the panic had spread all over the country it might have profited Bryan a good deal. ' * 3 4 1f Aguinaldo does not follow Bryan’ start a Commoner he will very soon be as obscure as | A not-lkelg fTom: Reedioy oy diis L fiih s Spdm e i i that we know what it was ‘there is no octasion for’| s example and | moved familiar to the general public. The tens | are now in the hands of the engravers ana will be in circulation about July 1 next. The new issue of postage stamps, which will be known as the “‘commemora- tive series of 1901," commemorative of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, is another recent instance. The designs of these stamps are: _One-cent, fast lake navigation; 2-cent, fast express; 3-cent, canal locks at Sault Ste. Marie; 5-cent, bridge at Niagara Falls; 4-cent, automo- bile; 10-cent, fast ocean navigation. It is believed that these designs will be conceded to be the handsomest issue of postage stamps ever made by the United States, or, in fact, by any government. Preparing the Steel Plate. The approved design is placed in the hands of the engravers for the execution of their respective lines of work—that is, vignettes, titles and ornamental work. When the engravers have finished thelr work it is assembled upon a flat piece of htly larger than the note or , sl steel, s] ol s stamp when seen in circulation, transfer process. A of reproducing en- This is_a method graving devised many years ago by Jacob erican, who may Perkins, an inventive Am be considered the father of the present method of duplicating bank notes. The steel of the original engraving is har- dened artificially by the potassium pro- cess, and is placed on the bed of a press known as a transfer press, and a cylinder of steel made artificially soft is passe over the original engraving under great pressure, secured by the levers of this press, until all of the sunken lines of the engraving are reproduced in relief on the cireumference of the roll. This roll is then made artificially hard, and by the samge process the engraving in relief on the roll is transferred to a soft piece of flat steel, thus reproducing the original engraving. In assembling the work of the engravers to make the new note or stamp the'rolls from_the original engravings are used to reproduce upon the soft steel the original work of the engraver, and when that is completed we have an actual re- production of the design of the note or stamp_on this piece of metal, which is termed a die. is dle, after all of its lines are joined and finally perfected by an engraver, is hardened and a roll is taken from it by the above described pro- cess, and upon this roll there is a repro- duction of the entire note or stamp in elief. Custody of the Plates. The plates, being finished and ready for printing, are, together with all the dies and rolls made by the bureau, placed in charge of an officer especially appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, known as the custodian of dies, rolls and plates. They are held by this officer in burglar and fireproof vaults and are issued only upon'the Secretary of the Treasury’s mak- ing an order to print a certain definite numhber of ' impressions from them. A copy of this order is promptly furnished the custodian. I "The paper upon which the impressions are printed is distinctive and is made oniy for the United Statss Government. The distinctive feature of the note paper, kiown as fiber paper, is double lines o distributed sitk fiber on the back of the notes about two inches from each end. This fiber can be easily seen. The dis- tinctive features of the paper for internal revenue and postage stamps is a water mark in the gaper of theletters “U. 8. I R.” for the first class and “U. 8. P. 8. for the second class. This paper is man- ufactured upon the grder of the Secretary of the Treasury and is held in the custody of the chief of the division of loans and currency of his office. It can only be ob- tained by the bureau uéwn a_requisition setting forth the class, denomination and value of the security to be printed there- on, and is charged to the bureau at the full face value which can be so printed. Every particle of this paper must be ac- ntedfor or the face value charged sgainst the bureau must be paid in money. b Preparing for the Printing. The finished plates now being in the possession of the custodian of dies, rolls and plates and the paper in the custody of the secretary's office. when the neces- sary orders are issued proper requisitions twt\mll l;\lm?’éf f\?{n’hfi:«tfis ail{e\;l ftfll"l;e by the isit] S! L. s n pre- m}:&’ m:h'e ‘wetting division for print- 3 sections of from evg;lrwant & ce ?:;o!m the weight: 0 & 0 W £ are taken off and the er is ‘“‘shifted”— that is, each section is divided into three equal portions. an e inner or dry sides are reversed and m as te place them ed uisition is of and printing. They are then sent to the gumming room, where gum is placed upon Fham by machines espablally adapted for that purpose. These machines are the most improved gumming machines in the world and were devised by employes of the bureau. The gum is contained m a fountain very much like the ink fountain of a Hoe press, in which is revolved a glass roller. In revblving in the gum the glass roller takes upon its surface a cer- tain quantity of gum, and when the sheet is fed/under it this gum is transferred to the surface of the sheet. The sheet is then taken by grippers on an endless chain and carried through a heated box at a temperature of 125 degrees, and in one minute it is delivéred at the other end of the box perfectly dry. From the gumming room the sheets go to the perforating room, where the large sheets of 400 stamps, as originally printed, are cut up into four sheets of 100 stamps and the holes between the stamps are per- forated. This is accomplished on two sets of machines, one cutting the sheet length- wise into two parts and at the same time making the perforations and the other cutting crosswise the two sheets thus made and at the same time making the perforations. Finishing the Stamps. After the cutting and perforating they are pressed by placing the sheets between mill boards and passing them under a rotary press or calendaring machine, sim- flar to those used in paper mills, and then they are carefully examined on the back and face, and ail sheets containing im- perfections in the gum or in the perfora- tions are rejected. This is an important matter, as stamp collectors are very crit- jcal and exacting that all stamps shall be properly ‘‘centered,” as they say—that is, that the margin of white paper sur- rounding the stamps shall be equal on all sides. The sheets are then passed to the counters, and here the utmost care is exercised to secure accuracy of count. The sheets are first counted i one coun- ter and her count is verified by another. They are then banded and sealed, the date and the initials of the counter be- ing placed upon the seal, so that In the A COUNT IN CRIBBAGE—S. M. B, Tiburon, Cal. Three sevens, one elght In hand and a nine turned up count in crib- bage twenty-one. B'S claim of thirty is untenable, for the reason that the highest count in that game is twenty-nine. ST. PETER IN ROME—J. H. City. As to when St. Peter was in Rome is a moot- ed question. As you ask what books or authority there are on that subject, this department suggests that you comsult Smith’'s Comprehensive Dictionary of the Bible, or the dible Encyciopedia by Fau- sett, under “Peter,” and there you will find a synopsis of all that has been found in history relative to the time that the ‘Apostie Peter was in Rome. —_—————————— Choice candies, Townsend's, Palace Hotal* —_— ————— Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend’s.* ey i S Townsend’s California glace fruits, 50c a ound, in_fire-etched boxes or J: bas- O d"s39 Market, Palace Hotel bullding.s e e Special information supplied dally te business houses and public men b& the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042 * A — During the last ten years there wers 10,924 requests for citizenship in Swif jand, of which 7833 were Srincea. e Shake Into Your Shoes Allen’sFoot-Ease,a powder. It makes tightor new shoes feel easy. Cures Corns, Bunions, Swollen, Tired, Sweating, Aching feet. 10,000 testimonials. At all druggists and shoestores, 25c. Ask e Sample free. AddressAllenS.Olmsted, LeRoy,N. ¥.. Many petty trade-mark pirates trade on repu- tion of Dr. Slegert's Angostura Bitters, un- equaled South American tonic. Refuse imitation. —_—— ‘When the hair is thin and gruy Parker's Hale Balsam renews the growth and color Hindercorns, the best cure for corns. 15 eta THE SUNDAY CALL wMAY THE PASSING OF THE “DRIMATE HARRIS” COLONY. THE LATEST FADS IN BATHING SVITS. A THOUSAND NINETEENTH..... THE HILLSIDE HOMES OF BERKELEY. -MILE BRIDAL TOUR IN AN ODEN BOAT. Onc of the Most Unique and Adventurcsome Honcymoons Ever Spent. RULE THE MORMON CHURCH? 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