Great Cities of the United States: Historical, Descriptive, Commercial, IndustrialSouthworth, Gertrude Van Duyn
History
Great Cities of the United States: Historical, Descriptive, Commercial, Industrial
Southworth, Gertrude Van Duyn
Cities and towns -- United States; United States -- Description and travel
This simple, stately building is a fitting home for the head of a great
republic. In the main building are the living apartments of the president
and his family, and the great rooms used for state receptions; the
largest and handsomest of these is the famous East Room. Other rooms used
on public occasions are known, from the color of the furnishings and
hangings, as the Blue Room, the Green Room, and the Red Room. There is
also the great State Dining Room, where the president entertains at
dinner the important government officials and foreign representatives.
In the Annex, adjoining the White House on the west, are the offices of
the president and those who assist him in his work. In this part of the
building is the cabinet room, where the president meets the heads of the
various departments to consult with them concerning questions of national
importance.
Across the street from the president's office is the immense granite
building occupied by the three departments of State, War, and Navy. The
secretaries in charge of these departments have their offices here,
together with a small army of clerks.
[Illustration: THE UNITED STATES TREASURY]
On the opposite side of the White House from the State, War, and Navy
Building is the National Treasury. The Treasury Building is one of the
finest in the city. To see the splendid colonnade on the east is alone
worth a journey to Washington. From this building all the money affairs
of the United States government are directed.
In the Treasury Building and in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing one
may see the entire process of manufacturing and issuing paper money. In
the Treasury we see new bills exchanged for old, worn-out bills, which
are ground to pieces to destroy forever their value as money.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING, "UNCLE SAM'S MONEY
FACTORY"]
But to understand the story of a dollar bill or a bill of any other value
we must visit the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This building, which
is some distance from the Treasury Building, reminds us of a large
printing office, and that is just what it is. Here we are shown from room
to room where many men and women are at work, some engraving the plates
from which bills are to be printed and others printing the bills. The
paper used is manufactured by a secret process for United States money,
and every sheet is most carefully counted at every stage of the printing.
Altogether the sheets are counted fifty-two times. Many clerks are
employed to keep a careful account of these sheets, and it is almost
impossible for a single bill or a single piece of paper to be lost or
stolen. After the money is printed it is put into bundles, sealed, and
sent in a closely guarded steel wagon to the Treasury Building, where it
is stored in great vaults until it is issued.
[Illustration: A CIRCLE AND ITS RADIATING AVENUES]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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