Washington, its sights and insights [1909]Monroe, Harriet Earhart
History
Washington, its sights and insights [1909]
Monroe, Harriet Earhart
Washington (D.C.) -- Description and travel
The banks of large cities send in their soiled money weekly or monthly
and receive fresh notes in exchange, the government paying
transportation both ways. This soiled money is made into pulp, which is
sold to paper-makers at about $40 a ton.
It is only the old money that is counterfeited. Counterfeiters rumple
and muss their money to give it the appearance of being long in use.
Women are especially skilled in detecting counterfeit money. If among
the returned coins or notes one single piece proves to be counterfeit,
the amount is deducted from the salary of the examiner. Yet this great
government pays these women less than two-thirds what it would pay to
men for the same service, if men could do it at all.
From the government of the United States it would seem that the world
had a right to expect that ideal justice which each soul shall receive
when it stands in the presence of Eternal Justice.
The United States Treasury has charge of the Bureau of Printing and
Engraving, where all the paper money, postage, revenue stamps, and bonds
are made.
Bills, when sent from the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, require the
signatures of officials of the bank from which they are to be issued
before becoming legal tender.
Secretary Shaw has at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving his personal
representative, who locks up the plates, sees to the minutiæ of things,
so that even the smallest scrap of paper bearing government printing
must be shown, or the house is closed and search made till it is found.
The custom officers who insult and browbeat you at the port are of this
department. Once on arriving at New York, after being very ill all the
way from Antwerp, I had declared I had nothing dutiable, yet in spite of
that every article in my trunk was laid out on the dirty floor of the
custom-house. When I saw the bottom of the trunk, I said: "Well, you
have only proved what I told you. I believe you think because I am
trembling from weakness that I am frightened?" "Yes, that is about the
size of it; there is your trunk, you may put the things back." "No," I
said, "my baggage is checked through, and I am not able to pack it." I
saw with some satisfaction the custom-house officer do the packing. It
had required my best efforts to get the stuff into the trunk, but he did
it.
This country has very silly custom-house rules on personal clothing and
small articles of art and vertu, and the average artistic standard of
dress and home ornamentation of the country is lowered by these
ridiculous embargoes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account