Article February 20, 1902 Issue

Paper

How the kind used for Money is Made.

Conrad Murat Strong

New York Evening Post

The manufacture of paper is always of great interest when we consider its importance to our daily needs, but to the average man the paper used by Uncle Sam to express his willingness to pay, outranks all other in value and attractiveness. It is this paper, used variously for money, bonds, checks, internal revenue stamps, etc., that Governor Crane of Massachusetts provides; and whatever may befall the consumption of his other mill products, it may be safely said that the popular demand for this peculiar variety can never be satisfied.

In the eyes of the government, it is the perfection of its manufacture that gives value to what is known as "money paper," and there is, contrary to the general impression, no secret in either the process or formula. Reliance against imitation is placed on the skill required, and on the fact that the machinery essential to production is costly, massive, and not easily capable of concealment. These, with the aids of the well-known silk fibres and the statutory provisions against its unauthorized manufacture and possession, offer the chief protection against counterfeiting; and it is acknowledged by the secret service that the Crane paper itself is a greater safeguard to the treasury than the intricacies of design and engraving.

The making of papers was undertaken by the Cranes at Dalton, Mass., in 1801. One of the mills of this plant is now known as the government mill, and while its operation is entirely in the hands of the Crane Company, it is at all times under the supervision and scrutiny of treasury officials. The representatives of the department on duty there are a superintendent; a register, who is responsible for the accuracy of the count, sheet by sheet; three expert counters, and five watchmen, whose shifts of duty cover both day and night.

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