pe;
but there were at least a hundred cubic feet of space above each of the
iron safes, absolutely going to waste. The genius of the officials and
the skill of the departmental cabinet makers triumphed over the
difficulties of the situation. As for the inconvenient height, is it not
annihilated by a ladder?

By act of Congress, the Treasurer of the United States is constituted
the agent of the national banks for the redemption of their notes. The
agency, since July 1, 1875, is one of the divisions in his office.
Regular provision is made by Congress in the appropriation bills for the
salaries of the force of this division. Careful accounts are kept of
every item of expense incurred during the year, and at the end of the
twelvemonth the sum disbursed is apportioned among the banks according
to the number of the notes of each that have been handled, and
assessments are made for the several amounts. The circulation of
national banks being redeemable in greenbacks, each bank is required by
law to keep on deposit with the Treasurer legal tenders to the amount of
five per cent. of its outstanding issue as a fund for the redemption of
its notes.

The present law provides for ninety-eight clerks in the agency, ranging
in grade from the messenger to the superintendent. Of this number, those
employed in handling money are divided into two forces, under the
direction, respectively, of the receiving teller and the assorting
teller. The business of the former force is to receive the shipments
coming from the various banks and sub-treasuries for redemption, count
the money, and report the amounts for return remittances; that of the
latter force is to assort the notes and prepare them for delivery to the
Comptroller of the Currency for destruction or to the banks for reissue.
This double process may seem at first sight very simple and easy; but in
fact it is extremely complex and difficult; and the division in which it
is carried on may fairly be counted among the most thoroughly organized
and systematically conducted parts of all the machinery devised by the
Government for the transaction of the manifold public business. And no
wonder, when it is recollected that there are now in circulation nine
denominations of national bank notes, the issue of twenty-three hundred
and forty individual institutions, amounting in the aggregate to three
hundred and twenty millions of dollars; and that every one of these
notes, and every dollar of t