y experience of the consequences of carelessness. Such notes when
discovered to have been redeemed become the property, in exchange for a
like amount in greenbacks, of the person last concerned in their
redemption.

It has been seen that the greater portion of the currency received is
fit for circulation. Out of an aggregate of $176,121,855, assorted
during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876, $97,478,700 was of this
description, and was returned to the banks for reissue. Originally it
was the expectation that none but worn and mutilated notes would be
offered for redemption, and for a long while all redeemed currency, in
whatever condition, was destroyed, and new issued instead. But the
proportion of sound notes became at length so great that the new plan
was adopted as an evident measure of economy, and now no piece of paper
money is withdrawn from circulation until worn out, unless at the desire
of the bank. Many financial institutions within easy reach of the
capital make a custom of forwarding for redemption all their receipts of
currency for the day, getting in return new notes just from the
printers. This method is pursued as an accommodation to the business
public, who prefer clean and crisp notes; and while a day's deposits of
any large bank must include much currency perhaps just out of the
Treasury, the whole bulk is often shipped off to avoid the labor of
assorting. Besides, remittances for redeemed notes of national banks
being made, if desired, in greenbacks, the agency furnishes a convenient
means to city banks for keeping up their legal tender reserves. Under
the effect of heavy redemptions the condition of the currency of the
country is constantly improving, and the proportion of "fit" notes
received at the agency is gradually increasing.

The next process which the redeemed currency undergoes is that of
assorting, and is carried on in a large room extending through about
one-fourth of the length of the building. Along the walls, on both sides
of an aisle, are arranged three rows of assorters' tills, by means of
which the labor is carried on. These tills are rectangular in shape, and
are divided into fifty-two compartments or "boxes," in four rows of
thirteen each. These boxes are four inches in depth, and a little larger
in length and width than the surface of a note. The tills are mounted at
an inclined angle upon stands, very much like a printer's case. At one
end, attached by a hinged support, is