An account is kept of all the
"overs," "shorts," etc., of each person, and on pay day the clerk who
has a preponderance against him will find in the envelope enclosing his
month's salary the superintendent's certificate of the balance "short,"
and any counterfeit or stolen notes found in his straps, reckoned as so
much legal tender. This system is rigidly enforced not only in the
agency, but throughout the department. It seems hard that the penalty of
accident or inexperience should be so summary; but no other means has
yet been devised to secure the Treasury from loss. And after all, the
rule is the same as that enforced in some manner in the outside world of
business, where every one must trust to his own knowledge and skill for
security against loss.

The first assorter having satisfied himself that his money is correct in
amount and passible in character, next proceeds to assort the notes. He
rises from his stool, swings his table out of the way, folds back the
cover of his till, takes up a package and deposits the notes one by one
in the box whose number corresponds to that of the group to which they
severally belong. We will say that long practice has made him familiar
not only with the scheme of the assortment, so that he need not refer to
the printed lists, but also with the face of the notes of every bank in
the country, and that the briefest glance is all that he requires to
recognize a note and determine where it belongs. The rapidity of some of
these assorters is remarkable, being limited only by the rate at which
it is possible to move the hand over the rather large area of a till.
Much, however, depends on the natural aptitudes of the person. Many who
have had no previous experience in handling money never become expert.
They are tried for six months or a year, and then dismissed as
incompetent. Even those by nature well qualified may hope to attain
moderate rapidity only after months of persevering effort.

The manipulations of the beginner often cause much merriment among the
older employees. He has too many fingers, or too few, to fix a secure
grasp upon the "bills." He seizes a note with one or both hands, and
stretching it before him proceeds to read over the face. Then he
resolves himself into a committee of the whole on the state of his till,
to consider where the note is to be put. He refers from the note to the
printed schedule before him, and from the schedule to the note again,
hunts from one s