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37 THE CAPITOL DOME George's wife Nellie Sheldon Jacobs Smillie (1854-1926). Fred himself worked at several private bank note compa- nies before joining the BEP in 1894 as principal engraver. His talent was so highly valued that he was paid $6,000 per year—a figure that the Washington Times noted was a full $1,000 more than the salary of BEP Director Joseph E. Ralph. Smillie's most recognized engraving is the portrait of George Washington on the $1 bill (based on Gilbert Stuart's "Athenæum Portrait" of 1796). 11 Charles Schlecht (1843-1905) immigrated with his family from Germany to the U.S. in 1852, and his apprenticeship at American Banknote began seven years later. He contracted for the BEP before going full-time in 1893, but only stayed until 1900. 12 One reason why Schlecht left the Bureau was his displeasure with G.F.C. Smillie. In a letter dated 1897, Schlecht wrote to fellow engraver George Casilear: I felt justified in thinking that favoritism was shown to Mr. Smillie by the [Bureau] Chief, Mr. [Claude M.] Johnson. I know that this feeling was shared by mostly all of the engravers in the Engraving Division. – Then Smillie bragging with the influence he claimed to have with Mr. Johnson and the intimacy which existed between them; after Smillie and myself were no longer on speaking terms I was at least spared from hearing that. 13 After leaving the BEP, Schlecht engraved independently for a time before returning to American Bank Note. 14 As technology changed over time, private bank note com- panies began to fold and the profession of engraving waned. Today, it is not necessary to have an engraving background to become a BEP engraver. The craft is learned during the decade-long apprenticeship. What is required, however, is a strong arts background. Thomas R. Hipschen, for example, who engraved the Capitol on the $50 back in 1996, had studied art at several universities in Washington, DC before becoming a BEP apprentice at the young age of 18 in 1968. 15 Aspiring apprentices must have artistic talent and focus and be committed to spending their careers as bank note engravers. the CaPitol oN CurreNCy The initial appearance of a portion of the Capitol on U.S. paper currency was one of the first notes ever made by the U.S. Government: the $5 Demand Note, Series 1861 (fig. 12). Until that time, 1600 independent state banks issued their own notes that were subject to inflation, easily coun- terfeited, and generally unreliable. 16 When the Civil War began, the economy faltered and citizens started hoarding coin currency, or specie, since gold and silver were more valuable than inconsistent paper notes. As a stopgap measure to pay for wartime expenses, the US government centralized currency and issued demand notes in 1861. The paper note was a substitute for specie, essentially acting as an IOU. It was promised that a note could be presented at any bank to receive its value in coin upon demand, hence the name "demand note." 17 Since the Treasury was not yet printing currency, the first demand notes were made by the American Bank Note Company in New York City. The $5 note features a full-length engraving of the Statue of Freedom, as well as BEP HISTORICAL RESOURCE CENTER Fig. 11. Engraver G.F.C. Smillie (c. 1905) as photgraphed by Louis S. Schofield NATIONAL NUMISMATIC COLLECTION, NMAH, SI Fig. 12. $5 Demand Note, Series 1861, face