Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-10-26
THE ASSISTANT TREASURY.

/ United states Is the United States AsSls
tant Treasury at New York Though it is
only an assistant treasury, and the Treas
ury proper is at Washington, yet the trans
actions of the former are SO vastly greater
in volume than those of the latter that the
chief work of the Washington office is keep
ing record Of the business done by its New
York branch. Niaeteen-twentieths of the
the public creditors are paid here nearly
all the public loans are disposed Of here
by far the greater part of the revenue from
customs and taxes is received here and
and here is paid, on the days fixed by law
the interest on 100000, 900 of United
States securities A business of from $3,
100000 to 100000 900 daily done here
done quickly, quietly, and without errors
or disputes No institution in the city is
better worth inspection than the Sub-Treas-
ury !; and be it said, in simple justice, no
man is more willing to have it inspected
than NJ VAN DYcK, the ub-Treasurer
The vaults are a sight which can not be
witnessed elswhere in this country. There
are two of them; but one is comparatively
empty as it only holds some 100000 900.
The other contains over sixty millions of
dollars, one half in coin, the other half in
paper How many readers have ever seen
a million dollars i'll paper or in gold We
remember one of the oldest Of our Judges
a man of large experience and profound
wisdom, interrupting party of takers,
who were chatting about millions of gold,
with the naiave questions
How big is a million of gold p? Would
it rest on this table Would it go under
this chair How many men would it take
to carry it What does it look like ?"
His Honor might have gratifed his curl
osity by visit to the SubTreasury. There
thirty millions of gold lie dormant, await
ing the resurrection of specie payments
They are put up in bags containing $4,000
each, and weighing say As pounds. These
bags are piled one upon another in closets,
which line the inner wall of the vault a
hundred bags fill closet. When flied the
| door is closed, locked, and sealed with the
cashiers seal a ticket attached specifies
| that in that dark and narrow hole $780,
600 in gold lie hidden. Fifty or more such
closets may be seen, duly closed, locked,
and sealed But in that vault, whose wealth
| far outshines the widest fables of Oriental
story, bags of gold lie around III every cor
ncr. You kick one as you enter Others
rest on trucks waiting sepulture in the clos
cts. They are 50 plentiful, and so seeming
ly despised by the officials who handle them
! that insensibly the spectator loses his re-
spect for them, and forgets that the posses
sion of a few such bags would realize his
lifelong dream of material prosperity.
These bags are the products OF customs
duties. Every day, between 3 and o'clock,
a little hand-cart, ark-shaped, painted red
covered over, and locked, may be seen
travelling up Wall Street, propelled by two
stout men, aud vending its way from the
Custom-house to the Sub-Treasury. There
are but two men oStensibIv engaged in
pushing the little red cart But a careful
observer may discover two other men, like
wise stout and very watchful who lounge
up the side walk on a parallel line. They
look as if they carried revolvers. In these
days, when the customs duties are heavy,
the little red ark sometimes contains $40
OOO-a prize worth the attention of robbers
But it is never attacked. When it reaches
the Sub-Treasury it is unlocked, and the
bags handed H. Each bag is then count
ed by the Sub-Ireasurers clerks They
count with both hands, and with rapidity
and accuracy truly wonderful. They seem
to possess a sort of instinct, the product of
long experience which enables them to
discover a false coin at a glance. Pieces
which have been split open, the insides fl
ed out, the cavity filled with iridium the
two halves sodered together, and remiled
on the edges are so like genuine coins that
the best judges are often deceived by them
They weigh precisely the same as genuine
coins. They are precisely the right size
They have the ring of pure gold. Their
external surface throughout is gold Yet
these counterfeits are detected at a glance
by the experienced clerks of the Treasury
1t used to be said of Mr. E. H. BIrDsAII, the
present Cashier, that when he was clerk
he could, in emptying a $4,000 bag, at the
first dip of his hands into the glittering
mass, pick out all the spurious coins.
There is a quantity of silver in the Sub
Treasury, in bagsland kegs, but after one
has been handling millions of gold it seems
poor sort of metal. A silver closet holds
$40, 600 there are few dozen of them
full to repletion. Within short time con-
siderable amounts of silver have arrived
here from New Orleans-the product of
duties or of the Confiscation Act Many of
the coins are rusted, and dingy, and it is
shrewdly suspected that during the dark
days of rebel supremacy, these pieces slept
the sleep Of the just in damp underground
holes. One Of the New Orleans banks is
known to have buried its coin when Con
federate shinplasters made their appeara-
ance, and the plan was doubtless adopted
by many private Individuals
Of paper-money the Sub-Treasury in New
York holds some forty millions. OF this
over eighteen millions are in fves, tens,
and twenties, and are piled on shelf in
the vault. AS nrarly as we could calcu-
late by the eye, there is about a cord and
half of this money. 1t might fill two
horse hay-cart. When pay master calls
with draft, the clerks give him trunk
full or bushel basket The notes are mix
ed Observation-Disclosures old and worn,
showing evidence of long service, others
new and crisp. Byand-by, when Govern
ment begins to call in legal tenders, woe
betide the national banks whose issues ac-
cumulate in this vault
The larger notes, $l00's $5OO's and $lOOO's
have the honor of closet room. There is
closet there which contains halfa-dozen
millions. Lying on the top of a mountain
OF these notes was a package which we ex
amined 1t could easily have been put in