Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-04-07

lngtOn covers tnfee acres. ~Dullt OF
granite, after a 'Grecian model, its
pediments, shaped upon the spot,
and its pillars monoiths, its length
and breadth in proportion to its
height, and it's ornaments and fit
tings, fountains and gardens, APP
proaches and esplanades, cores
ponding to each other and to the
whole-it is, perhaps, more nearly
perfect than any other public editice
in America. |
Within its walls are the Offices of
two cabinet ministers and eleven
heads of bureaus. There are chiefs
of divisions, controllers and their
subordinates, auditors of claims
and accounts, printers Of the cur
rency, women who copy, and men
who revise, mechanics and laborers,
messengers and watchmen, opera
tives and their superintendent,
cunning artifcers who engrave and
deft experts who examine -inclu-
ding, all told, fully three thousand
souls. OF the complex working Of
this vast living machine, of its
wheels within wheels, of che grades
ofofice, payments for services, and
specialities of divisions, l do not
propose to write. l wish simply to
describe one burcau-that OF the
United States Treasurer, the depos-
itary aud guardian of the peoples
money. This Office, the Treasury
proper, occupies the place of honor
in the building, the principal en-
trance in the new magnificent north
front leading directly to it. Enter
ing, the visitors eye is attracted by
an inscription, "The United States
Treasury" This is over the door
of the cash room, one of the finest
business rooms in America. A gal
lery opening from a corridor in the
second story-for the cash room
comprises two stories in height
affords the visitor view of the in
terror. 1t is seventy feet long by
thirty broad. The floor is Of mar
BILE; marble columns with exquisite
ly wrought capitals and bases sus-
tain the ceiling, and panels of the
| same set in frames ola different hue
form the sides. The walls alone
cost sixty-five thousand dollars, and
the bronze railing of beautiful de-
sign, enclosing the GALLERY, cost
twenty thousand.
Descending, and passing through
the cash room to a corridor near by,
one sees huge iron panels, which
seem to form. part of the walls.
They extend from floor to ceiling,
| and bear heavy mouldings. In the
centre of each is the national shield
and the letters U. S. These panels
form one side Of the great vault
"Uncle Sans strong box. | had
imagined the government treasure
hidden away in some remote under
ground cell, as if it were the hoard
Of a miser; but the money vault
opens from frequented corridor,
receiving abundant daylight from
one of its broad windows. The as
sistant treasurer, kind and obliging
as he is efficient and faithful, bids
us enter. 1t is a room about twelve
feet square, with little in appear
ance to indicate its character or
purpose No imposing display OF
strength impresses the visitor. The
barriers of iron and depths of gran.
ite which stand between millions OF
treasure and the midnight torch or
burglars implements, are concealed
behind light wooden cases, such as
might belong to houskeeper's lin
empress. The echo of his footstcr
on an iron floor, and the ponderous
door with its huge lock so fearfully
and wonderfully made, are all that
remind him that he is within the
fortress of q nations wealth.
The doors Of the cases opening
one sees canvas bags thrown care.
lessly in heaps. They contain one
hundred million dollars in gold
Here are two hundred thousand dol
lars which were taken from Jeffer
son Davis at the time of his capture
The total value Of money now in
the vault is four hundred millions
Huge packages of greenbacks, frssl
from the engravers' hands, cut and
signed, are stored away ready fol
circulation, and box upon box filled
with fractional currency load tht
shelves. iaF
Near the money vault is another
similar in appearance and surround
ings. Its walls are lined with pig
eon-holes. These are filed with
envelopes containing bonds SEN
by national banks as security fol
their circulation. The largest de
posite is that of the bank of Com
merce, New York-seven and /.
half millions, the annual interes
, upon which amounts to over fou
: hundred thousand dollars. Sixteel
hundred and ninety-five banks ar,
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