Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-10-10

EGW NtSAtoES 70 A0Nt0G FhhG 01Nks OF
pass beyond Its interior portals. Yet the
Bank contains . mine OF wondrous in-
formation, and its vast stores Of money
make Impecunious fingers tingle. Here
are machines weighing with the nicely
Of f1aIr; machines that automatically
separate the good coins from those OF
short weight; printing machines OF ex-
quisite finish, Tor making the notes:
electro-plates, from which the notes are
printed, and curious mechanIsms for
constructing the clothes by which the
very effective water mark Is put IN the
Bank note paper, which is the main re-
lance in preventing counterfeiting and
forgery. You are shown great stores Of
gold and notes. and for once are made
rich by being permitted TO hold in your
hand, at one time, 5000, 900 though
the vanity of earthly riches is at the
same time taught by the celebrity with
which all these millions slip through
your fingers--and back into the vault.
You are shown great rooms full of mon
ey. with gold perfect drug-piIed up
ia ingois. hauled around on trucks, cart
ed about in kegs. and shovelled from
one place to another, like somuch coal.
My eyes were allowed to look upon an
accumulation Of $50, ,O0O, 900 Of gold
coin aud bullion, but I could not carry
any pf 4 OF vas offered J sack :.
e0UId IiIt it, 0UI j BtElaed fstene ~
the floor. Picking up little twenty
pound ingot, was told 20 beware lest
il fall, and an attendant who was limp
ing about in . slipper said that one oi
them, of value equal to his next years
salary, had, the day before, almost
mashed his toe. There were cart loads
of silver in bricks, most Of it; like the
gold coming from America, but there
was not in all this great store q single
Bland doller-a famous coin at home,
but which does not flourish in London
as yet.
The Bank does all its own note print
ing, and also all the asserting of light
weight coins. 1t is the great corrector
Of the British coinage, returning to the
mint for the melting pot all the light
weight, defective and deIaeed coins
that come into il. BY this means II
keeps the coinage up to the standard,
As only the good ones are allowed to GO
into circulation again. The loss on the
silver coinage the Government bears,
but the depositors have to bear the loss
on the gold coinage. Every coin. that
comes in on deposit or Otherwise is
weighed, and the light ones are imme-
diately cut almost in two, by an inge-
nious little machine that works with
great CELEBRITY. For every short-weight
sovereign the depositor is charged a
uniform discount Of eight cents. which
covers the average loss from this cause.
For gold bullion and foreign gold coins.
the Bank pays up weight, at the rate
Off shilIlngs and Spence per ounce OF
gold.
The Bank transaets all the Govern
ment business in connection with the
Government debt, and, so far as tbs
department is concerned. il acts simi-
larly to the Treasury at Washington
in paying interest and making trans
fers. The debt is all registered stock,
however, and separate accounts are
kept with every holder. There are
about 250, 900 Of these debt accounts,
some being in very large amounts. !
was shown . signature Of Glyn B Co.,
where they had Just received interest
on nearly 50, 10O, 900 Of one class ol
the debt. The business Of the Bank is
divided into three great departments
the Government Debt, the Issue bank
notes), and the Private Deposits. Each
Of these is separately conducted; and
the deposits aggregate about $50, 600, :
900. told some Of the Bank officials
that this sum possibly was not all the
deposits, as several Of ny connGsymen,
in Camden and elsewhere were an
quiring about 80 or $50 millions on de-
p0sit in the Bank for the Jennings es-
tate, but they did not seem to be aware
OF any such deposits, but they were
very ssre that the total actual deposits
footed up what have named.
There are among the great curiosi-
ties Of the Bank, IFS method Of tracing
the history Of every note il has issued,
done with great labor my means Of in
genicus indexes. The smallest note is
for Eve pounds and the largest for one
thousand pounds. In their collection
Of redeemed notes. al Of which are
kept, is redeemed note that had gone
through the Chicago ire- This note