The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-04-21
HANDL1se MILLIONS IN A DAY.
Scenes at the Custom House-Work I'm the
Cashiers Office-How Duties on Imports
Are Paid.

Scenes at the Custom House-Work I'm the
Cashiers Onice-How Duties on Imports
Are Paid.
New York Tribune
There are few better indications Of the re-
newed activity in business than can be seen
at the cashiers office in the Custom House
in Wall street. In a small room on the main
floor of the building, and occupying the
southwest corner of it, the cashier, with
force of fifteen clerks, receives all the money
for duties levied by the Government on inn
ports, excepting the small amount assessed
on passengers baggage, which is collected
on the wharf Some idea of the amount of
business done in this Office may be gained
when it is stated that the money received in
a single day has several times lately amount
ed to over $1,000 600, and the number of en-
tries made has exceeded 1000. The manner
in which this large amount of money is
handled is as follows:
The merchant or brokers' clerk, after first
making out his entry in the rotunda of the
building where the amount of duty is calcu-
lated on the entry by the entry clerks, takes
his place in the line before one of the receiv-
ing clerks desks, and deposits the amount of
his entry in small box and with it ticket
on which he has entered the merchants
whether in gold, silver notes or certificates.
Guttapercha boxes are used to prevent I'M
necessary noise from the blinking of the coin.
The receiving clerk takes the box of
money and hands it to teller to
count while the clerk enters the
amount from the entry in a blotter.
The teller does not look at the cash ticket
until he has counted the money and marked
it on the back of the ticket. He then turns
it over and if the count is correct checks it
and returns it to the receiving clerk, who
then signs permit for the delivery of the
goods. The entries then go to the book
keepers who enter the amount of each on
Sheets" and at the close of the day the
money is counted and compared with this re-
cord of the book-keepers.
So carefully is this system carried out that
there is rarely variation of cent between
the money ard the accounts, and the Office
has thereby gained the reputation of being
more exact than any other similar institution
in the country which handles such an amount
of money coming in so many different pay
ments, from So to $4,000. Should any dis
crepancy occur, the clerks carefully compare
both sides Of the tickets, and then compare
the tickets with the clerks blotter; and then
the blotter is checked off with the book-keep-
er's sheets. BY some Of these methods the
error is certain to be discovered. As account is
kept of each kind of money separately, the
tellers can see at a glance if mistake is
made in the gold, silver certificates or notes.
When the coin has been counted and put
into small canvass bags it is placed in boxes
holding $4,000 in gold. These boxes are
put in a hand-cart outside the building and
wheeled to the Sub Treasury, which gives
receipt to the Custom House for each deposit.
Nearly ton. of coin has to be transferred
daily IN this manner. An officer, fully armed.
accompanies the porters, and there are also
armed men in the cashiers office. The
cashier James Hoffman, who has filed the
position for thirty years, is highly respected
for his long-tried ability and careful consid-
Grafton of the public conveniece. The clerks
and tellers are also men of efficiency and the
responsibility of the office makes their posi-
ton more permanent than that of the aver
age Custom House officer. The telleTs ac-
qure great skill in detecting counterfeits as
well as IN rapid counting. Some of the ways
of counterfeiting which come under their no
cisco are expert enough to split SO gold
piece. cut out the center, fll it with base
metal and join it together so nicely that
only an expert could detect the fraud. The
patient Chinaman also finds it proftale to
ssweat' gold by shaking the coin in a bag
and gathering the gold dust which accumu-
lates from the abrasion of the metal. An
other device is to file gold coin across the
edge, thus destroying the raised milling.
All the silver and nickel coins are counter
feited, from the three cent piece to the le-
cal tender dollar. They are first stamped
from base metal and then plated with silver.
Even this the counterfeiters do not buy, but
obtain by immersing silver coin in acid,
which removes from the coin enough
silver for the counterfeiters use while the
''sweated" silver can still be passed at par
The cashiers Office performs only small
portion of the work of the Custom House in
all its branches, but as it is one of the main
resources of the public purse, it is perhaps
the most interesting. AS one passes along
the dingy corridor, he catches sight of the
three lines of men cramped and crooked
around in the little room, boys and gray
haired men, with their little gutta-percha
boxes full of gold ready to be emptied into
the capacious pockets of "Uncle Sam"