San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-01-12

from sixteen TO twenty tons of gold at
a time, and were likely 10 be called
upon to do so again. They had weighed
and paid oil this gold had strengthened
the guard over it and been greatly
CROWDED in their own business by it.
This they felt unwilling to longer do,
and, consequently, on the 18th of o.
tober, they gave notice to the other
banks that on the 18th of November
they should cease, as bank, to keep
the gold. This action rather took the
bankers by storm, since they had no
other depository, and on the 18th of
November the gold was all thrown into
the street as 1T were, each bank being
obliged to take its gold home from the
clearinghouse. This explains the pres
ent carting of 80 much gold about the
streets of Boston, as it were.
The practice of thus handling the
gold is attended, OF course, with moro
or less of danger. The other day the
fire department apparatus came very
near running into one of the gold wa
gons. Dangers to the gold are numerous
and had better not be pointed out.
There is also another Objectionable
feature connected with it, which the
bank men are not disposed to overlook,
and that is the gradual depreciation in
the value of gold coins so transported,
caused by their constant Earring incident
to their frequent transfer from place to
place. Gold is very soft metal, and
wears away rapidly, hence the deprecia-
ton is considerable; it is said to be es-
timated by clearinghouse official to
be nearly $50 per day in Boston alone,
or about $4,000 year. But such fig
ures are merely estimates, since it is
to ever get at the actual de-
probation of gold coin from wear and
tear. The banks are not disposed to
overlook this difficulty. But it is diff
cult to rightly place the loss, on account
of the many hands through which the
gold passes, and since the government
allows tare of only half of one per
cent. for light weight of gold coins, the
banks hardly feel disposed to truck, jar
and chafe the gold about, if it can be
avoided. There are several plans pro-
posed, and some action will doubtless
be taken at once. One plan is to en-
large and make suitable set of safes
in a well-known banking building. An
other plan is to make three or four of
the larger banks jointly the gold de-
positories.
Still another is to employ one, or
all three, of the safe deposits in town
to take charge of the gold. Congress
may also be asked to permanently RENE
dy the evil, either at the sub-treasury
building, or by providing gold certifi-
Gates. to be used instead of the actual
gold. This would appear to be the
better plan, since, if the gold wears
away so fast, it would seem best not to
wear it; and since the government pre-
sumes to provide medium for circula-
ton in the form of coins, and retain
all the advantages accruing from coin
age, it would seem to be nothing
more than reasonable that it provide
against the legitimate wearing-out of
coin.
Provided that one or more of the
Boston safe deposits were to be used
for keeping the gold, it might be inter-
esting to people not familiar with such
institutions to know how the gold
would be guarded. Safe deposit vaults
are nearly always in the basement of
building-they can be built on stone
and cannot be entered
from below. The vaults are built of
solid stone and iron, sometimes four or
five feet in thickness-around, above
and below-all is solid stone. Not
even the extreme heat of twenty build
ings burning above would penetrate
these vaults. To prevent human be-
ings from getting in, outside of the ele-
ments, every possible precaution is
taken. Suppose the reader wishes
TO pay a visit to such q vault.
He enters the building, generally into
some banking-room. Here is an iron
gate, through which no one can pass
not known to the officer in charge.
But visitor, if there is nothing objec-
tionable in his appearance, by making
his purpose known to the officer of the
who, after carefully looking
him over, will have his name recorded
in a book, with complete personal
description, when the visitor will be
allowed to pass the iron gate. Now
he is in, and cannot pass out without
the permission of the officer in charge
Of the gate. The visitor is in, but not
vet within the vault; he is only in q
neat Office room, fitted with desks and
private stalls for business men. The
vaults are decidedly another question.
It is not yet quite time for them to be
opened. The vault doors, of massive
ron, are fitted with accurate time-locks,
and at just such a minute, and at no
other time, they may be opened by the
vault.keepers. The visitor is invited
10 pass in. He steps through the iron