Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-07-21
SPECIE SHIPMENTS.
How Gold is Sent AbrOnd-HIOW the
Precious Metal IN Packed.


A writer in the New York Times says
An idea current in Wall Street is that the
Bank OF America has cooper shop at
tachment. This is scarcely true, how
ever, though the great array of kegs
which sometimes are rolled out all day
long from the rear of the institution
would seem to give color to the belief
The kegs are considerably smaller than
those which usually ornament beer So
loon sidewalks, and they are always new.
But, TO those conversant with the sub
ject, the interesting feature of these kegs
is their contents Each keg contains
$50, 900 in clear gold 1t is from the Bank
of America that most of the gold shipped
to Europe from this city is sent. This
does not mean, however, that the ship
ments are for the banks own account.
They are not. AT first glance persons
might suppose that when the demand
arises for gold to send abroad the ship
per would have only to send i'll his order
for his hundreds OF thousands to the sub
treasury, where million of specie are on
deposit. But there are sufficient reasons
why this plan will not work. The
sub-treasury can pay out its coin only to
creditors of the government, and II Wall
street man can not become a creditor of
the government simply on his own option.
He cannot present check upon his own
banking house and secure its acceptance
by Assistant Treasurer Acton. The laws
interpose. The sub.treasury can pay out
gold only by such an amount as offsets its
debts. These frequently are compare
couple of days ago the debts aggregated
| nj f, l,o lie
tributed among large number of credit
ors. But, while they can place no de-
pendance upon support from this
quarter, the associated banks of the city
have n means of their own contrivance
for providing the needed gold. They
have constituted the Bank Of America n
sort of trust company for their advantage.
And with the Bank of America the asso-
ciated banks keep on deposit constantly
an enormous sum in gold. During the
past year this sum has ranged from $685.
900, 900 to SAG, 900, 900, never falling be-
low the first named amount To the
members of the Bank Association the
Bank of America issues its own certifi-
Gates against these deposits, redeemable
on demand. So, when there is an oc-
casion for making large gold shipment,
the person desiring to forward it secures
from his own bank these certificates for
the amount required, and presenting
himself to the Bank of America, soon has
the privilege of looking down upon the
! cleaning wealth as it lies piled at his
disposal in the rear Office of the bank
there, under his direction, to be bagged
, and kegged and made ready for shipment
1t is not always the case that the packing
! for shipment is done on the premises OF
the Bank of America. One or two of the
biggest houses in the street have cooper
! shops" of their own, and make their con
signments secure under their own roofs
but the rule is otherwise. Kegs in whicl
gold is packed-''specie kegs" as the,
are called-are made of extra hard woods
They must have an extra iron hoop, ant
their workmanship rnust be above th
| ordinary.
@ Specie is not thrown loosly into Il keg
nor, upon the other hand, is it CAREFUL,
: packed in tissue paper and piled mp ON,
f coin upon another. The keg serves onl'
g as n protection for canvas bags, int,
: which gold is placed in the ordinary hit
Il and-miss fashion of pennies in Jerse,
farmers wallet The canvas of thes
bags is especially stout, and the ends ar
sewed particularly strong. Into each bal
n go $4,000, and ten bags fill keg. so tina
V each keg which rolls out from the rear o
IS the Bank of America is worth the roup
d sum of $50, 900, plus the cost of the cas-
n itself and the value of a yard or two @
It rough canvas. 1t the interests of securit
n each keg is treated to what is technicall
Ii knownyamong the shippers as the "red
Il taping" process. At each end OF the keg
10 in projecting rims of the slaves above til
.e head are bored four holes at equi-dis
" tant intervals A piece of red tape
rs run through these holes, crossing OH til
v. head of the keg, and the ends finally NEE
s. in the centre. At the point of meetin
es the tape is sealed to the kegs head b.
A hard wax bearing the stamp of the shil
T. per. Any meddling with the keg mui
h. break the tape or wax, and SO on the tri
a across the ocean it is an easy matter
" watch the valuable consignment and 4,
e. tect any attempt to interfere with it.
le Gold crosses the ocean very much t
re does every other kind of freight. Yeal
III ago there were some shippers who IL
le tailed an employe with every consigl
hs ment to act as sort of detective M
Il, hold watch as best he could over the
r.. kegs. No such care is ever taken no,
IL AS rule the gold shipped is insure
nd Safely watched until on shipboard, ii
NJ precious freight is then under the contr
* of the vessel authorities and the maril
lis insurance companies, and upon the
M parties is all responsibility placed. II
ts- average rate of insurance of about E3
'es something over $l7O0-upon shi
ed ment of 81 900, 600. There are shippe
ed who do not insure, or rather they insu
ise themselves. One prominent house
to Wall street, which sent some $40, 900, o
rv- abroad last year. paid no tax to any
ex- surance company The saving thus
ley fected amounted to about $4,000.
he maintaining this policy of no insuran
gh these shippers say that their savings
ty, this account since they have been
ers business have been such rs would enul
o a them to lose outright shipment of 8
a 600, 900 or more, and still, have b
ance to their credit i'll the fund viii
they have set aside in their own hol
"ls ns Carefully choosing the steamers up
oi which to make consignments, til
icy discount all probability of disaster.
OF OF rule, however, the shipper who d.
M nea not insure divides up his consignment
wv, Having to ship 81 900, 600, he would G
me ':n,' in equal parts to four or five differ
.ion n vessels 1t is a strict rule with 80
ne: Wall street firms never to trust nj
1si. 1n. than $3.50, 900 at time on any one sh
n"s ~ One of the singular circumstances c.
=. 10 nected with the shipping of gold is t
~. for the last 20 years or more every
no, which has been taken out of Wall str
AZ" has been handed down to the vessel
,h H one man, "honest old John Barkle
i.ni, who is sail to have grown rich in
a ard business. For each keg he takes
alo nn board his truck he is paid 81, and
A"- big heavy one he has had built for
special purpose will carry $4,000, 600
40 kegs. A similar monopoly is held
cooper Spier, who furnishes all the