Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-07-05


PAC.ISG THE PRECIOUS METAI.-Loss or
WIGHT on sHEGaaED-wIlY BULLION L
T-FEH.yED-wHEE IT PAYS TO SHIP.
Trrr1 40 y. =. Tins.
an liza current in Wall street is that the
Banl, ot -Arerica has q coap"r-shop attachment.
This is seerceiy true however, though the great
array s.. keys which sometimes are rolled out all
day long from the rear ~ The Institution would
seem % give color to the belief The kegs are
cOne;+s~ab'y smaller than those which usually
ornaac1t bcer-SaloCa sidewalks and they are
alwa lgW. Bat 10 those cOnversant with
the subject. the interesting feature Of these
kegs is their contents. Each keG con-
tains $4,000 in ceer gold It is from
the Bank Of America that most of
the gold shipped to Europe from this
city sent. This does rot mean. however,
that ne shipments are for the banks own ac-
cOuat. They are not. At q first glance persons
might suppose that when the demand arises for
gold 10 send abroad the shipper would have
only 10 send in his order for his hundreds of
thousands to the sub-treasury, where millions
of specie are on dcposit Tut 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 Wall street
mar cannot become Il creditor of the govern
menJ simply on his own option. He cannot
pTPStHl = cneck upon MS banking house and
secure IS acceptance 10y Assistant Treasurer Ac-
ton. TIE laws intcTpOse. The sub-treasury can pay
out gold only to such an amount offsets its
debts. These frequently are comparatively
unimp1Ttant- For instance a couple of days
ago the debts aggregated only 800 600 and
this was to De distributed among a large mum
Der of creditors. But while they can
place no dependence upon support from
this quarter. the associated banks of
the CITY have means of their own con-
All
have constituted the Bank of America a sort of
trust company for their advantage. And with
the B"ail of America the associated banks keep
on deposit constantly an enormous sum in gold.
DurinE the past year this sum has ranged from
So. fFN.pO To @i6tfbN 600. never falling below
the first named amount. To the members of the
Bank Association the Bank of America issues its
OWL ceT; hCateS against those deposits redeem
able uu demand. SO. when there is an occasion
for making large geld shipment the person
desiring TO forward il secures from his own bank
these certificates for the amount required, and
presenting himself st the Bank Of America soon
has tire privilege Of l0Oising down uIon the
cleaning wealth n it lios piled ut his disposal
in tae ear office of that hank-theTe. under his
direction. 10 BE barT@d and Keyed and made
ready f1r shipment. Il il not always the case
that the packing for shipment is done on the
premises oi the Bank of America one or two
o. the biggest houses ii the street have cooper
shops Of their own, and make their consign-
rule is otherwise. Kegs inwhich gold is packed
'.spaci" kegs. as they are called-are made of
eXtFa-Eard woods. They must have an extra
iron hoop. ard their workmaus hip must be
above the ordinary
Spec.. is not thrown loosely into ker nor
upcn tie other hand. i it carefully wrapped in
Tissue paper and oiled up one coin upOn an
Other The ke-c serves only as a protection for
canvas bags into which the gold j. placed in the
ordinary hiT-dud-nliSs fashion of pennies i'm a
.Itsr-fs
ba|S * especially stout and the ends are Sewed
particularly strong Into each bag go $500.
and len bags TIL ke@. 80 that each keg which
rolls Cit from the rear Of the Bank OF America
is wcTta the round sum of O.OFD plus the cost
OF The cash Itself and thu value of ward or two
OF rough canvas. In the interests Of security
each key Is treated to what is TECHNICALLY known
among the shippers a. the ''red-taping'' pro-
cess At each end OF the kec III the projecting
Tins Of the slaves above the head are bored
four holes at equi-dstant intervals piece Of
red tape * run through these holes crossing on
the head Of the kee, and the ends finally meet
in the center. At the point of meeting the tape
Is sealed TO the kcg,s mead by hard wax bearing
the Stai3p OF the shipper. Any meddlng with
the keG must break the tape or wax and so on
the trlp across the ocean il is an easy matter to
watch the valuable consignment and detect any
attempt 10 interfere with it.
GOLD crosses the ocean very much as does
every other kind OF freight. Years AGO there
were some shippers Who detailed an cmnIoye
with every consignment to act IS a sort of de-
tectiye and hold watch * best he could over
their ke-rs- Ne such care Is ever taken now. As
a rule. the gold shipped Is insured. Safely
watched until on siipbOard the precious freight
Is then under the control Of the vessel authori-
ties AMI the marine Insurance companies. and
upon these parties IS al responsibility placed
The average rate OF insurance is about $50
something over 9l.tcJ-up0n a shipment of
= .tstt'ED. There are shippers vino do not in
sure. or rather they insure themselves One
prominent house in Wall street which sent sAIrr
S:b.tSd TO abroad last wear paid 10 tax to- any
INSURANCE company HE saving thus effected
amounted tO about $1,000. In maintaining
this policy OF no Insurance. thcs. shippers say
that Their savinrs OF this account since they
have been in business have been such as Wou!1
enable them 10 lose outright "a SHIPMENT of
Sl-t'~ $50 or more a.d still have balance to
tne!F eirsit in til" fuGd which they have set
a~Hr !i t.!ci uV E1JsS instead of paving IL ont
Tor Ins ucance. Carefully choosing the steamers
upon Ni'cn 20 place cGlSiCnmGnts they dis
count all probability of disaster. As a rule
however, tie shipper Who does not insure Ill
NldeS M his C0n,igulErHtS Having tn SHIN
; i.V- -.s1. Ee viii give It in equal parts tn four
or i've different vessels II is a strict rule with
some Sail street firms never To trust more than
S,-JJt'J at Il time on any one ship
On. "a the singular circumstances connected
with tie shipping Of gold is that for the last
tWt'itN wears or more every keg which las been.
taken "ut u Wall street has been handed clown
70 tHt' vessels by one man. .'honcSt old John
BarN,ey. Who is said 10 have grown rich in the
business For each keg he takes on board his
True. p" l. paid 81. and the big heayy one which
De Ii''S had built Tor the special purpose will
carry 100000. or forty kegs. \ similar mo-
hop9ly Is held by Cooper Spier who furnishes
ali the kegs and packs them getting = foreacb
one completed.
III slipping specie there are many matters of
detal! which the experienced man knows to he
OF prime importance. but which 10 a person nm
acquainted with the business seem vaIueless
FOR instance, in making ready a shipment of
SI,HO.pO to Europe the ordinary individual
would be quite as willing To bag fye-dOllar
pieces as double eagles. Not So the shipper
VINO has his eye upon the main chance He. de-
maHds the doube-eagles every time Chief
among the reasons for this choice is the fact
ihat specie shipped in any quantity for any con-
siderable distance always loses in weight and
cOnSe'. uently in value. through abrasion While
q hye-ihCGSand-dOllar bag made up of fiye-doIlar
COINS would contain eco pieces the same sum
IN d0ubie-ea@les would take only go pieces. In
the latter instance there Is not much if anv more
Khan one-iourth of the chance for abrasion which
exists ~ the former. Eight fiye-dOllar pieces
snow a lar greater surface and have much
sharper coinage lines than do two double-eagles.
and the loss by abrasion on a long rough ocean
SoNa-se must, OF course. be considerably greater
Win the coins of lesser value The uninitiated