Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-07-19

packing the precious meT2t---EoSS OF Wei9nt
on Shipboard-- Why Bullion is Preferred.
From the New York Times.l
An idea current In Wall Street is that
the bank of America has cooper-shop
attached. This is scarcely true, how
ever, though the great array of kegs
which sometimes are rolled out 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-saloon
sidewalks, and they are always new.
But, to those conversant with the sub
ject, the interesting feature of these kegs
Is their contents. Each key contains
$4,000 in clear gold. It 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 shipments 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 skipper would have only to
send in his order for his hundreds Of
thousands to the sub-treasury, where
millions 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 simply on its own option.
He cannot present cheek upon his
banking-hou and secure its acceptance
by Assistant Treasurer Acton. The laws
interpose. The sub-treasury can
pay out gold only to such an
amount as offsets its debts. These fire.
quently are comparatively unimportant.
For instance, a couple CT days ago the
debts aggregated only 100000, and
this was distributed among large num-
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 contriv-
ance for providing the needed gold.
They have constituted the Bank of
America a sort of trust company Tor their
advantage. And with the Bank of
America the associated banks keep on
deposit constantly an enormous sum of
has ranged from $50, 900, 900 to SAG, 900, :
600, never falling below the first named
amount. To the members of the Bank
Association the Bank of America issues
its own certificates against these deposits,
redeemable on demand. So when there
IS an occasion for making a large gold
shipment the person desiring to forward
1T secures from MS own bank these GER
t1ticates for the amount required. and.
presenting himself at the Bank of Amer
lea, soon has the privilege of looking
down upon the cleaning wealth as it
iespiled at his disposal in the rear Office
II the bank-here, under his direction,
. be bagged and keyed 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 consignments secure
under their own roofs, but the rule is
otherwise. Kegs in which gold is packed
-''specie kegs, as they are called-are
made of extra-hard woods. They must
have an extra iron hoop, and their work
manship must be above the ordinary.
Specie is not thrown loosely into a
keg, nor upon the other hand, Is it care
fully wrapped III tissue paper and piled
up one coin upon another. The keg
serves only as protection for canvas
bags, into which the gold is placed in
Au0 O1u4udIy Dlb-duQ-Ul1SS IaS01OQ OF
pennies IN Jersey farmers wallet.
The canvas Of these bags is especially
stout and the ends are sewed particularly
strong. Into each bag go 5000 and
ten bags fill keg, so that each key
which rolls out from the rear of the Bank
of America is worth the round sum of
$4,000 plus the cost of the cask
itself and the value of yard or two of
rough canvas. In the interests of Sc
cur1ty each keg is treated to what is
technically known among the shippers
as the "red-taping" process. At each
end OF the keg, in the projecting rims of
the slaves above the head, are bored
four holes at equ1-distant intervals. A
piece of red tape is run through these
holes, crossing on the head of the key,
and the ends finally meet in the center.
At the point of meeting the tape is
sealed to the kegs head by hard Wax
bearing the stamp of the shipper. Any
meddling with the key must break the
tape or wax, and SO on the trip across
the ocean it is an easy matter to watch
the valuable consignment and detect any
attempt to interfere with it.
One Of the singular circumstances
connected with the shipping of gold is
that for the last twenty wears or more