The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1883-04-07
ONE BILLION OF DOLLARS.
The Contents of Uncle Sans Big
Pocket to be Counted.

x
and the keys to the vaults of the Treas
ury to committee of three, who will
then proceed to verify the records of
his office by an actual count of 81 ,OO0,-
600, 900. The men who are intrusted
with this enormous responsibility are
we'll qualified for the work.
The sum of money to be counted con-
POUNDS the Imagination. Senator Joe
Brown said last winter to friend who
had spoken tiippantly of a million dol
lars (;
"Young man, million dollars is a
great deal of money"
What, then, must a thousand mill
lions be? Counted dollar by dollar,
even at the rate of 5000 minute, day
and night, without stopping, it would
take ten years to count it.
Fortunately for the sore fingers Of
the lady counters, the money Is not all,
or mainly, in one-dollar bills; and
again, in this work, as in others, many
hands make light work
The total volume of money falls into
three main divisions. There is first
what is called the cash in the Treasury.
This was in round numbers, on the first
of this month";, s3O6, 100000. There is
next the surplus reserve fund, that is,
the supply of Treasury notes received
from the Bureau of Printing and En-
craving, and held to furnish banks
and sub-treasuries on demand. This
money lies ready for delivery in the
custody of tho Treasury. but is not in
Guided in the assets OF the Office. It is
estimated that there are between two
and three hundred millions Of this
money locked in tho Treasury vaults.
Finally, there are the bonds held by
the Treasury to secure the circulation
of the national banks to an amount of
$4OO,O0O,0O0 Altogether, therefore,
there IS plump billion of money to
be handled.
The count will begin with the loose
change. When the Treasury closes
business tomorrow, the paying and re-
ceiving tellers will balance their cash
and then turn over the keys to their
boxes in tho vault to the committee.
Then the expert fingers and quick eyes
Of dozen lady clerks will determine if
the actual cash in the boxes cores
ponds to tho representations on the
books. AS each teller has generally be
tween $4,000 and 100000 on hand in
all sorts of money, gold, silver, nickels,
cOppers, and broken packages of bills
of every denomination, this counting
will be tedious, and will take some
time. AS it happens, Treasurer Gilhl-
Ian goes out of Office on Saturday, so
that the committee can, If necessary,
work on Sunday, in order that there
may be no stop Of the public business.
When this, the first Of the counts, is
finished, the committee will turn to the
bulk Of the work. The first step will
be to count an assortment of package,
which the tellers will want in the
transactions of Monday. This sum. in
various denominations and descrip-
tions of money, will be turned over
and credited to the tellers, and thus the
daily operations of the office will not
be interfered with, and very soon, of
course, the counters will have left such
an amount of money behind them that
the work can be carried on without
the slightest embarrassment to either
party.
The method Of working will be sim
pie. The paper money lies in neatly
wrapped piles in the vaults, with the
amount of each pile stated. The band
is removed and the money given to a
counter, who, with def fingers, finds
the sum and reports tho result. "A
strict watch is kept to prevent bills |
slipping up sleeves or under aprons.
If the report of the counter agrees with
the record the band is put back and an
entry made, and it would greatly as
tonish the committee, no doubt, ifa diff |
ference were to be found and to be
proven on a second and more careful
count. Probably not one such incident
will disturb the monotony of the ex.
animation, as the system of checks in
use renders false count in a package
delivered to the Treasury almost an
impossibility, and no one hints that
the vaults have been tempered with.
1t will be comparatively easy and
pleasant to count the smooth. clean
packages Of bills, but when it comes to
the broken piles of multilated return
ed currency the committee will have a
disagreeabie time of it. The custom of
the Treasury is not to destroy returned
notes of national bank until they
amount to $500 or multiples thereof.
and mutilated bills are sorted and pre.
served until this unit of destruction is
reached. Hence, as there. are about
1000 national banks, each having its
little pile of greasy and torn bills, this
feature of the count will be a tedious
and disagreeable job.
Another job which the committee
dread is the counting of fhe snec;e