Omaha daily bee., 1888-08-26
Why Strangers Are Not Allowed TO In
spcCt Them.

Spcct lncW.
Mail and Express: "Nou must excuse
me, madam. | am sorry to disobligc you
But 1T is an imperative order that no
one shall enter the vaults. You would
not be permitted to go around alone,
and we can spare no one to act as an es-
Cort."
This was the firm but polite reply of
the cashier of the United States sub
treasury to a lady from the country who
had applied for permission to inspect
the gold and silver in the vaults. She
had, in company with II gentleman.
asked Captain Thomas Sampson, the
special detective in charge of the Pine
street door, for the same privilege. He
had, while giving the two strangers no
encouragement, referred them to the
cashier. A look of disappointment
passed over the lady's face as the an
swer was received.
You would be surprised" said the
cashier to reporter, as the two turned
away and passed out of the building by
the Wall street door, 'how many per-
sons ask to be allowed the privilege Of
| rambling through the vaults. They
are invariably strangers in the city.
| We have to refuse them, as it would in
| terfere with busines. besides which the
| tour would only result in disappoint-
ment, as they would really be able to
see nothing"
But have you not hundreds of mil
| lions of dollars in coin in this building?
| Surely that would be worth seeing"
1t is true, we have large amounts of
money here, but strangers would not be
able to see it, even if accorded the
privilege of going around wherever
they pleased. They might hear the
| jingle of the gold and silver in the com
| n nil 1.,ft l,,, &
| the Pine street entrance, as the specie
is being weighed out and handled at
the rate of 81 900, 900 a day; but this
can be done without a permit.
They would not, however, be
able, in consequence of the
screens, to see a single piece of gold,
silver, nickel or copper, unless transact
| ing business therein, on certain days,
when the government is paying off its
employees in this city, pensioners draw
| ing their pensions, or bondholders are
collecting their interest, they might see
a long line of persons waiting to reach
the paying teller's window. They
would see little money except in the
hands OF the persons receiving it, al
| though hundreds of thousands of dol
lars might be paid out. The cashiers win
| dow possesses little inter est to strang-
| ers, us there is no money to be seen
there. The receiving teller's branch
on the opposite of the rotunda is not at.
tractive to sight.seekers, for although
from 5000 to 81 600 600 are handled
daily in United States notes. the screen
hides the valuable pieces of paper from
the view of outsiders"
| But you have large quantities of
| United States notes of different denom-
nations in this building?"
Eyes, but they are packed away in
safes. If the doors were opened
stranger would see the ends of a few
bundles of paper. This would certainly
disappoint asight-seeker, notwithstand
ing the fact that over 81, ,000, 900 may
thus be stored away. Now, there is the
bond clerks bureau, in the Wall street
corner, opposite the assistant treas
urer's room. A stranger could see very
| little there, although transactions in
millions might be going on. And in the
| assistant treasurer's there is no display
of wealth, despite the fact that he has
under his care about 500, 900, 900 of
treasure in one shape on another. But
no permit is necessary to see all | have
alluded to, except the safe where the
notes are kept"
"But what about the gold?"
| THAT is kept in two safes, built into
the masonry. Even if these doors were
| opened a stranger would only see II
couple of whitened rooms with lot of
iron boxes. The gold is-enclosed in
bags, tied and sealed. and locked up in
| the boxes, which are also sealed. We
could tell them without opening the
safe doors that In each safe are about
$5S 600, 600 in gold coin, for they could
| see no evidence of the coin, even if
they went INTO the vault, beyond the
| presence OF the iron boxes. Certainly
there could be little satisfaction in that
| to asight-seeker, besides taking up the
| time of the government employees"
But the silver coin is too bulky to
| be packed away in boxes. That would
be a sight worth seeing"
mot half as much as the one that
can be seen every day by any passing
| stranger when silver coin is being sent
away in bags from the Pine street en-
| trance. When number Of bags con-
tanning 81 900 each will be
| wheeled along on u hand
truck to the entrance, thence
| lifted to some vehicle and carted away.
| The silver coin is deposited in a vault
| 5S sect long by 26 feet broad and IL feet
high. 1t is put up in bags, which are
piled one upon another like grain in a
barn. So far as an outside observer is
concerned the bigs might contain oats
or corn for any opportunity he could
| tell the difference. They are kept out
| of reach by massive iron bars. A
stranger might be informed that there
are in the bags S3l 900, 900 in silver dol
lars and $40, 900, 900 or more in subsi-
diary silver coin. Bet he could be 10. !