The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-11-10
UNCLE SANS HONEY BAGS.
Why strangers are Not Allowed to Inspect Their
----Disappointment Would Result.

Dts1ppOiutmenLW 0uI0 Result.
"You must excuse me, madam.
am sorry to disoblige you. But it il
an imperative order that no one shall
enter the vaults. You would not bs
permitted to go around alone, and
we can spare no one to act as an 60
cort."
This was the Arm but polite reply
of the q. s. 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 a gentleman, asked
Capt. Thomas Sampson, the special
detective in charge of the. Pine street
door, for the same privilege. Hehad
while giving her no encouragement,
referred the two strangers 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 a reporter for the Mail and
express as the two turned away and
passed out of the building by the
Wall street door, GLOW many per-
sons ask to be allowed the privilege
of rambling through the vaults.
They are invariably strangers to the
city. We have to refuse them, as it
would interfere with business, besides
which the tour would only result in
disappointment, as they would really
be able to see nothing"
"But have you not hundreds of
millions of dollars in coin in this
building? Surely that would be
worth seeing"
"1tis TRUE we have large amounts
Of money here, but strangers would
not be able to see it, even if accord
ed the privilege of going around
wherever they pleased. They might
hear the jingle of the gold and silver
in the coin division, on the right and
left hand of the Pine street entrance,
as the specie is being weighed out
and handled at the rate of 100000
a day; but this can be done without
a permit. They would not, however,
be able, in CONSCIENCE of the screens,
to see a single piece of gold, silver,
nickel ar copper, unless transacting
business therein. On certain days,
when the government is paying off
it's employees in this city, pensioners
drawing their pensions, or bond
holders are collecting interest, they
might see a long line of persons wait
ing to reach the paying tellers win
dow. They would see little money
except in the hands of the persons
receiving it, although hundreds of
thousands of dollars might be paid
out. The cashiers window possesses
little interest to strangers, as there
is no money to be seen there. The
receiving teller's branch on the op-
posite of the rotunda is not attrac-
tive to sight-seekers, for although
from 100000 to 81 100000 are
handled daily in United States notes,
the screen hides the valuable pieces
of paper from the view ofoutsiders."
'But you have large quantities of
United States notes of different de-
nominations in this building?"
Yes, but they are packed away in
safes. If the doors were opened a
stranger would only see the ends ola
few bundles of paper. This would
certainly dissapoint a sightseeker,
notwithstanding the fact that over
forty-ive millions ofdollars 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 transac-
tions in millions might be going on.
And in the Assistant Treasurer's
room there is no display of wealth,
despite the fact that he has under his
care about $2OO,OOO,OOO of treasure
in one shape or the other. But no
permit is necessary to see all l have
alluded to, except the safe where the
notes are kept"
"But what about the gold?"
"That is kept in two safes built in
to the masonry. Even if these doors
were opened stranger would only
see couple of whitened rooms with
a lot of iron boxes. The gold is en-
closed in bags, tied and sealed, and
locked up in the boxes, which are al
so sealed. We could tell them with
out opening the safe doors that in
each safe are about $58, 100000 in
gold coin, for they could see no evil
dence 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
q sight-seeker, besides taking up the
time of the government employees"
"But the silver coin is to bulky to
be packed away in boxes. That
would be a sight worth seeing?"
"Not half as much as the one that
can be seen every day by the passing
strangers when silver coin is being
sent away in bags from the Pine
street entrance. Then a number of
bags containing 81, 900 each will be
wheeled along on a hand truck to
the entrance, thence lifted to some
vehicle and carted away. The silver
coin is deposited in a vault fifty-e
feet long by twenty-six feet broad
and twelve 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
bags might contain oats or corn for
any opportunity he could have to
tell the difference. They are kept out
of reach by massive iron bars. A
stranger might be in formed that
there are in the bags $31 900, 900 in
silver dollars and $1O,OOO,O00 or
more in subsidiary silver coin. But
he could be told this just as well up
stairs. The visits to the vaults
would not give any one ocular or
sensible confirmation of the state
ment, as he could neither see nor
touch the coin. So it would only be
a waste of the visitors time as well as
a Il L.