Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-06-18
MONEY NO OBJECT THERE.
HOW SEVEN HUNDRED MILLIONS OE
 DOLLARS ARE COUNTED.

| Human Machines Which Handle che
 Governments Great Wealth Without
 Culver of Feeling-Hovv Almost Ono
 Hundred Million Of Silver Dollars are
 in tho Nations Treasury.
 Seven hundred and nineteen millions of dollars. That Is the amount of money that lies in the treasury of the United States at Washington.
 A few days ago all the vaults in the treasury were sealed, writes a Washing l ton correspondent of the New York morning Journal. The balance-sheet was struck and presented to the new treas urer of the United States, J. N. Huston, of Indiana. Enough cash was left out side in an unsealed vault to carry on the daily business of the department. Then the great task began of counting every l one of these hundreds of millions of dollars.
 Tho now treasurer Is responsible to the government for every one of these dol lars. He must be sure that he receives
 The money in the United States treas ury vaults may be classified as follows |: United States notes, S11. 155, ,753; gold certificates, s611, ,16O; silver certificates, S433, 122; gold coin, $25, 251. .125: frac- tional silver, $3,092, 121; copper coins, S10,8 ,836: standard silver dollars, SIS, . 2l4, ,595; currency certificates, S43O, ,0OO 1; belonging to trust funds, S211 ,OOO, ,OOO i; paper money in reserve vaults ready to go into circulation, but held for season. | ing and issued to redeem worn-out money, and silver and gold certificates | ready to issue upon the deposit of coin, sS1s,539, ,OOO grand total, s7l9, ,O27, 700.
 Of course, all of this money is not on the credit side. In other words, large part of these deposits merely represents Obligations. What Is called the "sur- plus" out of this vast sum, or what would be left in the vaults were all the debts and obligations of the government to be paid off at once in cash, would be only about $56, ,00O, 900. But for the en- tire S719,OO0.OOO in the vaults the | United States treasurer is responsible, and 1t must all be counted.
 The operation of the counting of this vast treasure, which began few days l ago, consumes about five months. It is all under the charge of q committee con- posed of two treasury employees, Chiefs of Division Dascom and Huntingdon, and @ personal representative of the treasurer George W. Robertson, of Indiana. Under the supervision of these three men, thirty six days in every week, for five months. Their fingers must handle every dollar of the treasure.
 Nothing could be more interesting than to watch the process and yet it is very simple. To see it the visitor must stand under a vigilant escort detailed for the purpose, in Q railed gallery overlooking a hall.
 The gallery is much like one of the nar- row platforms that circle the walls, half way between floor and ceiling, of one of the great banking houses in any large city. On the floor below Is a long row of tables.
 At every table sit two women, selected for their expertness in counting big piles fly to and fro and the treasury notes rustic softly and quickly between, tens, twenties, hundreds, thousands.
 The notes which are being counted are all done up into packages of 4,O0O, and on the outside of each package Is printed tho denomination of the notes.
 It makes no difference to one of the counters whether she is handling pack age of S1 notes or S10OOO notes. The and contain exactly the same num- Der of notes, and yet what difference in possible value!
 package of 4,OOO $l notes represents value of just s4,ooO.
 A package of 4,OOO s1O,OOO notes represents value of just $40, 900, ,OOO.
 But it makes no difference to the girl who counts these LOGO notes in a pack age whether their face Is stamped with the figure "1" or with the same figure followed by four ciphers.
 She Is a human machine-she is there to count. And she counts the crisp leaves of engraved paper just as she would count the leaves of book. They are nothing to her.
 To- oil | have had years of experience, and none of them are young or pretty-she has learned to regard the wealth she handles without a Quiver of feeling.
 At the end of every month she receives her stipend. She takes it, and 1t is hers, She has earned it. The money that has been flowing through her hands at the rate, perhaps, of a fortune a minute, | leaves no trace behind.
 Even if she wished to be dishonest she could not. There is no trust here.
 Every note that passes into her hands at the beginning of days work must be out of 1t at the end before she can leave the room where she tolls.
 Notes, however beautifully engraved and printed, do not appeal to the imagina- tion as keenly as heaps of coin. In one $14e, PA, 585 silver dollars. They are de- posted there to secure the silver certih- cates, those pieces of paper, worth noth- ing in themselves except as they are re- deemable for their face value, circulate all over the country.
 The vault where this treasure, bigger than the silver hoard of the 1ncas, Is stored, Is an enormous strong box, where in several hundred men might move about. It is about 100 feet square and a dozen feet high. Its ceilings, walls and floor are mass of granite nine feet thick lined with several alternate layers of iron and chilled steel.
 These glistening millions are divided into bags, each bag containing S1 ,0O0. Two bags are put into a box, and these boxes are piled on shelves. Now, one of these boxes weighs 12O pounds. A thief couldn't run very far with that weight, and his plunder would be small if he | could.
 Of more profit would 1t be to steal some of the packages of gold coin which make up the $25, GOO, 900 deposited in ono compartment of another vault; S20,OOO in gold weighs but seventy-two pounds.