Telegram-herald., 1889-05-27


boarded. o. 80 carefully as II he didn'S have
u,-ny millions more than he knows what u DO
with Tie first conspicuous objcct which
meets cur eve Is huge iron cage, looking
gor all TIE world Ike Jail. The guide tells
"a il IS Tie his silver vault, which was built
.ast year directly under the grass covered
courtyard OF the treasury building. Within
this casc q dozen or more men are at work,
AMI the preparation runs IN riyulees from
their barred breasts and arms. Il l. hot and
sitting down here IN this vault, there being
ht.lc or ~ ventilation, and counting money,
particularly silver money, Is trying work.
At one end of tho corridor ST three men be
side pair u scal-s. and with account books
open before them Theso men are the official
counters OF the cash, ono appointed by out
going Treasurer Hyatt, who owes tho gov
ernmcnt more than sl9O, 900 900, another by
mo incoming treasurer, Mr Huston, who is
business man of buSincsslil,e methods and
dos not wish 20 give receipt even for o
httio matter OF $50. 900, 900 unless ho knows
for suro that the money is therc, and the
thir,l by TIC secretary OF tho treasury. All
The others nro laborcrs and expert counters
detailed u assist in tho work. Tho brawny
fellows we SO hero tossing BAGS of silver from
ono TO tho other arc labo-ers, who ct every
tos< handle sixty pound bag containing
1000 silver dollars and who get for their
days work precisely the tlye-hundrc1th part
of one bag.
A look at this mountain OF silver gives one
an idea OF the vastness and tho richness Ct
his country In the treasury all told are
I rs. 0O1, 600 Of these fat, round dollars, and
| So, 900 OO0 OF them are in this one vault. It
Is rs bis as seaside hotel, this repository OF
the dollar OK our daddies, and is divided of
into sections like rew town site. To be
! exact the vault is 50 feet long, 81 feet wide
and II feet high. It viii hold q hundred million
silver dollars, and is said to DO the largest
/ vault in the world. To these hard working
/ end Gade-paid lcborers it must sccsn as it did
70 the ancient mariner that there is silver,
silver everywhere, and not drop for their
/ pockets. From ono 10 tho other pass the
/ heavy bags, ono limo Of men handing from
/ the compartment toward tho scales, and an
other line passing tao bags from the weighers
hack 20 another compartment There is 10
risk about IL, and scarcely possibility Of mis-
take IN the count, tho division OF tho work
making it impossible for bag to be over
looked or counted twice. Even if work
man should get chance TO help himself to
/ oil the silver he could carry his theft would
not make him very rich, for tho strongest
man would not undertake to carry more than
/ two or three bags ard run fast enough 10
elais pursuit, nor Gre any Of tho laborers
/ likely to slip bag under their waistcoats ON
/ quitting for the night
/ Each OF the sixteen compartments Is pro-
/ videsl with lock and key and but ono com
/ purtnent Is opened at a time. Not till it Is
/ wci-hcd out do tho official counters permit
another compartment 10 DO opened. The
/ men work all day without seeing the color Of
/ silver, unless q bag chances to DO broken,
which rarely happens Tho counting is all
tlOTa :Jy weight At tho beginning Of their
task tho counters took a bag OF new dollars,
I fresh from the mint, counted its contents,
/ wcighcd il aud made this the standard of
weight for each OF tho remaining bags Tho
/ wceht Of tho bags varies but fraction of an
ounce. When stored away in the cOmport-
nonts the bags are put In wooden boxes, two
| bass % the box Fifty thousand boxes wero
required, each littlo smaller than az ordi-
nary soap box. II was believed toe boxes