Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-07-08
TIE CASH-BOX OF THE NATION.
xs WIFI Take Five Months to COunt
the Vast Amount of Money i'm 1T.

THE CASH-BOX OF THE NATION.
xs VIII Take Five Months to COnnt
the Vast Amount of Money I'm 1T.
For the entire $700,000,000 in the
vaults the United States Treasurer is
responaible, and it must all be counted.
The operation of the counting OF this
vast treasure, which began last Monday
morning, will consume about five months.
It is all under the charge of committee
composed of two Treasury employees,
Chiefs of Division Dascom and Hunting
don, and personal representative OF the
Treasurer, George w. Robertson, OF In
diana. Under the supervision of these
three men 80 expert counters are at work
every day, six days in every week, for
five months. Their fingers must handle
every dollar of the treasure.
Nothing could be more interesting than
10 watch the process, and yet tbs simple.
10 sec il the visitor must stand, under d
igilsnt escort detailed for the purpose,
IL rallied gallery overlooking a hall
The gallery is much like one of the mar
row platforms that circle the walls half
y7ev between floor and ceiling Of one OF
the great banking houses of any large
city. On the floor below is a long
row of tables. At every table sit
two women, selected for their ex-
pertness in counting big piles of
crisp greenbacks. Their deft fingers
6y to and fro, and tie Treasury notes
rustic softly and quickly between tens,
twsnties, hundreds. thousands. The
notes which are now being counted sIe
all done up into packages of four thous-
and, and on the outside of each package
is printed the denomination of the notes.
7 makes no difference to one of the
sountsrs whether she is handling pack
age Of 81 notes or $4,000 notes. The
paCEa yes are exactly the same sizo and
cort4in exactly the same number oi
neiss, and yet what difference in pos
sible alue!
A Dackage of four thousand 81 notes
reprs ents a value of just $4,000.
= package of four thousand 10000
noto5 represents value OF just
SzU.0a1, 1000.
EHJ 1t makes no difference to the girl
Va0 counts these 1000 notes in the
pals ye whether their face is stamped
Wit ihe figure 81" or with the same
Egu, followed by four ciphers. She is a
lduan machine-she is there to count.
ANA ne counts the crisp leaves Of paper
jisJ az she would count the leaves of q
book. They are nothing to her. In
tine for all of these expert counters
have had years of experience, and none
Of them are young or pretty-she has
learned to regard the wealth she handles
without q quiver of feeling. At the end
Of every month she receives her stipend.
She axes it, and it is hers. She has
earned it. The money that has been
flowing through her hands at the rate,
PERI sps, of a fortune minute, leaves no
srsce behind. Even if she wished to be
dishonest she could not. There is no
trust here. Every note that passes
ioto her hands at the beginning g
Of $ days work must be out
OF Il at the end before she can
leave the room where she tolls. So
perfect is the system that even attempted
stealing is practically impossible, while
the natural appropriation of the smallest
biz OF paper bearing the Government
stamp which gives it value is regarded
beyond the reach OF design or the realm
Of chsnce. With temptations eliminated
it is aot 30 difficult to handle millions
and be not smirched with single stain
Of GOLDEN guilt.
Notes, however beautiful engraved and
prin 80, do not appeal to the Imagination
ss keenly as heaps Of coin. In one
single vault in the Treasury are piled
l4e 4,585 silver dollars. They are de-
posited in these to secure the silver cer-
r;hcates, those pieces of paper, worth
nothing in themselves except as they are
redeem able for their face value, which
circulf all over the country. The vault
Nrharn fhIa fFnadnrQ hinuar than ha
siives hoard of the Incas, is
stored in an enormous strong
box. wherein several hundred men
square and dozen feet high. Its cell
lngs, walls and floor are mass of gran
ite nine feet thick, lined with several
s'tarnale layers of iron and chilled steel.
haEy 5 "crook," in the opinion of the
Treasury officials, has made a trip to
8 8sshington just for the itching pleasure
q being within few yards OF the hoard.
its chiet safety, however, lies not in the
box of stone and steel that girdles it,
The weight and bulk of silver are its
protection against thieves. These glis-
teping millions are divided into bags,
each containing $1,000. Two bags
are put into a box, and those boxes
are piled on shelves. Now, one OF these
boxes weighs 120 pounds. A thief
couldn't run far with that weight, and
hie pllnder would be small if he could
OF more profit would it be to steal some
Of the packages of gold coin which make
up the s25 900, 900 deposited in one de-
psrtment of another vault. Twenty
thousand dollars in gold weighs but sew
enty.two pounds Philadelphia Press.