The Washington critic., 1890-04-26

the Strongeat sRfe---A Revolver
Pointed at the Treasurer'a Head.
is the money in the United States
Treasury safe, or is II at the mercy Of
the burglars2 This is the question that
Tor some time past has been agitating
the mind of Mr.. James N. Huston. the
Treasurer of the United States.
There is probably not another man
in The world who is personally respon-
sible for the safe keeping of so large an
amount. of money and negotiable Sc
curities. When ex Treasurer Hyatt on
May i. last year turned over the Office
TO Treasurer Huston he turned over at
the same time cash, Treasury notes,
gold and silver certificates, bonds and
securities of various kinds to the aggre-
gate amount of $771 ,432, ,329. AS. Speak
ing roughly, this amount was about
equally divided into cash, paper money
and bonds.
Some portions of this enormous sum
were located at the sub.treasuries In
various cities, but the great majority of
the whole was and is still stored in the
vaults of the United States Treasury
building in Washington here. The re.
ceipt which Mr.. Huston gave to Mr..
Hyatt on the delivery of Uncle Sans
fat purse was probably the biggest re-
ceipt ever given by one man to another
since the world began, and the amount
of money stored In the Treasury building
in Washington 10 probably greater than
the largest accumulation Of money to be
found in any other one place on earth.
MIR. Huston as Treasurer gives very
heavy bond to the Government-half
million or thereabout-and he is per-
sonally responsible for the guardianship
OF every cent in this pile. Therefore
1t is matter of some importance to him
that the vaults should not only be pro.
tected against the possible dishonesty
OF his subordinates in the Treasury De-
partment, but that they should be alb
solutely burglar. proof; that his bags Of
gold and bundles of bonds should be
entrenched within walls of steel and
that the locks and bolts and bars should
be as inviolable from without as the
gates of hell are said to be from within.
When Solon, the Athenian philoso.
pher, went to visit Cresus, the Lydian
monarch, that proverbial prince of
riches could not show the philosopher
one tithe of the wealth that may be
viewed at the Treasury Department i'm
Washington any day between 10 and 2
O'Clock, by any visitor who gets Mr..
Huston's permission to be shown
through the building, including the
vaults.
The visitor may look, but he mustn't
touch. He will get tolerably close
and distinct view of piles of greenbacks
of every denomination, from dollar to
a thousand dollars-in this statement it
is well not to 60 beyond the thousand
dollar limit, because the only two
higher denominations are five and ten
thousand dollar notes, and of these there
are only one ten thousand and seven
five thousand dollar notes in existence.
The visitor will be permitted to see the
finished and complete greenbacks crisp
and clean as they come from the press,
lying peacefully on the shelves in
bundles like pocket handkerchiefs on
dry goods counter; and at a provoking,
but perfectly safe distance, he may see
number OF young ladies running great,
broad sheets of greenbacks through
presses, which are driven by steam and
which complete the printing Of the
notes by putting upon each the red
stamp of the Treasury Department, the
only part of the. printing which is not
done at the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, half mile away. He will
be permitted to look in at the open door
of great iron safe, where there are al
most within reach piles of little canvas
bags, which the guide will tell him con-
tain millions of dollars in precious gold,
almost within reach, but not quite, for
between the visitor and the money bags
tharo fc iro,, ,no ,,,hsa Ill
to keep your distance.
Then if the sightseer Is so constituted
that he is liable to be affected by great
bulk he will be permitted to enter the
new silver vault and 10 walk all around
its -four. sides. In going around he can
look through the iron lattice of which
the partitions are composed and see
that the entire inclosure is packed from
floor to roof with small, rough wooden
boxes and small canvas bags, each
bag and each box as rule containing
just 1000 silver dollars. When the
visitor, after making the trip around
the vault, comes out by the same door
way at which he was admitted. he will
have travelled around q solid pile OF
silver dollars, something less than an
acre square and just about deep
enough, If the chamber were filed
with water instead of silver, to drown
McGinty and another man standing on
McGinty's head. The vault being
pretty nearly full at present trip
around the vault will crcumscribe
about hundred million dollars Hear
the Treasury people talk about this
silver and you would almost think il
was dross. But only by comparison
with the gold and the paper securities
of high denominations, where great
wealth or the title to 1t is concentrated
in small space. Even Treasurer
Huston himself talks as If he didu't
think this silver was worth more than
what some of the compromise tariff
men would call incidental protection.
Let burglar drop from the roof of
the Treasury building or from a bal
loon or walk from the street through
one Of the doorways into the courtyard
of the Treasury Department; beneath
his feet where he steps is the silver
vault, and between him and the silver
there is not more than foot Of ma
sonry and an inch of iron. But, as
Treasurer Huston says, cTacksmen who
do business on large scale don't &C
after silver. There is too much bulk
and too little value in il.
But in regard to the other vaults
where the gold and the most valuable
securities are kept the Treasurer does
not feel quite so serene Indeed hi
thinks that the protection afforded by
the safes is not at all sufficient In thI
power to resist the attack of skillfu
burglar they don't bear any comparisoI
TO the best safes now employed In tn,
banking houses and safe repositories o.