The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-09-02
OF GOLD ONH
,sTEFExPLAINS HOW He KEEPS
aE TREASURY FULL.


Haakh Officer jenkins.
From the Ne,O York World.
nTtk no trouble at all to keep plenty Of
rold the treasury just now" said Score
- toster of the treasury department to a
mn reporter yesterday. 1T is as easy
tsing off a wet log when out fishing.
Tba ,ublie has not discovered how 1 do it.
bn.t is simple enough. For several months
a, tbs season Of the year there is a big de-
rrsA from the west on the east-that is on
Ma, York-for money to handle the crops.
TbR want it in small bills, and they keep
tbs New York bankers on the mettle to
Fgrrsh such currency until showed the
Nst Workers how to do it TO their own
monetary advantage and the governments
incssse of gold in the treasury.
Where it costs the government only 10
rsrts to get currency to Chicago, Cincin-
mad and New Orleans, where we have sub
tesuries, it costs New York bankers rs
ceps TO 81 By depositing gold or its equiv
s,srt at our sub-treasury in New York, or
the treasury in Washington, and paying
onr rate for transfer, We give them an
rTdar for small bills at the western sub
hills to send out we take some issue of large
denomination on hand and destroy it, to re-
Mace it with smaller bills. In this way
there is 10 more drain of gold from the
treasury than we can take steadily aud
readily from the banks themselves and they
not feel the loss. It's all ia the course of
their legitimate business"
'Did you experience a scare some weeks
ago about gold going abroadP'
TT didn't The bankers and a norton of
the press and the public did. | bad hum
dreis of letters from New York and other
big business centers saying something must
be done to stop the exodus Of gold. / wrote
back to all Of them that something would be
done-that the government had plenty of
gold. could get more and that the $780,
O0O 900 gold reserve fund for the
payment of gold treasury notes was all in
the vaults awaiting any emergency that
mighs require payments from q reserve
fund. If that was not the object for which
the reserve fund Of gold was established,
had no conception that it was of any value
whatever. When a firm in New York got
together 81 900 900 of gold treasury notes
and presented them at the sub-treasury
here for gold for export Mr.. Roberts was q
little bit alarmed, but telsgraphed him to
pay it promptly and notify Wall street that
there was plenty more in Washington when
the New York supply ran out. even If the
demand infringed on the Sl00,000,000
gold reserve fund. 1 am not egotistic, but
! think that action restored financial con-
fdence inside Of twenty-four hours.
ut is amusing to me sometimes to hear
the talk that the treasury has no gold on
hand if the debts are subtracted fEom what
Is in our vaults. l have on hand, In add
tion to the 500, 0000 reserve, 49,, 0O0, 900
Of money in round figures. Some financial
statisticIsns who want to prove that the
l. l..
this $4,000, 600 we owe S., 000, 900 to ma
tonal banks for deposits TO secure the gov
eminent from loss III redeeming mutilated
currency and for other purposes; that there
are 81 900, 900 to S., 900, 030 check aatstand-
ing always for government expenses, for
pc sions, for the postoffice department-in
all, say, about $4,000, 900. The other
diary coin, and, beside, we owe S15,000,0 900
70 national banks on other scores. Thus
they leave me with the reserve fund
encroacbed upon and no money on
hand. Now, all that is very nice,
except that l have S30,000,000 on
hand in addition 30 the 500, 0O0, 900
gold reserve, and there is nothing In the
course of public business that will change
the situation except the shutting down of
the government itself. Then everything
outstanding would necessarily be paid Off
There has been no time since have been in
the treasury when there has been less than
$4,000, 900 of this outstanding indebtedness,
and there WAS a time when it amounted to
over $l7,000,000. 1t will always be there
unless we make all government checks pay
able in New York, which 1 favor doing.
Why, | learned of a case the other day
where an old soldier ha saved up his pen
sion checks tor over three years, because he
considered the government better than
bank. IL takes considerable time for the
lnnumeraole checks paid out for govern
ment service all over the country to get
back to the treasury, and the floating debt
Will always run about as ii is now, and
money come in to meet it as it is paid"
'Areyou doing much to stop the possible
Introduction of cholera into this countryW
Everything that we can do and have
power to do. We have taken special pains
SO far as New York is concerned, ana l must
say OF. DR.. Jenkins that be Is doing noble
and intelligent work at quarantine station"
Have you not recently made more strin-
gent examinations os immigrants"
es. Ine labor organizations asked for
II. There we're some curious phases of their
requests to get men selected by themselves
appointed as inspectors at Ellis Island. They
offered to pay the men themselves if they
We're appointed. | sent Gompers to Col.
Weber, and Gompers declared af er thor
ough investigation that he did not see that
anything could be bettered. He had man
selected, d | put him into the service, tell
Ing Mr.. Gompers as did the Others, that the
government could and would pay it's own
employees. The Amalgamated Iron and
steel Association presented me with two
names. One was an alien. The glass
WORKERS. asked for a man, and | consented
because am in the glass manufacturing
business myself. 1t is growing very large,
and 1t would be said if l refused thar l was
preludiced by my Investments. They rec
ommended a man who, before l acted on
his case, was indicted for bigamy. OF course
1 loould not appoint the almagamated alien
n or man charged with crime. When l asked
ne glass workers to recommend another
man, they replied that they could not find
.gpe willing to take the inspectorship because
tney we're getting bigger wages than the
government salary"
- 1t is said the whole of President Harri>
sons cabinet is going on the stump. Is this
intend TO make speeches as often as my
uutles and health will permit. am feeling
exceedingly well physically and weigh
twenty pounds more than when 1 came
D Taack from Europe. Secretaries Tracy =,
ElKlns, Rusk and Noble and Attorney GEN
era Miller will all be active in the speech
making campaign"
Man Was Made to Mourn,
Eerhaps, and perhaps not Howavar that NAV