The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-08-14
HOW GOLD is TRANSPORTED
Uncle Sam Carries $4,000, 900 from San
Francisco 10 New York in the Mails.
The Express Company Wanted $50, 900 for Do
ing the Work, but the Government Hauled
1t at Cost of Only $500.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.

Department but Assistant Treasurer
Whelpley says that it Will be less than
$780, he thinks. 1t was hauled by the
railroads under their regular mail con-
tracts, for il Ca me through as registered
mail. The assistant treasurer at San
Francisco had five hundred boxes made es-
pecially for the shipment. Then there
were the personal expenses Of the ffty-one
men who went out TO San Francisco ana
guarded the treasure on it's way East.
These were the principal expenditures.
The laborers at the mint at San Francisco
were pressed into service TO pack and load
the money, the regular employees of the
railway mail service guarded it. the arms
which the guard carried were taken from
the arsenal by order of Secretary Elkins,
at the personal request of Secretary Fos-
ter. and the mail wagons of the POstoffice
Department were used to carry the boxes
10 and from the cars.
The lowest bid which the Treasury De-
partment could obtain from an express
company for hauling the money was $4,000.
This, of course, would have included the
risk Of loss in transit Ly accident or theft.
The Wells-Fargo Company, which controls
all the territory west of the Missouri. made
this rate. The United states Express Com
all of the coin and currency shipped by the
Treasury Department between points east
of the Missouri, would have made better
rate II it could, bat west Of the Missouri
the United States Express Company would
have had to 90 business with the Wells
Fargo people, and they refused to make
any better terms. That 10 why the Treas
ury Department does its own business west
of the Missouri. Ii has handled many ship
ments from San Francisco before, through
the railway mail service. to avoid the
necessity of paying the exorbitant Wells
Fargo rates. These have come through un-
der special guard. Invariably without ac-
cident
WOULD HAVE COST Sos, $40.
The representative OF the United States
Express Company here ia o son of tho Hon.
Thomas c. Platt, of New York. He has an
office in the basement of the Treasury
building. I'VE could not carry the twenty
million-dollar shipment" said Mr.. Platt
to-day. because We could not make rates
with the Wells-Fargo company. If it had
been within our territory we would have
made the department. q special rate for
handling SO large u sum. Under our con-
pad OF paper and figured for minute. AT
the mileage rate" he continued. figuring
on $3.50 miles, we would have been en-
titled 70 S65,S20 Tor the haul. But on an
have made some special rate If we could
have hauled II"
The largest gold shipment handled by
the United States EXPRESS Company since
IL took the contract for the governments
work about three years ago, was "a. O00, COO,
taken from Philadelphia to New York re-
Gently. This was kept extremely quiet at
the time of shipment. The gold was put
into two OF the companys safes IN a special
car and six or eight men were sent along to
guard it The shipment did not attract
any marked attention. The people of Phil
adelphia are not SO much interested In
pie of san Francisco. The people of San
Francisco object to having their gold sent
East. Every time a Shipment is made, they
watch the sub-treasury. estimate the amount
of coin taken, follow 1t to the station and
then have the amount and the number of
the car telegraphed all over the country,
presumably TO make the shipment more
dangerous and so discourage shipments in
the future. The treasury people have q
strong suspicion that the Wells Fargo Ex-
press Company made public the particulars
Of this last shipment out of revenge be-
cause they did not get the contract.
The amount paid to the United States
Express Company for the $1,000, 600 ship
ment was 81. 800. This was for O two-hour
trip on the railroad and carrying the coin
in the wagons of the express company be-
tween the sub-treasury and the railroad
The cost, it will be seen, was greater than
The total cost of handling the big shipment
from the coast. but on that shipment the
government took its own risk of loss. On
the soven-million shipment the express
company took the risk. and if any part of
the money had been missing at the end of
the journey the company would have had
TO make 1t good. The bond of the United
States Express Company Is only $500, 900,
but as it Is private partnership concern
and not corporation, the individual
stockholders are responsible for every dol
lar of it's indebtedness and among them
vi -
Thomas Z. Platt.
PRECAUTIONS AGAINST THEFT.
Gold coin is easy to handle, though gold
is very heavy metal. A million dollars in
gold weighs only two tons. But the risk
in handling gold is much greater than in
handling silver. There is no danger of
losing any considerable amount of silver
by theft because it is so bulky. The only
danger of loss is by accident-train wreck.
for example. But there Is a much greater
chance of loss in handling currency. The
largest shipment of currency which the
express company has handled was $4,000
coo. shipped from Washington to New York
denomination, and the entire amount was
placed In two small boxes. These were
locked and scaled aud put in of the
regular safes of the company under special
aud they are bolted to the floor of the car.
They have removable dIsls-big black and
white things fully six inches in diameter.
When the safe Is locked at the beginning
OF the run the dial is removed. aud no one
without duplicate dial could WORK the
combination of the safe even If be knew il.
This is only ono of the many devices adopt
ed to cIrcumvent dishonest employees and
Others. a device which will be put INTO
operation before long tthe contracts for
making it are now out is en- improved
m0ney-bag. The m0ney-bag now used by
the beginning of the run, and upon the
integrity of the seal and the integrity of
the bag (which Is seamlessl the company
relies for preserving the contents intact in
transit. The new device 10 a paddock for
fastening the money! bags. The paddock
has a straight post instead of q ring at the
top, and this fits into an oval hole in the
ring, which confines the neck of the bag
The paddock turns in this oval hole and
fastens across it. On the front of
the paddock is multiplying regis
ter with four openings for fig-
ures. Each time the lock is thrown
IL causes this multiplying device to regis
ter, and when once it has registered il must
60 forward to the next number. 1t can
never so back. For example, the first time
that the paddock is used 1t registers OO01,
the second time 0002 the third time coos
and so on. 1t keeps on registering until it
reaches 1920. when 1t goes back to GOO and
begins over again. Each paddock has per-
manent number. When q bag IS started
out on q route IL is registered on the trip
sheet and the messen gives a int for