Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-16

| #N " due to him as salary
| was sent to the White
! SMS~\ House usual by
! WWN .XMN messenger. All of the
M cabinet officers re-
w ceived their wages in
the yellow meal. Each of them. that
is to gay. was obliged to accept just
about three pounds avoirdupois of specie.
Such a heft can hardly be carried In the
pocket comfortably, so Secretary Hoke
Smith sent his share home in a cab.
Mr.. Cleveland's stipend for the month.
IL 1t had been delivered to him in gold,
would have tipped the scales at a tribe
over sixteen pounds. His salary for one
year in the same metal would weigh just
about 200 pounds That would be much
OF the precious yellow substance as he
could carry in a sack. PROBABLY that was
as large quantity as the noble Athenian
whom King Croesus of Lydia allowed to
help himself from his treasury was able to
| convey away, though he nearly choked
himself by filling his mouth. All govern
ment employees were paid in gold and sill
yer up to 1861. and they never thought of
complaining.
| 1 looked into the famous sold vault in
the sub-basement of the treasury yester-
day. II was a proceeding involving much
| formaiiiy, the presence or the cashier ana
a personal representative Of the treasurer
of the United States being required. one
of these functionaries held the secret COM
| bination for opening the outer door, while
the other had that of the inner portal
| When both huge and massive gates OF steel
had been unlocked the interior Of an i'm
mense safe as big as good-sized drawing
room was disclosed. That is to say, though
pitch dark, its internal arrangement could
be seen when gas jet was lighted.
| Running straight though the middle from
| entrance hallway
either side of which was a row of iron lat
/ tice work compartments. There were in all
| fourteen of these lattice work rooms, some
what resembling cells along a prison cor
| ridor. and all but one of them were filled
as full as they could hold with bags of
| coin. However. this coin was not sold, but
| first one to the left of the doorway. 1t
alone contained the entire stock of gold
now held In the treasury at Washington
a total Of Slo.5Oo, 600 The small show made
| by II was surprising.
| Instead OF being chokefull like the COM
partments containing silver. this one seemed
| almost empty. Even the floor was not Gov
cred with the bags of yellow coin, which
were stacked In small heaps around the
walls as II to make some sort Of show Yet
value In this form is so highly concen-
| trated as to give occasion for all the pre-
cautions above described, while a few feet
away from this vault is an enormous box
or iron lattice work exposed to the view Of
the public all day, though within II is stored
Sl0l 100000 In standard silver dollars. For
| tunetely, this quantity of gold Is only a
| fraction of Uncle Sans stock of that metal
There Is more Of It in the subtreasuries at
either New York or San Francisco than is
kept here.
The minis also hold a great amount of
| gold belonging to the government IN a
room adjoining the business office of the
big coin factory on Chestnut street. Phila-
delphia. may be seen about $3OosugO worth
| or the yellow metal in the shape OF SHIN
Ing bricks stacked upon shelves, Just as de-
fhn
wealth in form better realized than The
| specie done up in bags 1T The treasury II
does not seem to be carefully qua rled
as 1t is here. but the only theft ever ac-
| complished from the Quaker city institu-
| ton was that of silver brick which a
| laborer slyly threw into a barrel of re-
fuse. thus conveying 1t 'ut Of the build
| Ing. But, though he was not detected, the
massive ingot proved itself to him a verita-
| BILE white elephant, and he was caught
In trying to dispose of it in New York.
Though the show of gold at the treasury
| is not impressive ct the first glance one
has more respect for 1t when the content Is
| of the bags are enumerated. Stacked in
| heaps around the compartment referred to
are ninety-eight sacks each cont aiming
LOO yellow double eagles. Poured out on
! the flour they would make a very decent
pile of glittering metal representing al
I together 81 $4,000. Besides these there are
| four hundred and sixty-nine bags. each
| holding $50 shining eagles, s93lJ coo in
| all. Then there are 1913 sacks each con-
| tanning 1000 s. pieces, or a total Of s., $50 =
| 900. Lastly. there are fifteen sacks. each
| filled to bursting with 1000 of those an
| noying $50 pieces. which are so easily
mistaken for cents that no more Of them
| are to be coined by the minis
One of the most interesting sights In the
| world Is the refining of the raw gold bull
| ion at the United States assay oa;ce en-
! Wall street, New York. Arriving there
! from the mines it Is first melted to free It
| from all earthly matter and other foreign
| substances. Then N tfy of
! silver is added to IT and the mixture Is i'm
mersed in a bath of nitric acid. The acid
has no effect on the gold. but 1t dissolvcs
| the silve, into liquid which looks just
| like pure water. This limpid liquid is
drawn of, leaving the ,,old at the bottom
| OF the tub. The precio Is metal thus puri-
fed looks like SO much me red gravel. 10
get rid of all moisture it is subjected to
pressure. On coming out Of the squnezin z
machine 1t appears In the shape Of big
cakes, resembling angel-food cakes in
| form. These cakes worth about So 600
EACH and one could afford to pay 5000
| for a slice of very moderate size.
| This Is the material out of which the
gold coins are made. The gold Is melted
in crucible. from which it is dipped cut
with lade and poured into iron molds
| When cooled the molds are unlocked ard
/ taken apart; the precious metal then ap-
| pearing in the shape of what are termed
'fngots." For the coinage one-tenth part
Of copper is mixed with the gold but the
| government also makes a business OF man
| ufacturing merchants bars for the use
] of jewellers. gold leaf makers and dentists
/ who require the virgin metal I'm their
| trades. Such bars are as near to perfect
purity as can be. being 999 fine out Of a
| possible loo. The government. while it
! makes a big profit by coming silver gains
nothing by minting gold pieces the in
| trinsic value of which is equal TO their
| face There is always some loss by vast
ing. too. The sweepings of the Philadel-
| phia mint alone sell for $4,000 annually.
Uncle Sam has some very valuable treas
ures Of gold i'm the National Museum. They
are of great worth intrinsically, apart from
! the historic interest attaching to them
Among these are three massive caskets of
| solid gold. each big as four-pound
candy box. They were gifts to Gen. Grant
| from the cities of London. Ayr and Glas-
| gov. respe rtively, containing the freedom
of those towns. There is a gold card of in
| vitation to ball, which was sent to the
! nero of Appomattox by friends in San
/ Francisco. 1t was incosed in a silver en-
| velope, with the address engraved on the
| outside and an ordinary 2-cent stamp af-
| fixed. Also there is gold scimitar sent by
| the Emperor of Morocco to Thomas Jeffer-
son. as well as many gold-hilted swords with
solid gold scabbards Two OF these were
| given to Gen. Shields by the states of South
| Carolina and Illinois as tokens of apprecia-
ton for services in the Mexican war Con-
] gress purchased them from the generals