The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-09-11

to be more interested in it than gold,
probably because it is more plentiful y
the United States has, counting both coin
and bullion, between five and six hum
dred millions in the Treasury. The coin
is in sacks containing abouta thousand
dollars each, the sacks are sealed and
weighed before being placed within the
vaults.
at the change of every administration
this silver has to be taken out and count
ed. The counting usually exten DIS over
several months, and is done by weighing
each sack on finely adjusted scales. II
there be the least Discrepancy 1t will be
detected at once.
When you recollect that a single man
cannot count over million in five
months, including sacking and sealing,
some idea Of the magnitude of the labor
it takes to count the money several times
before being shipped from the mint can
be obtained. 1t would take every man,
woman and child in Anderson county;
working six or seven hours day, a
month to count all the money at present
in the United States Treasury.
And when you consider that the
weight of this Immense amount Of silver
is about twenty thousand tons some
conception of the strain on the vaults can
be had. In fact it has been go great on
one as to cause one to bulge. Props have
been put up to prevent any further dam
ger from that source.
To move this pile of money would take
q string ofwagons extending from An
derson to within few miles of Augusta,
Ga. Every inhabitant Of Anderson
county would be independe rich lift
were divided equally among them.
What about the precautions taken to
prevent robbery
Our vaults in the basement of the Trea-
sury, unlike the Bank of England, have
no wonderful mechanism by which they
are protected. The Bank Of England has
an intricate system Of signals and electri-
cal arrangements, and even were rob-
ber TO penetrate into the vast depths Of
stone which guards the treasure the act
of stealing would cause the whole thing
to be Sc bmefged in water. In our Trea-
sury the protection has nothing of this
wonderful arrangement Of mechanical
genius, having only the strength OF the
building and the steel vaults, together
with the watchfuI eye Of the ever present
guard, to keep everything under strict
Surveillance and safe from robbery.
When any money is received at the
Treasury it is placed in the vaults, which
are built of stone with huge safe within
that work, and is safely locked in with
time lock. This time lock closes the
door each day at 2 o'clock in the after
noon and does not open until the next
morning at IL O'Clock. The door is of
solid steel, and so heavy as to require
good sized machine to roll it into place.
There is another apartment which is
also closed with the time lock, and then
q third one, leading to the vault, which
has barred grating in front.
Guards watch the building during the
whole night from the outside, and within
q set of men are always walking the
gloomy rounds of the dark corridors.
The little sentry boxes which were
erected in the corners of the White House
lot some time ago, and which were the
target for many humorous articles in the
Washington papers, as they were
thought to be for the protection of the
guards to the President, are for tho use
OF the watchmen who are constantly
guarding the Treasury. Were there the
least attempt at attack the whole police
force of the city would be on hand in ten
minutes.
Granting that man could penetrate
the iron doors which give entrance to the
building, he would also have to elude the
numerous sentries who guard every
enook and Granny" within the building,
and where, in the silence of the night, the
tall of a pin can be heard. Were he to
overcome all the guards he would find
that he had an impossible task in enter
ing the chilled steel door and penetrat-
ing the huge one which is closed by the
time lock. In short, it would be impos-
sible for robbery to be committed on
the ITnitad States Treasury
Over at the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, where the paper money is
printed, steel vault with time lock
precludes any possibility of entrance
after certain hour in the day. Then all
during the night watchman sits IN front
of the door, while others patrol the build
ing. When money is transported to the
Treasury to have the seal of the United
States stamped on itand then to be putin
circulation, it is placed in a large wagon,
the sides OF which are of steel plates, and
four armed men ride on the step behind.
To Washingtonians it Is familiar sight
to see the solid dark sides Of the wagon
numbering along, drawn by pair of mas
sive bays and driven by son OF the
Emerald Isle, who has been at the work
for ten years, and who has carried on an
average of sixteen million a week during
has made an attempt to touch the wagon
in which the money was hauled.
In moving the money back and forth
in the mint at Philadelphia ::nd the Sub
Treasury in New York, the safes, which
carried in special car, which is guarded
required OF all men engaged in the hand
ling of money during transportation to
carry pistol in their pockets, and to be
ready at all times to resist an attack, for
if one was made they are expected to de-
fend the money at the risk of their lives.
The safes are brought up from the rail-
road station by the express companies in
large wagons whose sides are framed in
stout iron work. a guard, heavily
armed, is locked within the wagon and
the outside has an additional safeguard
in the armed driver and sentry. The
guard in the cage work cannot get out,
even were an attack made on the wagon
and he would be forced to defend himself
and the money at all hazards. No one,
however, has been known to make the
least attempt on any of the Treasury wa
gons or any others engaged in the trans
portation Of money.
The only case of stealing recently re-
rorted in the Treasury was few years
ago when one of che guides took great
many silver dollars. At that time the
silver money, which is always put up in
bags, was exposed to the full view OF the
visitors and one bag lay open on table
in room of the vaults, and the guide
would steal one each time he took party
through. He was at last caught, but,
strange to say, the same thief is working
in bank in Chicago.
When Coxey's army was coming to the
city little over year ago there was
great fear lest an attack be made upon the
money vaults, aud an extra guard was
placed about the big white builing for
time. No such notion had ever entered
the heads OF the band of ragged hoboes,
and they could have been dispersed by
small squad of police in three rounds.
Great precautions against theft in the
ranks Of the clerks are taken, and any
missing note is deducted from the salary
of the one who handled it last. Heavy