Evening star., 1896-10-24

iron molds. As soon as 1t is cooled it Is re-
weighed, and small piece Is cut from each
tests the sample and tells Uncle Sam just
how much gold, silver and copper the brick
contains. and upon this estimate the de-
poSttor Is paid.
Preparing the Gold for Coin.
The gold brick is now turned over to the
melter and refiner. This man Is one of the
most important of the officials of the mint
He must separate the silver and gold. and
must see that the gold and silver are of the
requisite fineness for coin. 1t is he who
manages the 16 to business, and If the
political parties could agree upon a method
Of controlling him there would be no room
for discussion. According to our law our
gold coin must be 900 parts fine; that is. in
every coin 800 out of the 900 parts of which
1t Is made must he pure gold In order to ac
complish this result the melter and refiner
must have the pure gold to begin with. He
must take all the gold out of the brick, but
in such way as to leave no silver or other
metals connected with 1t. His method is an
odd one. He takes the gold brick and melts
1t with a lot of silver. He does this be-
cause the acid which is to take the silver
out of the gold will not work we'll without
there Is plenty of silver in the mixture. He
knows just how much silver is necessary
for the right combination, and he adds this
amount to our gold brick. The combined
metals are next thrown into vessel con-
q
affinity for silver and for the baser metals.
1t has no effect upon gold. but it sucks all
OF the other metals out of the mixture and
combines with them, turning them into
liquid which looks not unlike water The
pure gold drops to the bottom Of the vessel,
while the silver and other metals are left
In the solution. The liquor is now drawn
on, and the melter and refner has a lot Of
pure gold, out of which he makes another
brick or bar. This metal, however, is too
pure for our coins. We find it so soft that
we can scratch 1t with our finger nails,
and We are told that coins made of pure
gold would not hold their own for a year,
and that wedding ring made of pure gold
would hardly outlast the honeymoon 1t is
therefore necessary that the metal be one
tenth alloyed with silver and copper. The
alloy hardens the coins and makes them
wear. The melter and refiner knows lust
how much Is needed, and he puts this
amount with our gold. He takes more gold
and more copper in the same proportions,
ana weighs out enough for what Is known
as melt or the amount to be melted at
one time.
In the Melting Room.
We follow the mass of gold and alloy to
the melting room. and soon find ourselves
In vast factory-like place. which is walled
with small furnaces, and in which dozens
OF soot-covered men are busily working
Some are banking up Goals about clay pots
like those we saw in the furnaces Of the
deposit melting room. Others arc lifting
out what seem to be red hot dippers of
molten gold and pouring the flaming LIQUID
into iron molds. a little more than a foot
long and two inches In thickness. Three of
these molds are fastened together. and
three golden ingots are thus nodded at
one time. We stop and watch the process
1t makes us think of that of cooking waf-
f1es. The molds are first laid open and
creased with lard. They are then locked
together by iron bands. stood upon end,
q fr,t1
The metal hardens as it strikes the cold
ircn, and moment later the molds are
orened and the ingots are dropped out
upcn a table to be seized with a pair of
come out steaming hot, but soon COOL and
later on we have chance to handle them.
We find that each of them looks like
chisel or wedge. 1t is twelve inches long,
half an inch thick, and about two inches
wide. The width is graduated according to
the size of the coin to be made from the
ingots. Those we see nodded are for
.twenty-dollar gold pieces, and each ingot
Is worth, we are told. about 81, 400
Little Chance for Thieves In the Mint.
AS we watch the workmen labelling out
gold like so much water we notice that
now and then a bit Of the precious metal
splashes out and falls to the floor. and we
wonder whether there is not some way by
which the employees might steal themselves
rich. We ask the melter and refineI
whether thefts of small amounts Of gold
are not common. He replies that such
theft would soon be detected, and shows
US how every day this room is charged
with every bit of gold that comes into 1t.
and how 1t must give back as much as 1t
gets. He points to the floor. which is
cred with an iron network of q honey
comb pattern, the cells of which. an inch
in diameter. are raised about half an inch
above the floor, go that every bit of gold
which falls drops down within them.
Gov he. jotx ~,
of gold out Of that network without being
seen. Some years ago we had only bare
floors. and In one of the mints we found
that we were losing gold. The leak could
tives noticed that one Of the furnace men
was spending more money than his wages
warranted. He was buying real estate and
was living at an extravagant rate. He was
watched. and 1t was found that he was in
the habit Of putting shoemaker's wax up
on the soles of his boots. Whenever he
saw bit Of gold or silver upon the floor
he would carelessly step upon It. The pre-
cious metal would sink into the wax and
stick to his feet. That night he would
scrape it of. get out the gold. and come
wax for more With this floor such a thing
is not possible. The rooms are swept every
day, and the sweepings of this mint
amount to about 10000 a year. We save
every bit Of the ashes. Our old pots are
broken up and Iemelted, and every bit of
gold gotten out. We have. in fact, record
OF almost every atom of gold which comes
into the mint. from the time 1t enters the
deposit room until it goes out in coin OF
bullion"
Making Gold Eagles.
But let US follow the golden ingots we
have Just seen drop from the molds. They
are of the right standard Of finaness for
gold double eagles. and it would seem that
the process Of turning them into money
would be simple enough. We have the
idea, held by many, that our coins are
made by casting, the gold and silver being
melted and turned into molds, just as in
the making of bullets, save that when the
molds are opened, out drop gold dollars
and silver dollars. instead Of balls of lead
There was Eever a greater mistake Our
coins are not nodded. They are stamped
out of Geld metal. and an enormous pres
81, puts upon their faces the beautiful
images of the Goddess of Liberty and the
American eagle. The gold ingots, gold
chisels, wedges, or whatever you choose to
call them. are first rolled between cylinders
of steel, so graduated that the ingots grow
smaller and smaller az thsy are pulled