Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-27

mai resting place IN the lie room OF the
registers division. When . check Is caught
In this way, payment Is Immediately sus-
pended and the paper Is sent back to the
bank that paid out the money on 1t. This,
of course. Is all connected with registered
bonds, the holder Of coupon bond mere
ly cutting on the coupon when it natures.
and sending 1t to the treasury or a sub
treasury for payment.
A Lucky Individual.
With all the precautions. however, the
government was caught mapping once.
When a bond Is certified as having been
destroyed the government issues bond of
Indemnity to protect itself from paying the
same twice. In the sixties a bond for 81 500
issued under the act of February Is. 1862.
per cent loan, was reported as having
been destroyed. and afhdayits substantial
ing this claim were filed with the DEPART
ment The bond. of course, was made good
| by the government and the substitute was
l in due time cashed in. Shortly afterward.
however. the original bond. which had not
been destroyed, sworn, turned up. ana
the substitute bond not having been saved,
as they are now. the amount was paid
second time. The treasurer of the United
States was, of course, required to pay the
amount; but a special act was passed by
Congress reimbursiHg him. This is the
only instance on record where the govern
ment ever made a mistake or where any
Individual got ahead of Uncle Sam by this
method This record Is really remarkable
when 1t is considered that sometimes a
scLre of attempts of this character are
made every day by men who are the smart
est and ShreWdeSt in the world in this line
and it is probable that this one case would
not have occurred had the bonds been kept
on file then as they are now. When an is
sue Of bonds is called in at the maturity Of
the loan now the securities are carefully
tagged and filed in much the same manner
as the checks, and this preciudes any pos
sibility of forged bond or one that has
been certified as having been destroyed be-
ing paid the second time, in the case
quoted.
In the course Of time the file rooms will
be cleared out. but not. in all probability.
until every check that could possibly stir
up a controversy had been turned in and
the account closed. The bonds will proba-
bly, be kept much longer than the checks.
The work OF registering and filing the
checks is not so complicated now as it used
to be. the only active loans of the gov
eminent on which interest is being paid
quarterly are the consols of 1907, 1904 and
1925. and the continued loan Of 1891. thus
entailing the work on but four Gets of
checks.
to visit the rooms are given up to
shelves; shelves on every side Of the rooms
and cabinets packed as closely as possible
in the center. consisting of nothing but
shelves. Each set of checks Is wrapped
In a separate bundle, each bundle bearing
a tin label that determines a. once the
nature of the loan, the amount and the
report number by which the bundle Is re-
ferred to from the book.
Highest Rate of Interest.
In connection with the loans of the gov
eminent it is interesting to note that the
highest amount of interest paid by the
government on any loan was on the consols
of 1861. 1854 and 1865, under which coupon
bonds were issued. The rate of interest on
these securities waS nor cont II iS alSo
interesting to note that the best counter
felt ever made in this country OF a govern
ment security was of these 7-3O notes, as
they are called. but the author of the work
was caught with all his tools and the
notes in his possession before he had time
to circulate any of them. 1t is probable
that had they been put in circulation the
genius who made them would have secured
millions of dollars.
The interest checks on file at the de-
partmcnt show some enormous holdings of
United States securities by individuals.
The largest check ever drawn by the gov
eminent in favor of one man in payment of
interest on a loan was that drawn in favor
of William II. Vanderbilt, as a quarterly
payment on his holdings of the loan of
Per cent conSoiS of 1S1I-1301. The check
as dated April 1, 1882 but it was only
one of a series for like amount that the
famous hnancler received quarterly for
several years, and was signed by James
Gffllan, then United States treasurer, and
ccuntersigned by W. II. Gibson. Mr. VAN
derbit received yearly interest of ST.
So. 900 on his holdings. which amour ted
to s4S.05e, 600 payable in quarterly INSTALL
ments, 50 that the check in question called
for SiSn,5N. 1t is now in the possession of
the currency bureau of the treasury and
is shown as curiosity to the many visit
ors who daily throng the corridors and
rooms of the building. 1t is Endorsed wv.
III. Vanderbilt" and turned over to the
Bank of the Metropolis in New York for
deposit.
1t is rather interesting occupation to
compute the interest Mr.. Vanderbilt was
receiving On this one great loan. Every
year he received 81 .922. 900. which amounted
to s4S0. 500 quarterly, s16O. 1866 monthly,
s5.265. rs weekly, s219.40 hourly, night and
day, and $3.50 per minute
Under the present active loans of the
government the largest holdings do not
entail interest checks of much more than
5000 per quarter, the amounts ranging
from s. to that amount