The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-12-17

WASHINGTON, Dec. ll'-A rev hbN h6''
| in company with Hon. Terrence Y. Pow
| dcrly. commissioner of immigration, ana
! Il friend of his from Scranton, we matte
| Il tour of the United States treasury de-
! partmont. Mr.. POwdorly. being an oifi-
! Ger or the department, took the lrtd,
and being recognized by the GUARDIAN" "i
IuClp Sans treasure, ii was only nc"eS-
gurN for him to whisper the pass word
| giVe the CUunterSign. and the trio were
at once uShcrod into the august presence
| of that mighty agency which controls
| the dcstinics OF the world-0oncy.
D.
Passing through the cash-roorh where
| all disbursements of the treasury are
| made. gigantic heavy iron door was I'M
| locked and We were admitted into an or
Idmarily sized vault containing large sums
of gold, silver and paper money. The at
! tcndamt in Charpc--a very pleasant ana
| courteous Ecnteman-trSt showed us ,a
| ten thousand dollar bill placed III a glass
| frame. so'a to show both the front ana
| back parts of the bill This bill is Kept
/ as a curiosity. being the first and only
| one ever issued. a package about eight
or nine inches long containing bills of the
| denomination of one thousand dollars
| each, was next handed us for inspection,
| said to be valued at one million dollars.
| Mr.. Powderly instantly Clappcd it under
| his arm and said. "Oh for the wings of Il
| dove, and an ct ~ means OF escape; hut
| the stout iron cage soon put a quictus
| on his vain imaginings. The other Scran-
| tOnan said that it didn't affect him in
| that way as his mind was then running
| more on certain appointment than ON
| the matter of filthy luCrc which he
| couldn't get away with. After each one
| of us had weighted a CanNaS-Dag con-
| tanning five thousand dollars in gold, and
| one containing a thousand dollars in sill
| tr nnnnlSl descended
| silver vault. This vault is 50 feet long,
| II feet wide and II feet high, and is sub
| divided into compartments like horse
| stalls each stall being filed with white
| canvas-hags, and each bag containing
| a thousand silver dollars, aggrcgating Il
sum total of a hundred and fifty millions
of silver dollars, ali held in reserve tor
the redemption OF outstanding silver GER
| tfiCateS.
Are there many persons presenting
| these silver certificates at the counter Of
| the cash room to have them redeemed in
silver coin?" asked we Of the cashier
| NO" he said seldom ever. Silver
dollars seem to be a drug on the market
| here" What an instructive lesson this
ought to teach to the fauatcal advocates
| of the free and unlimited coinage of sill
yer at the ratio Of lf to l.
The total weight of the coin deposited
in this vault is five thousand tons. The
total value, the contents in the vaults CT
the United States trcasurcr's office is
>7Gc7S22lG.
Swinging back To the first floor We were
| conducted to the redemption division.
| Here may be seen Il group of tired look
| ing women, some young ana others mid
die aged buSily engaged in counting and
stacking silver dollars. Further on,
| throupb iron latpS Wa uDon what
| Is termed the counting division in which
perhaps fifty or sixty women are en-
ploycd in counting the paper currency re-
Ccivcd for redemption. The salaries of
| these women average about $3.50 per year
each and yet if in counting the great bulk
of money received, one of them happens
To pass a counterfeit note without detect
| ing ana reporting it, the amount OF such
| note is deducted from her wages. one
lady is engaged i'm nothing else but idenu-
| Tying C1"rrgd and mutilatCd money sent
| TO til ,:aasCry for redemption and from
her Ion. experience, together with Ic-
ma-kaor skill and ingenuity, she scarce
ly ever fails to detect the various kinds
of currency submitted to ncr for inspco-
| tion, aS well as the denominations Of each
part or fraction of a treasury note that
TO the ordinary observer is simply ndis-
cernibe
| III TINS room one Ol our party operated
Il lever which at u single stroke destroyed
a ten thousand dollar package of bank
notes, which We're retired for reissue N
smaller denominations. The wanton de-
struction caused him to sigh deeply.
o
The rogues gallery or counterfeiters s
Curio has been abolished for some reason
not explained. AS this used to be one
Of the interesting features of the treasury
department We were much disappointed
as we expected to have our pictures
taken while there to add to the list Cf
Curosties. Nh, POwderly then presented
us to the head of the financial institution
of our great country, Hon. Lyman j.
Gage, secretary of the treasury who re-
ccived us courteously and inquired pleas
antly about the great Electric city"
The Scranton man i'm the party responded
Tor the delegation by stating that If he
Uhc secretary would come over and visit
Scranton, the people of that place would
show his not only true Pennsylvania hos
pitality but the liveliost city of it's size
| IN the United States, lie then Compli-
nlented the secretary on his management
of our national finances and iocoScly re-
marked that he had never expected to
realize the pleasure Of having Il million
dollars presented TO him in a single day,
without his even asking II, as had been
done In the cellar of the treasury de-
partmcnt only an hour before, and he
joiced in the fact that for the good rep
utation of scranton, there were not GER
tain other men that he knew in that
beautiful city i'm company with him at the
time, for it is likely the temptation would
have been too great for them, and ne nc
tually thought they would have been
smart enough to have gotten away with
the Doodle, as their long experience had
made them slick operators in that line.
The secretary didn't press his inquiry
as to the names of these veteran experts
and the trio after exchanging pleasant
salutations bowed and departed to the
new Corcoran art gallery.
J This gallery is located at the corner OF