New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-24

who kept guard over the iron boxes containing
the treasure. The scenes in the offices OK tns
Sub-Treasury have taken ON all through tho
| summer and even at the present time. military
appearance. Officers and priyates have been
constantly coming and going in the course Oh
drawing their pay. There has been one once
where special desks were provided for the use or
Army paymasters, who came with their o.uer
on the SubTreasury. and who. upon receiving
the pile Of grecnbacks would sit down TO count
| ii all over to make sure it was correct.
The fact that the Sub-Treasury Is member
| OF the New-YOrk Clearing House Association
enables It to accept drafts from out-of-town
! banks which have payments to make to the Gov
eminent. These drafts are simply put through
the Clearing House for collection. and in this
way great deal OF trouble and delay Is avoid
ed. An example Of the great help this arrange
mcnt is to those in different parts OF the coun-
try Is shown in the case OF banker in Texas
has come for getting in the cotton crop Thou
sands Of pickers are employed, and these. as a
rule are paid OF i'll silver coin OF different de-
advise 1t that about $4,000 in silver viii 90
needed on such day. The bank sends draft
for this amount TO the New-York Sub-Treasury.
accompanied by request for the silver. The
draft is put into the Clearing House for coli
! lection. and the Sub Treasury at New Orleans Is
| given order by mail to ship the coin to TIE
! Texas bank. which is done free Of. charge. TINS
cost Of the transaction to the bank is only two
| cents for the postage stamp on the letter to the
| New York Sub-Treasury Should there be any
| great urgency for coin at any centre the trans
| action can be hurried through by the use Of
| kilograms. the cost Of which the bank must
stand.
SHIPMENTS OF MONEY.
The case above cited is only one in thou
! sand. The local Sub-Trcasury ships coin direct
from its own vaults to all the big manufacturing
towns In New England. New-York and New
Jersey free of charge. Small coins, such as
dimes nckels and pennies. are sent in the same
way. Everything is evened up in the course OF
time The big concerns. like the street rail-
ways. the elevated roads, the newspapers and
others. which take in large amounts Of this
chicken feed" come to the Sub-Treasury and
deposit it, receiving in return bills Of large d<@
nomination. On the other hand the big depart
ment stores and many other retail houses and
the factories as has already been mentioned.
send down big bills to have them exchanged for
the little pieces of coin. In this way tons upon
tons OF money handled in transmission. and
the Sub-Treasury becomes kind Of institution
for exchange.
This brings up an interesting bit OF informa-
ton. These coins. they are brought into the
| Sub-Treasury. are all examined for counterfeit5,
! and it has been found during the present year
| that there has been a wholesale manufacture OF
spurious pennies This curious condition OF az
fairs has been a mystery to the officials of tho
|
Service officers. into whose hands the matter haa
| been placed. In some months, especially during
the height of the war. when so many extras
were sold tx was found that no less than seven
| thousand counterfeit pennies were discovered
| among the coin that found It's way into tho
hands of the clerks of the SubTreasury. In
every case the SPURIOUS coin is cut in two on
the spot. at the loss Of the depositor The mutt
| lated coin is then passed over to the Secret
| Service Department. During late months the
number of bad pennies found. while large has
hoo fall nd
! the Secret Service men had been getting in some
good work. AS for nickels. it is said that there
are not so many counterfeits made. They are
too easy to detect. In a similar manner there is
! a constant watching for bad bills. Paper cur
| rency that has been worn to a point where it is
no longer suitable for the purposes of trade is
sent to Washington, where it is destroyed.
TREMENDOUS TOTALS
For the year ending in June, 1893 the ac-
| counts Of the Sub-Treasury show some interest
ing figures. AS has already been shown. the
total business was about 50. 100000 OOO of which
the receipts equaIled 81. 1919 OO0OOO and the pay
ments 81 POI 100000 Among the items of re-
| ceipts the following have been selected as OF
leading Importance: The customs contributed
So. 572 900. the redemption of currency S2oI,-
COG 900 and the PostofHce Sl3.GGiOO0. AS for
the distributions. the pensions amounted to SI3.-
OOOOOD. about the same as the year before;
transfers of funds for the account Of disburs-
ing officers 5000 $40 900; payments on interest
| accounts, S21 .ND0.OO0; on account of Postofiicc
disbursements $l3J0o0 1000: redemption Of cur
rency 500. 30 900; disbursement on account Oh
bullion purchases by the assay Offices S'l'''"'
go and for the account Of miscellaneous us
bursting officers. $lOOOOO00O which last includes
all the different persors above enuiic' a.e :, l'
| looking for their salaries from the Ne"io'
branch Of the Treasury A.,
Tha feature OF the Sub-Treasury during the
summer just passed was the payments UPON III.
| new war bonds over S40OOOOOO passed over
the counters Of the tellers at the Sub-ireaSury,