Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1899-09-15
SWEEPING THE MINT.
PLACE WHERE UNCLE SAM
MAKES HIS MONEY.

Annual House Cleaning Day a Very
Important One There-Au Waste and
Rubbish Gathered Up for Its Weight
OF Gold Dust.
Within the next few days the annual
housekeeping Of the United States
mint will commence, and, while it is
going on, the money factory will he
closed to visitors. It is the custom to
Turkish up the mint about this time
every year, two weeks usually being
devoted to the work.
Pipes which have been eaten out by
the strong acids used in coming will be
replaced, and the boilers Of the en-
gines will be cleaned. While the mint
will be closed to visitors and all coin
age operations cease, the banking and
depository departments and the CASH
ier's office will be kept open for the
transaction of business.
Thousands Of dollars worth of gold
is found annually among the sweep
ings Of the mint, but this gold was
never lost. The art Of coinage has been
reduced to such a fine point that, given
a certain quantity Of bullion during
the year, the coiner at the mint must
turn out a certain amount of coin. The
leeway of waste is allowed for almost
to a grain, and it is upon the sweep
ings of the institution, with their thou
sands of dollars of hidden gold dust.
that the coiner counts to escape being
made an involuntary defaulter. This
is the reason why every washstand in
the mint does not let the water escape
in which the employees have washed
their hands until it has %percolated
through a blanket. These pieces of
blanket are changed regularly and are
faithfully preserved. When house.
cleaning time ONE and they IRE
burned with the rest of the dirt, the
tiny, invisible specSs of gold that
came from Off the employees hands
amount to n tidy sum-.
The daily sweepings Of the mint go
into what is known as the "sweep cell
lar" On this occasion every nook and
Granny Of the mint is swept with equal
diligence and care. Even the roof is
swept. And so valuable are the CLEAN
ings that a specially provided funnel
catches the sweepings and drops them
into q clay-bottomed we'll. The clay is
dug up, dried, and removed to the
sweep cellar for utilization in connec-
ton with the other dirt.
Into this golden dirt pile so any odd
pieces of rubbish that may have accu-
mulated during the year. The very
shoes the workmen have worn and the
leather gloves with which they han
died pigs Of metal become so grained
with precious dust that they are we'll
worth being ground up with the rest
vf the odds and ends. All the dirt is
finally assayed. and, with the rating of
its assay, is sold to the highest bidders,
who r usually smelters. These
sweepings have netted Uncle Sam as
much as $4,000.
The responsibility for bullion worked
up in the mint is divided between the
official who fills the post Of meter and
retiner and him who has charge of the
coming. The meter and refiner gets
the bullion first; from him it goes to
the coiner. Each of these consign-
ments is weighed in a separate bal
Oce by the government, and each has
to watch the waste closely, or come
out of the little end Of the horn. One
would think the government had tied
them down pretty well when it fixed
the following legal" limit of waste
allowed:
Meter and Reiner-Waste in gold.
DOL; waste in silver, .OO15.
Coincr-Waste in gold, .OO5; waste in
silver, .O1O.
But the government has got down to
the bona fide waste, and here is the
way the officials must manage the
waste If they want to keep within the
limits Of decent economy:
Allowance to meter and refner on
gold passing through his hands, rs
ounce in $50 ounces, 10 ounces in TO-
600 ounces, 500 ounce in 100000
ounces; on silver passing through his
hands, 1.125 ounce in $50 ounces, Is
unce in 10000 ounces, $50 ounces in
100000 ounces.
Allowance to coiner IN gold passing
through his hands, 1916 ounce in $50
ounces, 5 ounces in 10000 ounces $50
ounces in 100000 ounces; on silver
passing through his hands, rs ounce
in $50 ounces, 10 ounces in 10000
ounces, 500 ounces in 100000 ounces
Yet so nice is the science of house.
cleaning at the mint that this limit is
scarcely eve Observation-Disclosures
Telegraph.
Kingly Wooine.
The II in which the latest great
English courtship has been carried on