The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-02
UNCLE SIM STRONG BOX
HOW REPAIRS ARE FUT ON THE
VAULTS IN THE TREAS
URY
MILLIONS IN COIN THERE
Tons Upon Tons OF Money Piled Up
Whit Some OF the Gem
partments Hold in
Specie.

Uncle Sans treasure boxes are UNDER
going some important alterations They
are not all up to date in the mode Of
their construction, nCr burglar proof by
any means. Seventy-five thousand
dollars has been appropriated for
the alterations, which consist
In part of new vestibule and
strong doors for the great silver
storage vault. This vault cost $4,000
originally, and extends under the terrace
at the south end of the treasury build
ing. 1t contains, says the Washington
Post mighty box of steel lattice work
50 feet long. 81 feet wide, ard e feet
high, filled chock full of silver dollars
VISITORS are permitted to walk around
the mass of treasure following a marrow
passage which runs between the side Of
the box and the steel walls of the vault
This lattice work receptacle holds
$lOl 100000 in silver, which is packed In
wooden boxes, two bags of standard
dollars to a box. and each box weighing
40 pounds. Formerly the coin was mp
ly stacked up in bags, but notwithstand-
ing the walls Of steel, dampness rotted
the bags and the money ran out of them
This made extra trouble, requiring fresh
counts, and it is no small job to reckon
over such gigantic sum in metal.
Hence it was decided to pack the stuff
in boxes. Each sack contains 81, COO and
so long as the treaSurer'S seal on it is
IIldCI It's contents GO not nave TO be
verified on occasions when recounts are
made.
WHERE BONDS ARE KEPT.
The bond vault is to be enlarged
greatly, doubling its capacity-a change
made necessary by the Increasing num-
Der of national banks which deposit
bonds in the treasury. Many private
state banks, taking advantage of the
recent act of congress, are coming in
as national banks. A new and thorough
ly modern strong room is to be built for
the registers Office to hold Cancelled pa
per money that is awaiting destruction
in the macerater. Meanwhile the sub
treasury in New York is putting In
two additional vaults one for gold and
the other for silver, the latter measur-
ing AZ feet in length by IS feet in width
and y feet in height. Gold and silver
are pouring in there by tons daily and
there is no place to put all of 1t. At
the present tirne that subtreasury has
on hand $70,G00,9O0 Ill gold coin and $685.,
GEO. 600 in silver.
There are now 152, O00,O 900 silver dollars
in the treasury at Washington, but only
$6,0S0,G00 in gold coin. The treasury never
keeps much gold on hand here, the great
stock of the yellow metal being held in
New York and at the mint in Philada'-
phia. If one wants to see crude gold i'll
masses he should visit the mint, in he
Quaker city, where he will find it stacked
up in heaps of bricks-tOns on tons Of
it-aH ready for conversion into coin. At
the present moment there Is S53,G01.lG9
worth of gold bullion at this mint, with
S37 00OoC0 in gold coin, not to mention
$l500Oo,000 in silver bullion and coin.
Notwithstanding the fact chat the t cas-
urY vaults compared so poorly with the
tmpregnab,e steel-clad structures now
used by great private concerns that have
valuables to protect, the government
feels fairly secure as to the safety of its
stored wealth. The best safeguard for
coin is its weight Just to illustrate
this point it may be mentioned that the
$152, O0,CW in silver now held In the strong
rooms of the treasury weighs nearly s.
GOO tons. A million dollars in gold coin
weighs about two TONS and it would
take d very strong man to carry off $780,
C00 worth of the yellow stuff Though
a gold brick the shape and size of an
ordinary building brick represents 5000,
its theft" is something astonishing
There was quite a scare Il few years
ago. when Gillillan was treasurer, be-
cause the vault in the cash room where
the ready money is kept refused to open
1t is always set for $50 a. M with a.
time lock, but on this occasion some
thing seemed to be wrong with the mech
anism, and the steel doors remained OBJ
stinately closed. Nine o'clock arrived
and still the money was locked up. For
once Uncle Sans bank was obliged to
suspend payments. Experts were sent