The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1900-11-02
WHERE UNCLE SAM
KEEPS HIS MONEY.
THE BIG VAULTS IN THE TREASURY
DEPARTMENT
Tho Safes mt Up.To. Dalc-Thr Coin Is
secure on Account OF Es Own Weight
Rather Than Othcrwlso.
Washington Post. |

undergoing somo important ul!era-
tons. They are not at all up to
date in tho mode Of their construc
ton, nor burglar proof 10y any means,
and it might bc II good thing if they
wero torn out altogether AID rcplu rcd
with vaults Of tho proper kind, such
as safe deposit companies have now
adnys. But that would cost great
deal of mon"!-pcrhaps rs much us
81 100000 and tho government
would prefer to avoid such an OK
pcndituro.
Away back in 1892 this quc>ti..,,
agitated, and congress- went SO far rs
10 appoint special committee, w;.n
an appropriation Of $1,000, to m:...
an examinatiCn Of the vaults in tho
treasury ana report on their condi-
ton. Tho report wps decidedly IN.
favorable, condemning the nrrnhgc.
monts rs practically obso!rts, but
nothing was attempted in tho way of
substantial improvements 1t was in
the samo year that an expert camo on
from Now York, and at tho request
Of tho treasurer, with only few or.
dinary tools Of tho kind used in safe
repairing, opened ono of tho big
strong rooms in few minutes.
Seventy five thousand dollars have
been appropriated for the present al
terations, which consist in part Of
new vestihulo and strong doors for
tho great silver storage vault, This
vault cost $50, 600 originally, and ex-
tends under tho terrace at the south
end Of tho Treasury building. 1t
contains mighty box Of steel lattice
work, So feet long, 81 feet wide, and
Is feet high, filled chock full of sill.
vor dollars. Visitors arc permitted
to walk around the mass Of treasure,
following narrow passage which
runs besween the siocs Of tho box
and the steel walls Of tho vault.
This lattic,work recepticlo holds
SIOl 100000 in silver, which is
packed in boxes, two bags Of stand
ard dollars to box, and each box
weighing 100 poun'3. Formerly the
coin was simply scwcd up in bags,
but Notwithstanding the walls of
steel, dampncss rotted the bags and
the money ran out Of them. This
made extra trouble, requiring fresh
counts, and it is no small job to rcck-
on ovor such gigantic sum in metal.
Hence 1t was decided to pack the
stuff in boxes. Each sack contains
81 900, and SO long rs tho Trcasurer's
seal on it is intact it's contents do
not have to be verified on occasions
when recounts are made.
The bond vault is to Eo enlarged
greatly, doubling its capacity--,a
change made necessary by the in-
creasing number Of national banks
which deposit bonds in tho Treasury.
Many private and State banks, taking
advantage of the recent act Of con.
gress, arc coming in as national
banks. A new and thoroughly
modern strong room is to be built
for the Registers Office, to hold can
celled paper money that is awaiting
destruction in tho maccrator. Moan
while the Sub b-Treasury in Now York
is putting IN two additional vaults,
ono for gold aod the other for silver,
the latter measuring ~ feet in length
by % feet in width and ~ feet in
height. Gold and silver are pour
ing there by tons daily, and thero ls
no place to put all of it. At tho
present time tho Sub, Treasury has
on hand $l70,000,000 in gold coin
and $58,000,000 in silver.
There aro now 152,000,00O silver
dollars in the Treasury at Washing
ton, but only $G,080,O00 in gold
com. Tho Treasury never keeps
much gold on hand here, tho great
stock Of the yellow metal being held
in Now York and at the mint in
Philadelphia. If ono wants to SOC
crude gold in masses he should visit
the mint in the Quaker City, where
he will find it stacked up in hcaps of
bricks--tons on tons Of it--all ready
for conversion into coin. At tho
present moment thoro is S53, 100000