The sun., 1903-02-08
The BANKER ISN'T AFRAID.
MS MONEY SAFER ~ NEW yOBE
THAN MS WIFE'S JEUELS
Immense stores OF God ana Silver nno
Paper Money downtown Witch Mo,h
and Rust tanr Ot Corrupt Nor Th,e,e,
Break In and Stcai-s'CcNa ak x,e~.


Break In and Sidewalk Views.
Persons WALKING through Pine s,,.s,
nowadays often stop near Tho ,orrsr =,
Nassau and look through a collar window
at the stTong-boxos Of the noN gapoy.,
National Bank building II Is wonderf,l
array Of cleaning stce! and shining brass
that grects any eve which clocr..- 10 L..
hold Il.
Two guards in their bright uniform,
of blue and gold sit Watching the trea.u,r
house. The four little clocks that feg,la,.
tho time lock tick away ia full view ON
the back of the ten-ton door that stand,
open all through the busy hours Of The
day, and the gazer fror, lac sidewalk ray
zee just a little way through the grlsd
inner door into the region where the money
lies snug and secure.
When the great doors swing 10 and th4
bolts click every night there must I've al
least SIS oooyOoD wi, hin the vaults, for the
law requires that the bank shall carry q
per cent of the amount Of its deposits.
Part Of his sum will bc in real gold much
more in certificates showing that gold has
been deposited at the Clearing louse and
still larger amount in gold and silver cor.
;i6cates and other paper currency.
II you are curious TO know the minimum
amount of money that must be stored in
every bank in New York just ascertain
the aggregate OF it's deposits and divide
by four, and You will know that the store
cannot be less han the result thus obtained,
and of course may be much greater. In
the case Of the National City Bank, for ex-
ample. the sum always on hand is not lea
than 27,500.0oo.
In the banks the bulk OF the money viii
invariably be in the form Of certificates
showing hat somewhere or other the actual
metal has been deposited and is subject
TO othe call Of the person or institution having
the paper. Some of these certificates,
such az the bills we carry in large or small
quantities in our pockets, are good in the
hands of any innocent holder. while others.
issued by both the Government and tbs
Clearing House. are, like check, mads
payable only 10 certain person or institu-
tion.
When the Hanover Bank rece ntly pu
it's 500 GOO 600 Of money and securities into
a truck and moved around from its tempo
rary quarters AZ Wall street to its new
home much of its wealth was in such a form
that If it had fallen into the street and been
found by dishonest men it wo uld have
been just so much worthless paper TO them.
The vast stores Of actual gold and silver
in this city are in two places the Sub
Treasury in Wall street and the Clearing
House in Cedar 81 rect. between Broadway
and Nassau street, and OF these two that of
the Sub-Treesury is much the larger,
amounting usually to about $500, 900, GOO Ia
gold Sos ,OOO 600 in silver and 100000 in
certificates. The Clearing House store
nowadays will average $50 900 900. though
in times not long past II has gone as hign
as sl87 900 100.
The means adopted for guarding the
great sums that are stored in these places
and in the banks are in all cases much the
same, and they are so ample and 10 secure
that, ar an officer Of the Government put
far more anxiety about stealing from
within than from without.
The Clearing House vaults are usunuv
spoken Of as the most modern and ad-
inirable arrangements of their KIND. lhey
rest upon a platform Of steel supported by
pillars Of brick and surrounded by a walk
80 that the watchman may, and do. 60 al
around them and look under them.
This scheme Of eleval ion NAV have beeri
suggested by bank robbery which occurred
thieves hired a store next to the OceaI
National Bank, at Dey and Geenwic
streets. and after a month or more OF bur
rowing entered the vault from the bottom
and cleaned IL out.
a, SSSrs SSudn cSaR oaRPen make breach IN
the bottom or the walls OF the Clearing
House vault, for as soon as they had blown
away it's six and half inches OF specially
prepared steel and attacked the doors
within bells would begin TO ring In the
Office of burglar alarm company and
armed men would pounce down upon them
in minute or two. "
In fact, there is a series Of buttons which
the Clearing House watchman must press
in certain order at certain times, and this
order is frequently changed. Every button
alarm office or central as it might be
called, and if each one doesn't ring al tho
proper time away goes a squad OF thef-
fighters on the run to find out what Is the
matter.
The same thing sometimes happens N
ing at their work later than usual. come
in contact with the electric signals and
turn in false alarms.
From all these causes-from the inpreg-
inability Of steel safes, from the care with
which they are watched, the certainty tha.
any tampering with them will give alarms
by means OF electric wires and from the
fact that many of them are so exposed 10
view from the street that the police can
see them at any time-the New York bank
er feels far more secure about the millions
in his bank than he feels about the silver
spoons In his house.
The bank burglars take the saDe view oi
il apparently-they have gone out OF bufi-
ness in the big cities No institution
New York OF any consequence has been
even attacked by them since Jimmy HoIe
and his partners got away with S,TW
from the Manhattan Savings lrstruitn
on the night of Oct. %, 1878 Almost twenty
five years without a bank burglary ana the
race OF really great safe-crackers died oW
No wonder the bankers have ceased 70
worry.
1T sometimes seems 10 me-, said ne
vice-pres ident of one Of the richest banks
in the city lat week, that We so 10 eNc'~.
in our detern ilation to protect our ~
but that, Of course, isn't the riyit Nh" 4"
the matter when you come to CONSIDER
carefully. That very excess Of cah'l'n
our insurance and the histcrv OF ~" 81
quarter century shows that II l. GOOD In
suranCe.
BESIDES banks and bank vaults are no
built for a day. They are built io fe-l'
not only the probable, but tie impruhau"
War may come. An enemy's sh"l! maN
strike this building some day and del""1.'
II. And il II does We shall find a., 'a'i''
intact when the Cenris Is cleared d"dN
Ihaf Ia a "A -at