The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-04
UNCLE SANS MONEY
The New York SUBJ Treasury Is a
Busy Place, Especially at
r -. This Season.
Accuracy and Speed of Money Hand.
lers-Detecting Counter
felt Coins.

The New York Sun in recent article
gives; an interesting insight into the
workings of the sub treasury in that city.
While the month of January is perhaps
the busiest one Of the year, March is not
far behind. ., -. : :
Ordinarily about %, 900: or 10000 bills
are received in a day and half a dozen
expert counters are enough to do the
work such bills as are soiled and unfit
Tor circulation are made Into packages
OF 1000 each. Eight Of these packages
arc made into a bundle, which weigh 2k
pounds, and shipped to Washington for
destruction. The bundles represent an
average Of $62,457 and weighing 9 pounds
81 ,000, ,000, 900. '" "+.<
The side of the building opposite to the
bill room is busy place, even though
from the. outside it appears quiet This is
the disbursing. department Clearing
house balances are settled here, bills are
changed in the coin room.
The largest note Of the government is
for $4,000. Very few Of these big fellows
are seen outside Of New York. They are
SO common here that not day passes
that the teller in the disbursing depart
| ment is not called on to exchange dozen
! or more Of them for bills Of smaller de-
nominations
-rA
come common In the, usual acceptance
OF the term, but no man who possesses
| one need hesitate about asking to have
one changed for fear of questions about
its ownership. They are mostly demand
notes, payable to bearer, and possession is
all that one need prove to obtain bills Of
a smaller denomination for the big fel.
| low.
! Some banks have these $4,000 notes
made to their order, but generally the
bearer notes are used. It does not re-
qulre many of them to make a good sized
fortune, and the writer held in one hand
three not large bundles Of these notes
representing a cash value of $1,O00, 900.
This was in the gold room, back of the
| d1sbursing department. 1t is twin to
another room directly opposite and used
for the same purpose. These rooms are no
larger than the ordinary: living room of
a family, but Croecus never saw such a
mass of wealth as is piled up in them.
Packed I'm small bags and tucked away
In the small closets that line the rooms
are stored gold coins to the value Of
5000, 100000.
Entrance is effected. when business re-
quires 1t, by means Of two keys held by
two trusted men. No one Is left for a
moment in either Of the gold rooms alone
nor would he care to stay there alone.
Each of the closets Is examined once a
month by three officials, who compose the
examining committee. The sealed bags
containing the gold are counted and the
closets that are filled are sealed, the
amount contained in each stamped on a
tag, which bears also the initials Of each
examining officer. The seal is in three
parts, together making complete circle,
and each department represented OH the
committee retains Its own part of the
seal.
While the committee is performing its
work the two men who are entrusted with
the keys to the room rema in with them.
It would therefore require the collusion
Of f1ve men to violate a seal or rob the
room Of even single bag Of gold. The
bags are sealed individually with a patent
lead seal which must be broken before
it is possible to open bag.
There is. only one other working room
OH the main floor of the building. This is
the coin room at the rear. Here is busy
place. The most expert coin counters in
the United States are employed here. The
men look like mechanics as they work,
their sleeves rolled up and their fore
arms barred to allow free action for the
bulging muscles developed by constant
use.
They are a muscular lot of men, even
thought they handle nothing heavier than
coins. ALI the coin received by the sub
treasury passes through this room and
each piece is handled and examined as it
is counted.
While no attempt is made for speed
that would sacrifice accuracy. once In a
while a counter will take day in which
to ascertain just how fast he can work
at top speed. In the latest test Of this
kind one man counted, examined and
bagged $4,000 in silver quarters between
a. m. and p. m. This means that he
handled $4,000 pieces Of silver in the day,
at the rate of 1888 pieces an hour, allow
inc 40 In "a
quarter is the standard by which expert
ness Is gagged, that coin being the most
convenient size for handling.
1t is generally supposed that counter
feits are detected by touch. AS a mat
ter of fact, it Is the trained eye that does
this work. AS an exhibition Of the ac-
curacy Of the counters, one Of them per-
formed a test for a reporter who visited
the subtreasury. g.
A thousand IS gold pieces we're dumped
on one Of the benches at which the coun-
ters work. Into this shining mass, which
had been previously counted and weighed,
was thrown a gold piece Of similar value,
weighed on a pair Of very fine scales and
the small shaving of metal by whose
weight it was lighter than 1t should be
was left on the balance.
After the. coins had been thoroughly
mixed the counter began to brush them
IRON the DeNCH,' TWO at a IlrQo, INTO MS
left hand. Six handfuls Of fifty coins ach
he took away and was speeding on the
seventh when he stopped, picked up a
coin that to the reporter. seemed no Diff
ferent from its fellows, put it on the
scales and said that it:was the coin that
had been thrown into the pile as test.
The scales proved it So.
Under this room is the old silver store
room. A new room for the storage Of
silver has just been finished, which is said
to be the best Of its kind in the world.
The. silver in bags is being taken out OF
the old room now, and half dozen men
are >skidding it along on smooth planks
all day long.
The old room Is somewhat crowded. 1t
is IS feet long, "a feet wide and II feet
high, but until the work Of shifting the
silver dollars began, few days ago, one
could not take two steps from the door
without. coming into contact with bags
Of silver packed from the floor to the
ceiling. About 65, 900 bags, containing a
thousand silver dollars each, are stored
here. the smaller coins being kept in an
adjoining room IL feet in size each way.
Nickels and cents are kept in vault
opposite to the old silver vault. Not
| many Of these small coins are kept on
| hand, but in the year nearly $4,000, o0o
| is handled q. ~ ~. =. RI -
l-GTlaa in3r,enxo trea e,,re l-a,,+ =, TIT. wv,