Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-03-08
THRoNes IN MONEY VAULTS.
Thousands Visit Treasury In Washing.
ton to See tho Stacks Of Money.

Thousands Visit Treasury In waning
ton to Sec tho Stacks Of Money.
Handling Uncle Sans cash Is In It
self no easy task, but handling the vast
number Of people who desire to view
that portion OF 1t stored In the treas
ury vaults in Washington is not by any
means the least Of the troubles Of the
treasurer" said Ellis H. Roberts, treas
urer Of the United States. a few days
ago, in Washington.
No one can visit the underground
storage vaults without a permit from
Mr.. Roberts, and the treasurer holds
that every citizen has an interest In
the money, and If he gets any satisfac-
ton in looking at 1t or examining the
vaults in which 1t Is kept he is entitled
to that satisfaction. Consequently
no one Is turned from his Office without
the necessary permit, unless there Is
some special reason for withholding
1t.
The welcome given visitors. together
with the sordid delight Americans take
in seeing vast sums Of money, makes
the treasury one of the best show
houses in Washington. Were an ad-
mission charged to the silver vaults
the revenues Of the government would
be appreciably increased.
Sight-seers come from all over the
world. One day, when 1t was partic-
ularly gloomy and disae-eeable out
side, so that there was not much doing
in the tourist line, Treasurer Roberts
took the trouble to keep track Of his
callers. Exactly seven hundred per-
sons entered his Office. They repre-
sented thirty-f1ve states, seven foreign
countries and nearly forty different
nationalities. The foreigners came
from Great Britain, France, China,
India, Germany, Africa and Australia.
Matters are so arranged that the WIS.,
it will impress itself upon the minds
of the strangers. There Is a corps or
we'll drilled guides, who, after Mr..
Roberts has passed on the permit, see
that the stranger registers his name In
a little book kept for the purpose. This
is for the purpose Of assisting the gov
ernment a little later on in case
silver or gold certificate is missed.
They first go to the vault in which the
money is kept which Is used In the
current business Of the treasury. Al
ter the necessary signing and counter
signing of the permit they are admit
~ n4n0S
around a small frame which incloses
two well-worn ten-thousand-dollar
bills and one Of $4,000.
"There!" he says, triumphantly, you
have had $25,000'i in your hand"
Bigger things come later on In the
trip, when they are permitted to handle
millions in gold bonds In the national
bank division, or to look at the doors
behind which are stored tons OF pre-
cious gold and silver which have been
stamped into coin. Because Of the
electrical appliances they cannot see
the bags of coin. Any attempt to move
the magnetized doors, the guide I'M
pressively relates, would result In
calling heavily armed guards, who are
constantly kept at the treasury to pro-
tect the money.
IF we were as money mad as some
foreigners would make US out" OBJ
served Treasurer Roberts, visitors at
the department. would not conduct
themselves as we'll as they do. Many
thousand persons have gone through
the vaults during my term Of office,
but, so far as I know, not one has
made an attempt to get hold Of any OF
the money. OF course, we keep close
watch on them, but If the American
people were insane on the question of
money, this would be good place to
note interesting symptoms. We like
money, but we are not so crazy about
it as our foreign friends profess to be-
lieve. At least, the presence of the
cause of alleged madness does not
seem to aggravate the disease."-New
York Herald.