Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-13
HANDLE TONS OF coin.
Treasury Employees Engaged
in a Tiresome Task.
-
WEIGH BAGS OF SILVER
ONLY THE CURRENCY IN THE
VAULT IS COUNTED BY HAND.
Taking Stock of the Cash and Sc
curities-Long Job Will Soon
Be Completed.

By the end of this week there will have
been completed a thorough count OF cash
and securities held by the treasurer of the
United States This count was necesSitated
by the change in treasurers July l, when
Ellis II. Roberts went out of office and
was succeeded by Charles H. Treat. For
the protection of himself and his bonds
men the count necessary to the re-
firing treasurer. 1t was just as important
to the incoming officer. who Is compelled
to give a receipt to the retiring treasurer
for the total amount of money and security
turned over to him.
Within a few days therefore, the count
will show how much money Treasurer Treat
will give a receipt for to Mr.. Roberts, ana
1t will also show whether there has been
any tampering with the money belonging
to the government. So far every one OF
the great vaults has shown that 1t con-
tains Just the amount expected, and there
is no reason to believe that the last vault.
the one now being counted. Will show a
shortage. The last vault the committee OF
experts began upon was the great under UNI .
ground affair. No. /. containing $lio3So,VU
in standard silver dollars.
There are fifteen separate compartments
or cages in this giant vault. each cage con-
tanning 7,299.0o0 silver dollars put up IN
bags of 81 .OOe each. good part OF the
money Is put away In wooden boxes con-
tanning two bags Of silver to each box.
This Is done because of the tendency OF the
bags OF silver to sag and bear SO heaVhy
against the steel frame work OF the cages
as to cause them, If the pressure should Dc
too heavy. to break through. The boxes,
therefore, are used the outer edges or
the commandments with the silver bags in
the center. this holding some OF the weight
off the cages.
The Method of Counting.
ba commit liz
composed of E B. Dascom and E. 7. Hunt
ington, representing Mr.. Roberts. and f.
W. Hale of the New York subtreasury and
Thomas Rogers, representing Treasurer
Treat. Under their supervision are several
assistants and twelve or fifteen strong col
ored laborers As the money Is not counted
by hand except in cases where Dag Is
found to be lighter than required, the Ia
borers come In handy, especially strong:
hardy men, able to pitch sixty pounds OF
silver dollars to the top OF vault FOR an
other man to pile Each thousand dollars.
II new, including the heavy sailor cioIp
bags, should weigh just sixty pounds II
the scales show that 1t does weigh TINS
much the bag is tossed into compartment
and counted in that fashion. =,
If it should be light enough to call Tor
examination it is set aside and counted by
hand 1t occasionally happens that the
wear upon silver dollars causes consider
able loss in weight. and II bag happens
be light This is seldom. however. and the
entire count is proceeding $1,000 at
time. There are some empty compartments
in the big vault. AS one compartment rs
counted the money is shifted into an empty
one The money is tossed into an inclined
wooden trough. which carries 1t to the
scales located IN front of the compartment
to which the bags are 10 De .ran ls, sti,,er
There 1t Is weighed. one bag OF new SILVER
dollars being used on the opposite side 10
make the balance.
There are no rats in the vault to gna"
holes in the bags and 1t Is seldom tnat
stuffy and fresh air has to be pumped INTO
4. through tin tubes. The laborers are
sometimes unable to stand the strain anu
fresh men have to be brought Nearly every
~ IN the vault whose business is to han
die the bags has lost flesh. and all Will De
glad when the count is finished
MANY Tons Handled Daily.
There are two sets Of men at work and
thew handle from 100000 to $3,OOO.OOo
each day. Each million Of dollars weighs
thirty tons and when a dozen laborers have
got through tossing sixty to ninety tons OF
s,,yar around at the close of day they are
nrettv we'll tired out. When the vault Is
finished the total number OF tons hahoieo
will have been $500. The handling Oh soiu
was not so heavy, as 1t was put up III siiia "
bags of So 600 each. weighing comparatively
little The currency in the dinerent vaults
was counted by female counters, Dill 1or
bill. 49,,
w. Howard Gibson. custodian Oh the
vaults is present during the counting, 30 DIS
- vafch The putting away of the money.
Eight years ago the count Of the money
oS the treasury was prolonged through
nearly eight months by the discovery that
one of the negro laborers had beeh siiItlns
-, and taking out silver dollars, replac-
ing them with lead of about the same
weight. This necessitated the counting OF
everv dollar in the vault. piece by piece, re-
curing the services of large hunaper VI
Tn,,nd that the negro had taken about $500
or