The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1905-08-09

II the attempt were made to toss Sill
yer dollars from one pile into another
and count them as one went along
what time would be required for one
man to dispose of one billion. three
hundred millions of money?
That is the task Uncle Sam has com
menced. The announcement of the
retirement of Ellis H. Roberts
as treasurer of the United States
and the appointment of Charles H.
Treat of New York as his success
sor is but mere item of news to the
world at large. In the treasury de-
partment it means most stupendOus
task, for every penny and every secur-
ity under his charge must be strictly
accounted for, and Mr.. Roberts will
not receive his successors receipt for
the governments assets until this
count has been completed.
Robbery in the treasury of the Unit
ed States is rare, but it has been ac-
complished, but always by trusted en-
ployes. No effort from the outside
could possibly prove successful with
out overcoming all the means for pro-
lection that human ingenuity has been
able to devise. The most recent theft
in the treasury was discovered when
the count was made preparatory to
turning the contents of the vaults over
to Mr.. Roberts when he came into of
fee July l, 1897.
At that time there were $3.50, 900, 900
in the vaults. a corps of fifty clerks
selected from various parts of the
treasurer's Office at once began the
task of counting this huge sum OF
money, and the count was not COM
pleted until the following February.
Now. however, the count will proba-
( bly, be less protracted, as it was pro-
longed eight years ago by reason OF
the discovery Of theft.
In counting the money at that time
some of the bags of silver on the top
shelves of the huge coin vault were
found to be badly worn. They were
opened with the purpose in view OF
substituting new bags. The amaze
ment of the counters may be imagined
when the first bag opened was found
to be exact as to weight, but short in
value, due to the substitution of loaded
discs for number of silver dollars
! that had been distracted. The usual
method of counting by weight was I'M
mediately abandoned, and every bag
in the treasury was opened and the
coin actually handled and counted
Upward of eight hundred of the silver
dollars in one vault were found to
have been stolen.
Trusted Employee a Thief.
Investigation proved that an old and
trusted colored employe, whose busi-
ness it was to handle the heavy stuff
for the clerks in the vault. had hit
upon this scheme of adding to his in
come. He had taken the coin from the
bags that he knew were newly opened,
and, as it was, only the wear and tear
of the bags finally led to discovery OF
his crime How long the bags had
been handled and weighed without the
loss of the money being detected was
never known.
| These standard silver dollars are
stored in four vaults, the largest OF
which, probably the biggest money
vault in the world, is eighty-nine feet
long, fifty-one feet wide, and twelve
feet high. There are 1853, ISL, 987 OF
these dollars put up in bags of !, 1000
each. so it will be readily seen that
the task of counting the contents OF
these bags is an enormous one. AS
each bag was filled after the unusual
Iy painstaking count of eight years
100 it was sealed. Since that time
they have not been handled; the seals
are unbroken. and at this last trans
fer the count can be easily and quick
Nv made by the aid of the scales.
1t is not the biggest vault in the
treasury, however, whose contents are
most valuable. In the northwest cor
ner of the building is a comparatively
small apartment, wherein are kept the
Government bonds that secure the ma
ti0nal bank circulation and United
States deposits. The contents OF this
vault alone are valued at the stupen-
dous sum of 1886, O99, 240. When IA
vored visitors are admitted within
this vault they are permitted to hold
4 small frame containing bunch OF
bonds half an inch thick. When they
take that frame in their HANDS they
hold an amount equal to what it cost
TO build the magnificent congressional
lilo 81 OOO 000-and il is not much