The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-10
IT'S WORK HANDLING MILLIONS
STB-TREASI'RY SEES TIE PHYSE-
CAL SIDE or THE SCARE.
To Them Keeping n Balance h a Matter or
Heal H4RDOr-CarryIng Gold Through
the Sarcets What the Coming or .
ShIpIOaI OT Geld Means 10 Them.

Ng INV AIAAhANAhA lVhNlANt 1H ANNN AAAAAI
figures in these last few weeks. He has
wondered if the typesetting machines
hadn't suffered while speaking ciphers
and asked. What's 81, 1903, Sal $500 1.-The
bank clearings for the week ending October
POI. and IL there really so much money In
the world and where IL Il all att"
The money represented by those twelve
Arabic numerals isn't all in ono place. nor
in a thousand places. but there's a good
big lot Of it in the sombre Sub-Treasury
that stands downtown among n host OF -
slender, ornate structures which seem tn
penetrate the skies. That squat and
columned building grew up in seven long
years IN neighbor FIVE times as tall went
up in az many months,. but it has walls
that are eight feet thick at the base and i've
at the caves. and il has dozens Of rifles and
revolvers and two Calling guns and scores
Of cases Of ammunition, also some holes
in the roof Of the portico just over the
doors 40 the protectors may drop bombs
on the heads of any persons h can't be
repulsed in any other way.
In the little desk crowded Office-firse
nodr TO the right az you enter the building
from the Wall street steps a rotund, gray
haired man reached to the fat top desk
tAlNAihfb h'' WV ~ "AANA 40 VIZ lhSNOA
up a tall spindle, dropped his silver trimmed
spectacles into place and held the topmost
paper on the peg beneath he light. It
bore nine fguYes-no explanatory memo
randa. not even n symbol.
1.-TWO hundred and seventy million dol
lars" the rotund. gray haired man inter-
prcted. That's exactly how much money
we had on hand this morning"
n p,a UDoa Gpurn into tho Iaptba ~ thA
building and sees a little white sack filed
with double eagles and peers into the
gray vaults and sees also what looks like
a dozen vanloads of the same kind Of bags,
and if he closes his fingers on a package
that wOuld easily slide into his Overcoat
pocket and which, he learns, contains
800 10000 gold certificates SIS ,OOO, 900
and then sees several safes filed to capacity
with similar packets, ne can realize-even
if his mind can't comprehend the amounts
what the big figures that appear in tho
Sub-Treasury mean,
This store has been more violently dis
turbed Of late than in many years. Nearly
S5n,oOo,0WO in currency and an enormous
mass Of gold and silver certificates came
IL. and the fact that the daily balance
didn't fuctuate much (only a few millions)
nav WV ~" h1iN Nhp OlhNN VIZ AnH
worked and explains why they and W. O..
Marion, the cashier, were AL in" as one
Of the money toters said. Yet another
view was expressed by one Of the squad
! Of scrubwomen who entered the building
on the heels of the last messenger hurry.
ing out with his bag Of gold.
"Shure, this bank business is about as
hard as me own" she said. 9Th bankers
won ana ar,trNA hnro Iatnlyy a, 81 p~.ss
than | do IN me knees scrubbin' up the
dirt they leave behind. And the poor men
here in tn bank 1.-The Sub-Treasury she
meant they work harder n my Of man.
He's a hod carrier"
80 the physical aspect Of these millions
the public has read so much about Ately
is a matter Of muscle 10 those who are in
actual contact with the cash. Take.
for instance. the coming Of So OO.OOO
in bullion on the steamship Lusitania. It
sounds good 10 the workingman whose
savings are 700 securely locked up in q
perfectly solvent bank. for no has read
that all that is needed ia more cash in circu-
hton. But a million millions in gold bars
aboard a hundred ships or the same amount
piled in City Hall Park wouldn't relieve
the situation if il were not for the waving
Of Uncle Sans wand over 10 in the Sub
Treasury. There the bullion or coin is
presented, after IL il Chrted from the pier.
and in an hour. il there is call for such
swift exchange, JOIN Jones may get a piece
Of 1t q piece Of the actual coin just come
from Europe when he presents his check
AT a hank window uptown. More likely,
though, he would get some of the certificates
issued against that value in gold.
As to the gold bars, they are taken at
once 10 the Assay Office. the crowded
little building that adioins the Sub-Treasury
ON the east. There their weight and value
are determined, and when that il done
To 81 per cent. Cf their value. The bullion
IL not made into the coin Of the realm"
until l~atcr-until Uncle Sam or his men
az the mints find il convenient TO do 30.
That stock which has been tested and
stored in the Suh-TreasUry vaults In las
good ms gold" so there's no hurry about
converting il into eagles since the certiii-
Gates arc hving around.
Now and then in the recent series Of
runs ON banks attention was called TO the
actual physical transfer Of the cash which
some ~depssitors demanded. On one oc-
Casiup an automobile carrying several
bags Of gold to u bank in Brownsville broke
down near AN Fast River ferry ~entrenOo
and a crowd of tenement dwellers that
gathered about the treasure. car had to be
held hack Ivy a Zig squad of policemen.
Again. u messenger boy skipped for "A few
hours with several thousand dollars in
bills which no had drawn for his employer.
But the general public, even the close read
era of the newspapers did not know the cir
cumstapCCs OF the transfer Of an infinitesi-
nal proportion &c the total. Those few
persons who stood in the main corridor
uf the Sub-Treasury saw the procession
there long lines Of mon. with here and
there "A woman, who rushed in with empty
bags or satChels ami walked out a little
more sedately. bearing nobody but them
selves and the paying teller knew how
much money.
And when tie bearer Of the gold or ita
eOuivalCrt gOC out into tie crowded streets
what then? Why. he just walked along
~endcavOring TO stimulate the careless
stride and idle curiosity which in New
York mark the man who has no deep con-
Germ. hat no rObberies of such mes
sengeTs as these were reported in the course
Of the recent panic" speaks well for their
ability 10 "act just naturally" and in that
way keep their valuable secrets; also il
tells, perhaps. that the "trailers" werH on the
jOb-fOr trailers were there, strong de-
]tcCtives who are capable Of handling any
ordinary thief with lease and rapidity.
And while the messengers filed in the
main corridor of the Sub-Treasury, got their
money and hurried out, there was another
channel from the building through which
Disbursements flowed even more apidl
II was the little door in the Pine street side
of the building. near which were lined up a
curious array Of vehicles at one moment
a hanson cab, "A coupe. four automobiles, a
grOCer's delivery wagon and n motorcycle.
Men with proper certificates rushed into the
builling and with short delay halnad fha