The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1909-11-27
COUNTING THE NATIONS MONEY

COUNTING THE NATIONS MONEY
There IL now taking place at the
United States Treasury, the h~ereulear
task Of counting every penny Of the
boarded wealth Of tho nation. This
count marks the change in the office
Of Treasurer Of the United states, which
occurred ON November first. There ID
on hand in the safes and vaults a,
Washington approximately sl,l75,OOO,
OOO. From these figures it will be seen
that Uncle sam is Il little poorer than
he was four years ago, at which time
the total mount OF securities and
funds counted amounted to t~l,2 y SOS,
a7s.5s.
II will require about three months IL
ascertain whether or not the Govern.
ment . sash on hand balances TO the
cent. At the end Of the count, II the
a~ceount show up all right, triplieate
receipts will DO issued and exchanged,
one going to the Secretary Oi the Treas.
ury Tor the archives OF the government
ono going to tue retiring treasurer,
sd another to the incoming treasurer.
The responsibility of the Treasurer
OF the United States that makes nee.
ossary = very careful balancing Of &C
counts at a time such as this arises
from the fact that this official Ia by
Law charged with the receipt aud dis
Dutsemeat of all public moneys, not
only in the Treasury at Washington,
Uu. also IA the subtreasuries A. New
York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago,
Baltimore, Cincinnati, san Francisco,
aud New Orleans, aud IN the national
bans United states repositories. lie
- also trustee for the bonds held ~
secure national bank circulation and the
public deposits in national banks. This
mead paymaster VI the Government hHs
VA has AccpIng not Gully all of Uncle
sans wealth, but hundreds VI mil
hons Of dollars Of otner peoples money
which 10 must keep IN such shape Us
to DO able to render an accounting On
short notice.
should the funds not balance after
this stupendous work has been c0mplot.
cd, the out going Treasurer will have
to maze the difference good out VI has
NJ pocket. But AZ the count shows
more money than that necessary ~
strike u balance, the surplus dOes not
~ to the outgoing Treasurer, but Is
acid IN the Treasury. VI course, AZ
there appeared a dohcit vi, say, n three
hundred thousand dollars Or more, show
Ing Al Unce that there had been u mis-.
tSAe IN the counting, the entire VOL
would have to DC gone over.
\ force Of about IVEty Of the mOst
expert money counters ia the world viii
10 given the task OF counting the hug,
OulA vi money. vi course, they vii
be aided by al vi the improved methods
vi counting, such rs counting board'
aud electrical eUIn-eounters. The cleo
tric eoIn.counter records coins VI an
denomination nj the rate Vi LOO pei
minute, while the counting boards Ill
mechanically when n stream OF coin 4
poured over them. But where COIN
are badly worn 1t Ia necessary that they
Je counted by hand.
a most important feature Of the
count is the counting Of bonds held By
he government rs security for the car
c~uIatIon vi national banAs and a. 81
curity for government money deposited
with the bAnks. These bonds occupy
special vault IN the Treasury buIdiB.
and they total something like turee
quarters vi n billion dollars ~ value
A committee OF seven officials wall cOun
these bonds, and inasmueh 40 great cal,
Is necessary in going over them, coupol
and registered, 1t vail require fully ~,
months to complete this task alone.
OF the sl,I1J,UOU,OUU to he handled
si3J,UOO,OOO Is in United states bond
neld IN trust; sol 100000 IN resery.
gold and SILVER certificates aud III
luited States notes held Tor the usua
process of redemption Of WORKOUT eur
rencyj ~sl56,O9U,OOO in silver dollars
nearly s~l,OOO,OO0 n subsidiary silver
about s~9,OOO,OOO in gold COM wit
various other items. The W
gold reserve is not held in Washington
alone, being scattered throughout tn
.nh.frnannrIna Of tia nnnnIrv