Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1910-04-16
WELL GUARDED CASH
The Millions Piled Up In the Mint
at Philadelphia.
STORED IN ARMoRED VAULTS.

The Whole Building Is Embedded In n
Solid Concrete Foundation, and the
Underground Strong Rooms Are In.
presnabIs-The Night Watch.
The Philadelphia mint always con.
tains coin and bullion which fuctuates
in value each day between a half and
three-quarters of a billion dollars. One
hundred millions OF dollars Of this
amount is In silver dollars stored for
several years in a room by itself 100
by IS feet in area. About S3o0.O00.o00
Is in gold coin, ready to be put In cir
culation or TO be stored In the national
treasury at Washington against the is
sue Of a corresponding number OF gold
certificates. A million or two is in
bronze and nickel coins Finally an
amount of bullion varying from a
small quantity 10 several hundred mil
lions of dollars worth occupies the
four massive vaults designed for the
uncoined metal.
Now, how is this vast hoard pro-
tected!
First of all, the whole mint is en-
bedded in a solid concrete foundation
about three feet deep Concrete. as
every one knows, is one of the strong
est of all known substances and the
most impervious to drilling or wear
Then on the interior. where the vaults
are placed. within this concrete protec-
ton, comes a solid armor OF battleship
steel six inches thick. SO strong that
an expert working on ii a week could
scarcely make ar impression. much
less penetrate IL by hand tools
The vaults themselves are sunken
deeply below the ground. Descending
several lights of stairs and passing
by doors guarded by a fearsome ar
ray of rifles for use by the night
guards, long. fairly wide corridor
of solid concrete masonry shows the
entrances to the six vaults. one for
the silver already referred TO. one for
all kinds Of coinage. but mostly for
gold. and the remaining four for the
gold. silver and nickel bullion. The
bronze bullion lies in another room by
itself. but as a few dollars worth of
this substance makes an uncomforta-
bly, heavy load il is not thought nee
essary to surround 1t with the minute
safeguards used In the case Of the
precious metals.
The vaults themselves have a double
ombination. That TO the outer door
is known by the cashier only and that
TO the inner door by the custodian of
the vaults only. To enter a vault both
men have TO be together. and il is a
rule of the department that both shall |
stay together till the inspection or
other object for which the huge safe
is opened is accomplished.
Entering one of these great cages /
after i've minutes working at the |
combination. one finds himself In a |
huge room partitioned of in fifteen |
compartments by steel gratings of the |
strongest kind A straight passage |
six feet wide and the height of the
chamber goes down the length of the |
room from the door. At the entrance
are stored the bronze coins. the cents.
about $4,000 worth Of them. but the
amount varies from day to day. Next
come the more precious nickel coins
of which the value usually totals
about $4,000
Beyond these storage places a steel
grated door in the passage itself has
to be opened and then still another
to get completely TO the end of the
room. All along the length of this
passageway. from the entrance to the
vault TO the end are the compart-
ments for the coins. separated from
the passageway by exactly the same
kind Of gratings as those which divide
the way itself into sections.
The bottom. the sides and the top OF
this vault are Iineo with steel plates.
and about the entire vault is the three
foot protection OF concrete. Within the
vault itself are the separate eompart-
ments. each locked. These compaft
ments are examined shortly after the
end of the fiscal year. and are then
sealed by the examiners. SO that any
entrance to them would be impossible
without the breakage of the seals In
each compartment devoted TO the stor
age Of gold the coin is stored first in
bags which contain 5000 each in half
eagles. eagles or double eagles. and
then these bags are arranged twenty
On a shelf. Each shelf has thus $780,
Doc on II. The shelves are arranged in
rows downward. ten from top to bot
tom of the compartment. each row
having thus S1.OO0.ooO in gold in 1t.
Electricity lights the entire section
IF each vault. and the electric current
S SO arranged that IL II were possible
'or the vaults TO be tempered with the
electricity would Immediately give no
ice outside that something was wrong
A detachment of guards every night
IS stationed at the entrance to the
'tairways leading TO the corridor.
which gives access 10 the vaults them
selves. Their orders are TO shoot down
my one attempting an entry.
For the protection of the mint from
Ire well drilled fire brigade has
barge of the extinguishing apparatus
There are thirty-one fire alarm sta
ions located in the corridors and
ooms throughout the building.
AT night every fifteen minutes thirty
ne watchmen ring signal notifying |
be watch in the telephone room that
N Is we'll All these men carry re |