The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-12-04
UNCLE SANS
BILLION COUNT
Two Months Job Made NGCaS-
SaTy by Change Of Treasurer.
NO SHORTAGE is LIKELY.
Democrats Once Caught Republicans
With 2 Cents Missing, but Individual
Employees Have Used Ingenious
Methods of Stealing.


Uncle Sam is going about the count
ing of his money, something more than
S1,000,0OOO0O, and that ii will not be
entirely "ensy day work" may be judg
ed by the fact that it will employ
about twenty husky laborers. besides
a committee of treasury officers, for
probably more than two months.
This cou1S is made necessary Off
cially by the change of United States
Treasurer Lee McClung being succeed
ed by Carmi Thompson of Ohio. When
the formal transfer is made the new
treasurer will give receipt to the
outgoing treasurer for more than ST.
000.000,000 in gold ana silver coin and
paper money.
All of the paper money is counted
piece by piece. Much of the gold is
counted in that way, but practically
all the silver and some of the gold are
counted by weighing the sealed bags
containing them on scales that are deli
cately poised so that the slightest va
Ration from the asCertained weight of
q bag of coin would be accurately re-
corded. The silver and gold coin is
kept in sealed bags.
Tossing Around Money.
1t requires some physical effort tc
count these. They are heavy, and each
one must be handled separately. Taken
from the pile in which it is stacked by
a laborer, a bag is tossed to another
laborer, who passes it before the COM
mittee of inspection. The committee
after weighing the bag passes it on to
other labOrers, who put it back in the
symmetrical pile until the next count
is ordered.
Men have been permanently injured
by accidents in handling these bags of
coin. There are a number of men now
being carried on the rolls of the treas
ury who have suffered sprains or bro
ken limbs or been injured internally
through being hit with money bags in
the course of the official count
The committee which supervises the
count is usually composed of three per-
sons, all officers of the treasury.
These counts, often as a change in
the treasurer'S office has required them.
have almost invariably shown the
stock of Uncle Sans money in the
treasury to be intact, but once there
was a shortage. 1t was in 1885, when
the Democratic party succeeded to
power in the government after years
spent in the political wilderness.
There was also a frequent demand
from campaign orators that the books
Of the treasury be opened and the cash
counted. So the country was not
wholly unprepared to hear that the Off
cial count of the billion or so in the
heasurer's office had disclosed short
age.
Shortage Caused Surprise.
There was really some surprise,
though, at the size of the deficit. 1t
was only cents.
Republicans throughout the country
rallied heroically to the relief of their
party. A perfect shower Of two cent
stamps fell upon the United States
treasurer, coming through the mails
from all sections of the country, but ii
was not necessary to turn to private
subscriptions to make up the deficit.
Two days after the official count ended
the missing 2 cents were found as the
result of moving a desk.
So far as the memory of the present
officers of the treasurer's staff goes,
this is the only shortage that has ever
been disclosed by any count Of treas
nry cash, although 1t is possible that
there may have been some others.
There have been losses and thefts from
time to time.
One United States treasurer in re-
cent years made the discovered that
a thousand dollars was missing The
sum was represented by a single bill.
He made good the loss, and congress
later reimbursed him.
Several years ago a negro laborer
managed to make away with several
hundred dollars while engaged in the
work of handling bags Of silver. He
was detected and punished.
He invented novel method of Sc
curing money and concealing the act
He provided himself with slugs OF lead
each of which weighed exactly the
same as the weight of silver dollar
Not lnfrequently in the progress OF a
count these bags Of silver coin fall
open or are found to be united. 1t is
an easy matter for a skillful man to
tear them open by quickly removing
the string
This laborer from time to time while
working at the top Of huge heap Of
sacks Of coin would report TO the com
mittee below that sacks were open, and
he would then be directed to tie the
sacks. Probably he was personally re-
sponsible for the sacks being open, but
he seized this opportunity to extract
one or more silver dollars from the
bag and supplied lead slugs Of equal
weight to take their place.
When the bags were weighed later
they were found TO be Of proper weight,
and for LONG Ima ausnioion xuo a