Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-04-02
Count Of MONEY
been Started
Former Governor Of North
Dakota Has Taken Oath r.-
as u. 5. Treasurer
Small Army Trusted Employ.
es Have Started Counting
$I,500,000,000

WASHINGTON, D. c., April John
Burke, former governor of North Da-
kota. took the oath of office as treas
urer of the United States today and en-
tered upon the duties of his office, sue
ceeding Carmi a. Thompson of Ohio,
who had succeeded United States Treas
urer Lee McClung in December of 1912.
AS the law requires that the retiring
treasurer's record of the ransfer of
funds be verified by an actual count of
the notes. coins and securities in the
treasury whenever there is a change of
treasurers, the tremendous task of
counting the hoard Of approximately
81, 500, O00. 900 contained in the vaults of
the national treasury was begun today.
This gigantic task which, it is estimat-
ed. would take on person about 800
years, will be completed by a small army
of trusted employees under the direction
and supervision of the committee which
Secretary McAdoo has appointed for that
purpose, in from two to four months.
The work is carried on during office
hours only, beginning at $3.50 in the
morning and closing at 4:30 in the after
noon.
All Of the paper money is counted
piece by piece, but the gold and silver
coin. usually stored in canvas bags. is
counted by weight, unless some error is
detected which makes it necessary to
open every one of the bags and to
count its contents. A. test bag, the
contents Of which have been counted
and found correct. is placed upon the
scales and balances against the other
ed and re-checked before it is returned
to the vaults and great precautions are
taken to prevent theft. Armed guards
Stand over the counters and WOrkmen
to protect them from interference. The
handling of the heavy coin bags in re-
moving them from the stacks, Spaksing
them from hand to hand to the weigh
ing counters and back again to the' Wl,lts
to be re-stacked is strenuous work re-
During considerable physical strength.
The counting of the paper money and
securities, while not so strenuous, re-
quires great skill and accuracy.
In the course of time there rave been
many counts of the funds in the United
States Treasury but nearly in every
case the actual contents of the vaults
correspondent exactly with the amounts
listed in the books and counts of the
treasury. In 1885, when the admins
tratiOn passed into the hands of the
Democratic party and a Democratic
treasurer succeeded the former Republic
can incumbent, a deficit Of two cents
was found at the count, but the miss
ing coppers were found behind one Of
the desks after a few days. a few years
ago it was found at one of these counts
tnat n 81, 600 bill was missing. The
treasurer made good the mount and
was later on reimbursed by Congress.
Upon another occasion, a few years
go, one of the colored men employed
at the count to carry coin oags from
the vault to the weighing counter and
back, stole about 600 silver dollars
from the bags, substituting for them
lead pieces of the same weight as the
silver dollars. He was detected, how
ever, arrested and punished. The de-
lection OF the mans dishonesty made it
necessary to open every single coin bag