The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-07-07

at Washington covers two en-
tire city blocks In this build
~ ing there are thirteen immense
vaults, and several smaller safe
vaults, in which are safely packed
away billions of dollars in gold, silver,
greenbacks and securities
The vaults are wonderful in their
Intricate construction. They are sur.
rounded by thousands of highly
charged wires embedded in solid con-
crete, any one OF which will give an
alarm instantly if touched by any per-
son not intrusted with the secret COM
bination. Each vault is about twenty
five feet wide by thirty feet long, and
are built Of reinforced concrete four
and half feet thick and strong In
proportion. The vaults are as nearly
burglar-proof as human ingenuity can
make them.
Doors Are Strong.
Electricity, applied by the most
modern method, protects the treasure.
Each Of the vaults is completely sur.
rounded by network Of electric
wires placed two inches apart. The
doors of the vaults being sufficiently
strong to resist any attempt to enter
them, 1t Is absolutely impossible for
anyone to gain entrance to this treas.
ure house without giving an alarm
that will bring out instantly the cap
tain Of the watch and his entire force
Of guards. for the minute an electric
wire Is cut or even touched the alarm
is sounded, and the guardians Of I'm.
Gle Sans treasure at once get busy
The financial transactions Of the
government are conducted on a scale
Of such magnitude as to seem almost
Incredible. For instance, during the
period Of thirteen years from 1897 to
June 30, 1910. the accounts settled In
the ONCE of the auditor for the treas
ury department aggregated the i'm
mense sum Of $6S, ISL 900, 900, an aver.
age OF nearly $3.50 100000 a year.
This vast sum embraces the income
and expenditure of the government,
the issue. redemption and exchange Of
currency, accounts of mints and assay
Offices, customs. internal revenue,
etc. It does not, however. include
transactions relating to the postal
service, the revenues of which for the
fiscal year ending June 80, 1909.
amounted to 5000, $50 .3S3,O7. and the
expenditures 1921 0o4. 1929.
1t is not generally known that the
United States today holds the largest
stock of gold of any nation in the
world. The amount Of gold in the
United States is more than three times
as large es that of Great Britain. II
more than equals that of Great Bri-
tain and France, Great Britain and
Germany, or Great Britain and Russia
combined
Interesting Figures.
A number of interesting facts re-
garding the silver dollar were discov'
cred during the writer's investigation
Of this subject For instance, 1000 new
standard dollars will weigh exactly
1892 pounds. If the country's stock OF
564,604,719 silver dollars were loaded
into freight cars of 10000 pounds OF
thirty tons capacity, 1t would require
more than 555 cars to carry them.
II these same silver dollars could be
laid fat, one on top Of another, they
would make a monument S35 miles
high II placed end to end they would
make a handsome necklace 1886
miles in length. Or they would make
q belt that would extend more thar
half way around the world.
One Thousand dollars in new gold
coins weighs SOS pounds. Uncle
Sans stock Of gold. therefore, IL