Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-04
Seal of the Treasury
Has interesting History

journals of Congress of that date are
these references TO the seal: Resolved.
That the controller shall keep the Treas
ury books and seal and file all accounts
and shall draw bills under sad seal
There has never been found any refer
ence to a report from the committee II
devise a seal, but impressions of the Con
tinental Treasury seal have been found
on documents OF the date of 11s2. IL is
clear that when the present form of gov
eminent was instituted in 1883 the Treas
ury seal of the confederation was con-
tinued in use and Is found on papers Is
sued i'm the latter part OF the eighteenth
century.
In the statutes at large for lS4a chap
ter 81. section ,. may be read this.
And be II further enacted. That all
books, papers, documents and records
I'm the War Navy. Treasury and Post
Office departments and the Attorney Gen
erals Office may be copied and certified
under seal in the same manner as those
in the State Department may now be by
law, and with the same force and effect.
and the Attorney General shall cause A
seal to be made and approved for his
Office with such device as the President OF
the United States shall approve
1t is believed that because of this legis-
lation the old seal of the continental
period was replaced in ls49 by another
Montgomery county, Md. According 10
Mr.. Napier Mr.. Stabler was ordered to
make a fac simiIe of the old one. which
was nearly worn out Mr.. Stabler sug-
gested some minor improvements. but
was informed that the design must be
copied exactly in accordance with the
law. However, on comparing an impress
sion from the continental seal taker IN
1915. with one from the seal now in use,
q slight difference in the wreaths on the
sides of the shield is to be found and
tiny dots have been introduced on what
was at the previous date blank space
about the principal features within the
shied Losing the historian, in an
article in Harper's Magazine. February.
and Seals. gives a drawing of an i'm
preston made in 1852 which had no
'dottings' and had the wreaths exactly
like those on the papers sealed IN 1916.
The diameter of the seal now in use i
one-eighth inch greater than that OF The
continental seal. But these differences
are so minute that the casual observer
would never notice them. In all essential
features they are the same SO tnat the
design of the seal OF the Treasury Depart
ment is older than the national govern
ment.
The explanation OF the symbols is that
the thirteen stars represent the thirteen
original colonies. Justice. the blind god
dess holding the balance, and which mas
always been a favorite with the design
ers of state seals. is not present. but tn
balance is and 1t is understood that the
designers Of the Treasury seal used the
balance alone as an emblem of justice.
KEYS are in the seal and these in Sec
ular heraldry have been used from re-
mote antiquity to denote offices OF state.
not known to the Romans, and striking
clocks were not invented until lt4p Years
after the death OF Caesar
The moon, ii seems, j. responsible Tor
more authors .howlers' even than night
ingales.
Baroness Orczy. in "Petticoat Govern
ment," draws a beautiful picture OF a
crescent moon rising over the tree tops
in the far eastern sky at ii O'Clock on a
June evening. The picture is so nice that
ii is a pity to destroy II, bur the inven-
ton is preposterous. Lucas Malet' erTs
in a similar fashion in one OF her novels.
Miss Stevens in 1.-The Ven speaks Of the
new moon being seen at sunset prayer.
"a thin slip in the east. \ httle study
would show that when the moon rises AT
sunset il must necessarily be tuli moon.
or nearly so. In the same book the fuil
moon rises and sets again within a period
of two hours, whereas the fun moon Is,
Of necessity, an all-night moon