The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-04-01
TREMENDOUS TASK
FACES TREASURER
Methods of Making inventory of
Finances OF the U. S.

Washington April John Burke
former governor Of North Dakota.
took the oath of office as treasurer of
! the United states today and entered
| upon the duties of his. Office. succeed
/ ms tarmi \, Thompson of Ohio whn
! bad succeeded United States Treasur-
! 81 Lee McClung, In December of ls12
rs the law requires that the retiring
treasurer's record of the transfer of
! funds be verified by au actual count
/ of the notes, coin aud securities in
( the treasury whenever there is "A
! change in trcasurcrs. the tremendous
| task of counting tho hoard of approx
imatcly $500 00c, 900 contained i'm the
vaults o. the national treasury was
begun today This gigantic task
| which, II is estimated, would take one
person about 300 years, will be com
pletcd by a small group of trusted en-
! ploycs under the direction aud super
vision of the committee which SDcre.
| tary McAduo has appointed for that
purpose, in from two To- -four months.
| The work Is carried on during office
house only, beginning at $50 in the
morning and closing at t.2O in tie
afternoon.
Guards Protect Gold
M of the paper money is counted
piece by piece, but the gold aud sill
yer coin, usually stored in canvas
bags, is counted by weight, unless
some error is detected which makes
it necessary To open every oIl" Of the
haSS ANA count its contents. \ test
haS, the contents of which have been
counted and found correct is placed
upon the scales aud balanced against
IN" other bags for vcrilicution. E8ch
bag is checked and rcchcckcd before
it iS returned tu the vaults aud 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 bagr
in removing them from the stacks,
passing them from hand To- hand ~
the weighing counters and back again
To the vaults To- bc re-stacked is siren.
uuus work, requiring considerable
physical strength. The counting Of
the paper money and securities, while
not so strenuous, requires great skill
aud accUracy. 60.
IN the course of time there have
been many counts of the funds I'm the
United states treasury. but nearly m
every case the actual contents of thl
vaults correspond exactly with tho
amounts listed m the books and ac-
counts o; the treasury. la 1855. wlrcn
tie administration passed into the
hand, of the Democratic party AMI
Democratic treasurer succeeded the
,urmcr Republican incumbent, q def
icit ur . cents Was found at The count,
bat the missing coppers were found
behind one of the desks after few
DAYS. ! few years AGO it was found
at one uf these counts that one $1,000
hill was missing. The treasurer made
good the amount aud Was later on re-
inbursod by Congress.
Recount Made Necessary,
Upon another occasion, q few years
ago. one of the colored men employed
IT the count 10 carry coin bags from
the vault To the weighing counter and
back. stole about coo silver dollars
from the bags substituting for thcm
lead pieces OF the same weight rs the
silver dollars. lie was detected, how
ever. arrested aud punished, Tho de
81.
il ueCessary to open every single coin
bag ia the vaults and TO verify then
contents 10y actual count.
The committee entrusted with the
task of the count consists of the CHIEF
of the uublc moneys division the
chief or the loans and currency divis
ION and personal representatives. of
the retiring and the incoming treas
urcrs The vaults were turned over
to the committee today and carefully
rlugcd and sealed. Tile contents -
the vaults will not bc disturbed dur
ing the count excepting for the pur-
pose of counting the funds. only
money enough to keep the wheels o.
the government revolving has been
knpi gpart for use while the count Isl
IN progress. The vaults will hc sealed
ai the clos, of every workday ana
VIII not he rcmuved until the count
rs completed and the new treasurer
ready to hand his receipt To the pred
,cessor in office. When Carni Thomp
son succeeded Leo McClung as treas
ur.r he received more than $lio0,oo".-
coo. lie must account for every cent
of that amount. plus tho millions lac
has received. minus expenditures