El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-12

XTAsnINGToN' D. c, Oct II
w 1 have spent a day in Uncle
Sans catacombs. They lie IN
der the great department of the treas
ury 20 or 80 feet below the level of the
white house, and 200 feet below the
floors Of the halls of congress, where
our statesmen sit and juggle with I'm
Gle Sans finances. / refer to the vaults
in which Uncle Sans money is kept
and where are stored away more real
hard coin and valuable paper than in
any other place upon earth The vaults
contain millions in gold and silver, and
their coin and securities, ali told, Will
run considerably over billion.
There are so many silver dollars that
# you should load them upon four
horse wagons. and put the teams nose
TO tail boards. the train required to
haul them would reach from New or1
TO Cincinnati The currency alone runs
high into the hundreds of millions.
During my stay there I held million
dollars in ten-thOusand-dollar notes,
in my good right hand, and 1 saw go
100000 more in three packages SO small
that ! could crowd them into half
bushel basket. You have all heard of
the million dOllars-WOrth
% treasury notes which secretary Nc
AdoO lifted up and shook in the face of
the panic mongers Of Wall street They
are ali stored here, and there is one
great vault. which is packed with them
almost 10 bursting.
Is Like Great Tomb.
7 have called these vaults catacOmbs-
The title fits the whole treasury de-
partment The building is the per
sOnification OF gloom 1t looks like
tomb, and 1t would be q fine home for
a suicide club. Long and squatty, with
a massive roof and walls of gray gran
lie many feet thick il makes one think
OF 4 sarcoDhagus of the gods, and its
surroundings are those of cemetery
The treasury department lies in a hOl-
low Just across the street from the
white house. whose gayety IS accentu-
atcd by its gloom. It's front yard is a
pit the walls OF which are covered with
IVY The lawn itself is as smooth as
velvet. but il takes a score of grave
digging gardeners TO keep out the
The treasury itself is more dreary
.than any picture ever painted by
Dante The doors are covered with iron
bars IS thick IS YOU wrist. and the i
windows behind are sad and dreary.
making one think of the rheumy eyes !
of dying giants looking out through the !
steel network with which they are /
yelled
Deep Set and Gloomy.
IE the second and third stories the |
windows are cleaner, but they are deep /
set and gloomy. Entering the building /
y GU lind the interior quite as depreSS-
ing The narrow corridors are so dark \
that they have to be lighted by cleo !
tricity throughout the day The lower
you were in a burial vault, and when 4
the doors silently open you shudder at /
the thought Of the collins which one
feels must be piled up within It is I
the same throughout the building from
the basement to the attic, and it
is only the south rooms on the second
floor. where secretary McAdoo has his
offices, that are at all CHEEKY.
When secretary of the treasury Nc
AdOo first came, treasurer Burke, I'm
Gle Sans new watchdog who lies at
the doors of the vaults and takes
charge of the moneys, wrote out a re- !
ceipt for the sums then on hand That
receipt gives some idea of the respon- /
sibilities of secretary McAdOO- It rep I
resents the largest sum ever taken
oVer by mortal man at one single time
II represents almost one thousand five
hundred million dollars, and its actual !
figures were Sl,426, AZ, O5l4S 2-3- Yes,
The money was figured out (
TO the thirds OF a cent and secretary
McAdOO has to make the accounts come
even to the smallest fraction Do you
wonder that such work pFeyed upon
he minds Of his predecessors
Fifteen Hundred Millions.
Have you any idea how much fifteen
hundred million dollars means2 It rep
resents more than one tenth of all the
money value of all the gold taken out
IF all the mines OF hte earth since the
discovery of America, and of the vast !
amount thus receipted for, the greatest
part was in gold. Much of the gold IS
not stored away here at the treasury
department.. It is kept at New York,
Denver or San Francisco. where It lies
n the vaults of the subtreasuries and !
n those of the minis in tons Of golden |
bricks ready for coinage at a moments
notice.
The gold in the treasury proper is
lot in bullion. It is only a bagatelle !
If few million dollars. and these mil
ions are mostly in the shape of eagles
and double eagles I saw a little box
II them in the cash vault this after
lOon. It was made of steel, and seemed :
o be only for snow 1t was not bigger