The Washington times., 1913-04-01
BURKE TAKES HOLD
OF TREASURY RE|NS
Succeeds Carmi Thompson and
Count of Uncle Sans Store
of Wealth Begins.

John Burke. former governor of
North Dakota, became Treasurer of the
United States at 10 o'clock this morn
ing. when the oath of office was admin
istered by Acting Appointment Clerk
Fitzpatrick, in the office of Secretary
McAdoo.
Assembled in the office of the Secre-
lary were the various division chleIs ot
the department, ana fTlenas ,or or and
Thompson, retiring treasurer, e .ha
Treasurer Burke. The desk OF tiie
Treasurer was banked with flowers.
In the induction of Treasurer BURKE,
Secretary McAdoo paid high trlpu.e "
Carmi Thompson personaiiy ate ahe Treas. IT, as.
ury. After my brief time at tne heau
Of the department'' he said, Il nave
fo,,nd the past administration most EN-
cient This has been particularly uue &
of the office of the Treasurer o. ,,ne
tinted states, the work of whlcn, ui
der. Mr.. Thompson's administrator ~
have had opportunity to observe
Mr.. Burke will maintain the presen.
high standard in that office. as ! am
sure he will. he will meet my can auh he
pectations. Nothing Hore
asked"
Count of Millions Begun.
Immediately after Treasurer Burke
took office the count OF the yas' u;t suS ed
of the national wealth OF the itts oni,eu
states. stored in the Treasury sauaSs III
was begun. There are nearly si,ooV.
10000 in currency, COINS, pdnh n.,I-
and bonds to be counted MI. @
said today that it was more thah haeiS aeiS
that the packages and bags OIL eoIo
counted and sealed when Mr.. Thomp-
son took office will be accepted Tor the
sum stated on the seal Wlthout q
piece-by-piece count. IL TINS is oons ,ae
count will be completed in ten oays;
II would take a force OF hunoIeo
Counters several weeks to make the
Is q. Dascuin, chief of the pubic
moneys division of he Treasury, 3
chairman of the counting conInlteeec
William S. Broughton, assistant cnieI Oh
the division of loans and currency, Is
the representative of Mr.. Thompson,
and p E. Byrne, former secreIar! "
Governor Burke, is representing the ne"
Treasurer.
room was completed this morning, SO
that there was no interruption to ousi.
ness. The cash room mas suinSIen.
balance to run for several weeks lhere
is a small army at work IN tne xauiis
today counting the money in bulk II
is estimated that it would take one
person 300 years to make a piece bs
piece count
When the gold coin is counted in the
sealed bags, test bas is oalancee III ii
AN extremely delicate scale against an
other bags. IL the scale balances thS
tally is accepted as correct. If IT does
not the bag is counted piece by piece.
But twice in the history of the rather
frequent counts of the vast store OF
wealth in the office of the Treasurer
has a shortage been found. One occa-
sion was when the Democrats took over
the reins of government in 1885, when
the cash did not meet the books by two
cents The two cents were later FOUND
On a second occasion one 600 bill was
missing. The retiring Treasurer made
good the loss and was later reimbursed
by Congress.
= When tire count started before work
ing hours today every vault and strong
box was sealed, and not to be touched
until opened by the counting committee.