Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1917-10-19

built in go Is. G. II guarded tne gifts
brought TO the shrine, The state treas
ury of Athens was in the Opisthodo-
mos. a chamber In the back part Of the
Parthenon, separated from the rest of
the temple by heavy bronze doors
Once in four years Inventories were
taken of the contents of the treasure
house In 43l B. c. Pericles said that
there were COCO tons of coined money
on the Acropolis.
Savings in "Thrift" Boxes.
treasure in the sanctuary of Apollo
at Delos were absurdly inadequate in
the earliest days. The Greek word for
thief. toikorukos, means one who digs
through the wall suggests that pre-
meditated burglary was not uncommon.
Chests were the depositaries for yalu-
| ables among the Greeks often they
were very elaborate The Romans evil
IDENTITY made considerable progress to-
wards security, their locks being more
/ efficient than any known to the Greeks
The Roman strong boxes eXcavated
at Pompeli show that they were often
Of wood iron bound, and fastened
to block of granite by rods. In
Rome. as in Egypt and in Greece, the
public funds were placed in temples
for safe keeping. The state treasury
of Rome the Aeararium. was in the
temple of Saturn. From Roman days
to the present century the poor kept
their savings in small thrift boxes
receptacles of pottery holding from
pint to a quart with only one opening,
a small slot Savings could not be
removed without breaking the recep-
tacle. These pottery receptacles often
took on odd shapes, pigs cats, fish,
etc Notifications of the Roman strong
box were used as treasure chests IN
all the countries of Europe during the
middle AGES and down into the last
century. Puzzle locks were one of the
/ developments of early days.
! When banking started In Florence in
/ the thirteenth century and large sums
Of money began to he accumulated by
| the money lenders safeguarding of val
uables became more imperative. Neces-
sity began invention and gradually,
through the centuries. progress has
been made toward safe-locking de-
vices and veritable stronghods in
which to keep gold, silver and all
valuables Yet at the beginning of
the nineteenth century strong boxes
were not mucs more secure than
those OF several centuries before,
though they looked more formidable
with spikes and iron bands. No seri-
Gus attempt had been made TO secure
! fireprooting. but the increase in paper
money, bonds and stocks and other evil
dences Of Indebtedness written on pa
per made progress in fireproofing es-
sential The first attempt to secure
real tireproof safes took place in
France where they were made with
double walls, the space between being
filed with noN-couducting materials.
The First Safe Deposit Vaults.
Successful burglaiies and great con
flagrations gave impetus 10 making
safes stronger and brought about the
first safe deposit vaults. It was n
| battle royal between burglars and safe
and vault makers Tor years, but now
the latter seem to have completely
! overcome the burglars.
The highest skill of the safe maker
is now devoted 10 making strong
rooms or safe deposit vaults for banks.
says the pamphlet. The early vaults
were merely rooms of brick or ma
sonry fitted with a safe door of large
dimensions The next step was to
line these rooms with metal. Such