The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-09-28
SCOOPINC DOLLARS
BY The SHOVELFUL
AN EVERYDAY SIGHT IN ONE
OF BIG BUILDINGS WHERE
UNCLE SAM KEEPS MONEY.

NEW YORK, n. Y.-To see a
man shoveling silver dollars INTO
containers. which later drop them
into q furnace; to look through a
colored glass into the depths OF the
furnace and see the dollars grad
uallv become molten metal is sight
worth going a long distance to see'
The nonchalance with which ne
shovels the precious discs into the
big hopper is refreshing. Here. you
saw, is a man who cares nothing LOT
money. He handles it with the same
air of Indifference with which the
householder years ago used to put
coal into his furnace. Those days
are long past, of course. No sane
householder today would think OF re-
qarding with indifference the black
diamonds that have become more
precious than rubies. r
The sangfroid of this shoveier OF
dollars is tremendous. With a Dig
scoop-the same kind you and nave
in our cellars-he digs into a PIE
representing. let US say, SlOO,0OO'
lifts upward of a hundred dollars
and ouite calmly losses them into the
container. without so much as turh-
ing a hair he scoops up another Hun
bred. drops them into the hopper
and continues until it is filled:
Then with a turn of the wrist ne
pulls a lever, the hopper swings IN
to the air, is poised for a moment
over the top of the furnace and IN
a twinkling lets its precious contents
rattle down into the white-hot belly
of the thing. -,
Having read this far you will nave
realized that there are few places IN
the world where such an extraordl-
nary happening as this could nave
taken Mace, and that those few are
restricted to United States minis. AS
q matter of fact, it occurred IN TINS
city in the mint, which is the largest
of the few money-maklng establish
ments Uncle Sam conducts.
It was some months ago that II
happened. but to the reporter, VINO
accompanied members Of the annual
ASSAY commission on an interesting
and. for him, unusual inspection OF
the mint. the sight of silver dollars
being literally shoveled into the ire
stands out as the first of two unique
experiences that day.
The second came toward the END
of the trip of inspection, when big
vault far under the ground was
opened with some slight show OF
ceremony and those present invited
to step inside to see what they might
see.
But it wasn't so very impressive
inside, after all; that is, not until
YOU began to think of what the tar
nished pigs of metal there represent
ed. The vault is not very large and
around the four sides of it and in
the center are rows of heavy shelves
divided into compartments. The gen.
eral impression is one of pigeonholes
such as you find in an old-fashioned
desk.
Within the pigeonholes are placed
the pigs of metal; some dark
bronze in color and very much tar
nished; others the shade of dull lead
pipe. And having shown his guests
these commonplace looking things,
Superintendent Baker, head of this
business of making money for I'm
Gle Sam, remarked casually that here
in this little room was stored the
quite respectable sum of several bill
lion dollars in bullion
Several billion dollars! They talk
of kings ransoms and imagine they
are speaking of vast wealth; they
weave romances around the lost
treasure of Ell Dorado; they tell tales
of great fortunes in pirates gold
hidden in secret places all over the
world and waiting to make rich be-
vond the dreams of avarice the man
bold enough to search for it-and
lucky enough to find it. But, verify,
all this tabled treasure is naught
when compared with the fortune un-
der the earth at Seventeenth and
Spring Garden streets.
True, the sums with which ro-
maneers have enchanted our imagl-
nations may exceed the modest few
billions in this small vault at the
mint: but it is well to remember
that we can dream of kings ran
SONS and Ell Dorado and pirate gold,
yet thew are only dreams, while the
few billions are actually there. ana
that is not all There are more vaults
besides this one.
Now. the usual visitor to the mint
is taken on a circumscrbed trip by
guides, who are careful not to let
him get anywhere near the money
that is being manufactured. He new
er gets a closeup" of the process
nor is it possible for him to see
within the vaults which hold such
precious contents. As a matter OF
fact, he can't even see the vaults
themselves; they are far, far below
the lowest floor to which the casual
visitor is admitted.
But when one accompanies the
commissioners who annually test the
quality of Uncle Sans gold and sill
ver and count his money for him,