The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-02-15
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, ID. C.
GOVERNMENT GOLD.
Washington, d. C.

| impregnable storehouse for the ma
TONS gold is asked by the secretary
of the treasury.
Our treasury building has the repu-
| tation of being the most cleverly and
completely guarded building in the
world. The regions about its vaults
bristle with automatic alarms. A
regiment of watchmen is always on the
alert. But the vault itself in which
our gold and silver ana securities are
stored was built years ago. 1t was
the strongest that could be construct
ed then, but it could be reinforced
and made more secure now.
And this is very good time to con-
struct new vault and refOrtify the
old one. Secretary Houston AYERS, be-
cause the old vault is unusually empty.
During the war India needed silver
and we melted 265,000,O00 silver dol
lars into bars and shipped them to
her. This made a big hole in the
mountain of coin in the treasury and
sub-treasury vaults. SO that if repair
work were done now on the treasury
vault, there would not be the difficulty
of removing the contents of a pocked
vault to safe place and later bring
ing it back.
Another reason why a larger,
stronger vault is needed is also being
impressed On congress. That is that
the nine ssub-treasuries are being
abolished and large part of the gold
and silver reserve held by them will
have to be stored here. Besides this,
the money which they have been u.s.
ing to conduct business-some $780,
600, 000-will be released to the gov
eminent, and will probably all be
brought to the treasury, where, an
says, it is much needed. The bullion
held by the sub-treasuries is to go to
the minis and assay offices scattered
over the country, where it can be
stored until needed for conversion into
coin.
Safest in Safes.
The vault which the treasury de-
partment wants is to cost $2,00O.00O,
and is to be the last word in safety.
1t is to be a three-story structure in
the treasury building court. The sub
basement, where vault is already IN
existence under the court, will be
strengthened and used for storage of
securities not in constant use. The
basement floor will be a more accessi-
BILE vault for coin and notes and Sc
curities, and the surface story will
contain offices.
The bill providing for this structure
is now before the house committee on
public buildings and grounds, as this
committee will have to approve the
building before the committee on ap-
preparations can consider putting up
the money. No action has been taken
by the public buildings committee, but
it is considered likely that the erection
of the vault will be authorized.
Imagine thirteen billion dollars
worth of money and securities under
one roof, and you get an idea of what
the strong gray walls of the treasury
building hide. And every penny of it
has to be accounted for The treas
of "a jc Id fn,
its safety If a thief should manage
to make way with a bag of govern
ment gold the treasurer would be held
responsible unless congress took ac-
ton to stay prosecution proceedings.
But stealing the treaSurer'S gold is
one stunt that professional thieves
realize is beyond them. About the
nearest that any one has come actually
to getting away with treasury money
was the case of one of the men who
are employed to destroy old bills. You
may remember that there were three
of these men, and that. one for a time
contrived to stick some of the best of
the worn money into his pockets when
the other two were not looking.
That was very unusual situation.
In most of the important places of
the treasury even the guards are
guarded and while one man will have
the key or the combination to open
an outer door, another has to come to
open the inner door.
Counting a Nations Coin.
Because the treasurer is responsible
for the contents of the vaults, when
he resigns, as Mr. Burke did last
month, there has to be a recounting
OF the treasury stores. This time,
some rs or 80 persons were detailed
to the vault to make the count, and
for 6 days they did nothing but
check up on coin. bullion, notes, and
securities. The total they found in
the building was s13,8S3,S19,S26.363 IS.
This does not represent all the gov
ernment's money. Washington is con-
sidered sufficiently far back from the
coast to be a safe place for federal
vaults, but even so, the government
does not put all of it's eggs into one
basket There are the 1nints and the
assay offices and the federal reserve
banks.
The sub-treasuries, too. were a part
of the system of scattering instead
of concentrating public funds. When
they were established, the sub-treas-
uries undoubtedly were needed.
distances was uncertain and danger
Gus, and in a country as large as ours
so much transportation of gold and
silver would have been a serious drag
on all finance. Then there was an
early law that the public moneys
and the sub-treasuries provided a
legal place of deposit. This law has
long ago been altered, so the federal
reserve banks can take the place of
the sub-treasuries as repositories for
government funds.
Soft Salaries Slashed.
In fact, since the federal reserve
banks have been established it has
become more and more apparent that
these banks could perform nearly all
the functions detailed to the sub
treasures. and only the unsettled con-
ditions due to the war have delayed
the transfer of business and duties un-
til now.
A further minor objection to the
sub-treasury organization has been
that the heads OF the nine sub-treas-
uries were appointed by the president
and confirmed by the senate. and
there. many people claimed. their ac-
tivity ceased. The house sub-commit-