Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-02-18
GOVERNMENT GOLD
A More lmpregnable Storehouse is
Needed.
The REGIMENT is EVER ON ALERT
Vault Which Treasury pepartment
Wants Would Cost s2,oomo-RilI
for Structure Now Before Houe2.

treasury,
Our treasury building has the repu-
tation of being the most clcverly and
completely guarded building in the
world. The regions about its vaults
bristlc with automatic alarms. A regl-
ment of watchmen is always on the
alert But the vault itself in which
our gold and silver and securities are
stored was built years ago. 1t was the
strongest that could be constructed
then, but it could be reinforced and
made more secure now.
And this is a very good time to con-
struct a new vault and reforti1y the
old one, Secretary Houston AYERS, be-
cause the old vault is unusually empty.
During the war India needed silver and
we melted 265,00O,OOO silver dollars 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 tat If repair work were
done now on tho. treasury vault there
would not be the difficulty Of remov-
ing the contents Of packed vault to
a safe place and later bringing 1t back.
Another reason why a larger. strong
er vault Is needed is also being i'm
pressed on congress. That is that the
nine sub-treasuries are being abolish
cd and a large part Of the gold ard
silver. reserve held by them will have
to be stored here. Besides this, the
money which they have been using to
conduct business-some $50,000,000-.
will be released to the government,
and will probably all be brought to the
treasury. where, as assistant secretary
Of the treasury says, it is much NEEDED
The bullion held by the sub-treasuries
is to go to the mints and assay Offices
scattered over the country. where 1t
can be stored until needed for CONVEX
sion into coin. ,
Safest of Safes.
The vault which the treasury depart
.ment wants is to cost S2.O00,000 and is
to be the last word in safety. 1t is to
be a three-story structure in the
treasury building. 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 accessible vault for coin
and. notes and securities. and the sur
face story will contain offices.
The bill providing. for this structure
is now before the house committee on
public buildings and grounds, as the
committee will have to approve the
building before the committee on ap-
propriations 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 $13,OCO,0O0,000 worth Of
money and securities under one roof,
and you get an idea of what the strong
gray walls Of the treasury buildings
hide. And every penny of it has 10
be accounted for. The treasurer of the
United States is bonded for it's safety.
If thief should manage to make way
with bag Of government gold the
treasurer would be held responsible
unless congress took action 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 tho case of one Of the men Who
arc employed to destroy old bills. You
may rcrtsember that there were three
of these men, and that one for a time
contrivcd to stick some of the best OF
the worn money into his pockets when
the other two were not looking
That was an unusual situation. In
most of the important places OF the
treasury even the guards are guarded
and while one man will have the Key
on 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
twenty-five or thirty persons were de-
tailed to the vault to make the count,
and for sixteen days they did nothing
but check up on coin. bullion notes and
securities. The total they found in
the building: was s13,SS3,S19,S26.S6 ga:
This does not represent all the gov
ernment's money. Washington is con-
sidered sufficiently far back from the
| coast to be Il safe place for federal
vaults but even so, the government
does not put all of it's eggs into one
basket. There are the mints and the
ASSAY offices and the federal reserve
banks.
The sub treasures, too. were part
of the system of scattering instead OF
concentrating public funds When they
were established the sub treasures un- :
doubtedly were needed. Transporta :
ton Of currency over long distances
was uncertain and dangerous, and IN
! q country as large aS ours so much