The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-02-14

Warrington. D. c.. Feb. ia
more impssgnabls storshouss for
the nations gold II asked By the
secretary Of the treasury.
Our treasury building has the
reputation Of being the most clev-
erly and completed guarded build
Ing IN the world. The regions about
It, vaulfo bfistls With automatic
alarms. A regiment Of watchmen
10 always on the alert. But the
vault itself, In which our gold ana
silver and securities are stored.
was built years ago. It was the
strongest that could be constructed
then, but It could b reinforced and
made more secure now.
And this 10 . very good time to
construct new vault and reforttfy
the old one. Secretary Houston
AYERS, because the old vault 10 IN
usually empty. During the war
India needed silver and We melted
2es. o60,0oo silver dollars into bsra
and shipped thsm to her. This
made . big hole In the. mountain Of
coin in the treasury and sub-treas-
ury vaults, 30 that II rep9ir work
were done now on the treasury
vault. there would not be the DIFF
flculty Of removing the contents Of
Q packed vault to . safe place and
later bring II back.
Another reason why larger,
stronger vault il needed is also be-
ing impressed on congress. That
IL that the nine sub-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 using to conduct bust
ness-some $50 900 ,000Lwill be re-
leased to the government, and will
probably all DO brought to the
treasury, where. an assistant Sec
rotary Of the treasury says. It is
mueh4 needed The bullion held by
the sub-treasuries is to 30 TO the
mints and assay ofaces scattered
over the country, where II can be
;ase so' until needed for conversion
Safest Of Saies.
The vault which the treasury de-
partment wants 10 to cost $1,000
. 900, and is to be the last word in
safety. 1t IL to be . three-story
structure In the treasury building
court. The sub-basement. where a
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 . more accessible vault for
coin and notes and securities. and
the surface story will contain Of
ices.
The bill providing for this struc-
ture is now before the house COM
mittes on public buildings and
grounds, a. this committee will
have to approve the building be-
fore the committee on appropria-
tons can consider putting up the
money. No action has been taken
by the public buildings committee,
but 1t Is considered likely that the
erection Of the vault will be au-
thorised.
Imagine thirteen billion dollars
worth Of money and securities un-
der one roof. and you get an idea of
what the strong gray walls Of the
treasury building hide. And every
penny OF 1t has been accounted for.
The treasurer Of the United States
Is bonded for its safety. II a thief
should manage to make way. with
q bag Of government gold, the
treasurer would be held RESPONSE
BILE 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
como actually to getting away with
treasury money was the case OF
one Of the men who are employed
to destroy old bills. You may re-
member that there were three oil