Evening star., 1924-10-05
THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

| States Mint and have il coined. After
the metal has been assayed to ascer-
| tain its degree OF purity. it is next
put through a process which removes
| all foreign materials AS pure gold
would be too soft for money. an alloy
| is added to give il the proper degree
! of hardness to withstand handling.
When Uncle Sam Gains
The Government makes a profit on
! all coins except those OF gold. The
difference between the actual value
value OF the coin is known as seig-
niorage. The metal in a 1-cent piece
is worth only a small fraction of its
| face value; the remainder represents
clear profit TO the Government.
| Every time coin is lost Uncle Sam
makes tho difference between its
! actual value and its face value. That
many coins are lost is shown by the
fact that although the little half-cent
| pieces that were issued many years
| ago are very seldom seen nowadays
| over 100000 are outstanding-that
| is, they never have been returned to
the Treasury. 1t is estimated that
5000. 900 of these have been lost for
ever.
A peculiar fascination attaches to
the bureau of the Treasury known
| as the Secret Service. Contrary to
popular impression, this is not the
police department of the Govern
ment- The Secret Service has two
| principal dutes-the suppression of
counterfeiting and the protection of
| the President
How comparatively little counter
felt money there is in circulation is
| shown by the fact that out of some
| $3,o00,ooo,0o0 which passed through
| the hands OF Treasury officials, less
than $4,000 in bad money was
| found.
An important source Of revenue
to the Federal Government is the
customs duty on imports, and the
Treasury Department has in charge
| the administration Of the tariff law
which levies this tax. Collections
now are being made at the rate of
more than 100000, 900 a year and
are increasing. Since the rounda-
ton Of the Government some ST.
Ooo,oo0,000 has been collected in Gus
toms duties
Iwo-thfrds of all customs business
OF the United States is done at the
| port of New York, where it costs less
man cents to collect each 81 of duty.
elaborate precautions are taken to
prevent the smuggling into the United
sAtes OF goods properly subject to
tar1H duties. Men conceal diamonds
IN secret holes in the heels of their
| snoes. women wind rare laces and
silks around their bodies or sew New
YORK or Chicago tags in Paris gowns
10 escape payment Of duties which are
| specially high on luxuries.
The Best Banking System.
experts declare the United States
now has the most efficient money and
banking system in the world. The
Eeoeral reserve act was approved
december %. 1913, setting up an en-
tirely new system Of issuing pa aper
money against business credit and
Eoio. Inc Nation Is divided under
Federal Reserve Bank is estabIished
IN each one. These banks have
| branches in other cities and all ma
tional banks are members OF the Fed
eral Reserve Bank. Qualified State
chartered banks may join At will
Each member bank suhscribes to the
capital stock Of the Federal Reserve
Bank in whose district it is located.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New
York is one-fourth as great in re-
sources as all the other II put to-
gether and may be regarded as the
biggest bank in the world.
In the Treasury is located the big
! gest bookkeeping department in the
world. 1t Is the general accounting
| Office. at the head Of which is the
controller general OF the United
States. He. with his staff Of expert
! auditors and accountants, keeps the
| books of the whole government estab-
! iishment. and has broad powers Of
deciding what expenditures are
| legally authorized. Questions in
| volved range from the cost of a bat
! tleship to the cost. Of q pen point.
The Bureau Of the Budget performs
| for the whole Government the func-
tion of guarding the National purse.