The Glenwood post., 1924-11-13
TAYLOR TALKS
TO CLUB LADIES
(co.tinuer from page II

and other officers. At the present |
time one of the main duties OF the
secretary of state is to hold converse
tions and it is seldom that anything
is broached to the president without
first going through this office. There
are five hundred main counsels and
twenty-five hundred vice counsels
whose duty it is to look after Amer1-
can citizens and trade matters and
passports One of the greatest
achievements of the secretary Of state
| was the arms conference limitation bill,
which was passed during the Harding
administration.
The second office in rank is the
treasurer, who handles the money and
looks after the finances, collects income
tax,etc. 1t is surprising to know that
the tax on tobacco amounts to three
hundred million dollars year and
seventy-five billion cigarettes are man
ufactured in the United States each
year.
There are many subdivisions of this
department ,one of which is the bureau
of printing and this government print
ing plant prints eleven million dollars
of money each day This paper money
is made of the toughest and best OF
linen, and converting this linen into
money is a very interesting process.
All the postage stamps are printed at
this plant and money for many of the
other countries is printed here. One
half, of one per cent of the paper
money issued never comes back to the
government. but is. either lost or de-
stroyed. The average life of paper
money is about two years. When the
paper money becomes soiled it is put
through n regular washing machine
for that purpose and comes out clean,
drv and pressed. Metal money is
manufactured in the different mints,
the mint in Denver being one of the
largest. The government doesn It make
anything on coming gold, but makes
quite a little on silver. During the
war when there was a tax on sodas,
etc., she coined much, but now only
about fifty million dollars is coined.
During the war England ran out of
silver and we had 259,999,99 silver
dollars and let England take them,
melt them and recoin them. England
made almost enough out of them to
pay us for them. The Pittman act
was passed to compel the government
to recoin these English silver dollars.
Andrew Mellon, the present treasurer,
is one of the great financiers
The secret service is branch of the
treasury department and one of the
duties is to protoect and guard the
person and health of the president.
Another duty is the suppression of
counterfeiting.
About six hundred million dollars a
year is received from duties on i'm
ports, most of which is collected at
the port of New York. During the
war the United States borrowed twenty
five billion from our people and loan
ed eleven billion to the allies, which
has not been paid back.
One of the great things of the Will
son administration was the federal
bank reserve. There are twelve of
these, holding stock of four billion
dollars in gold.
Another function of this department
is the bureau of budget. Under the old
,, system of finances any nation would
, be bankrupt in few years. This
budget system guards the national
! purse by keeping account of the re-
, ceipts and disbursements and limit.
ing the disbursements. General Lord
is the director of the budget and calls
in the heads of the departments and
finds out what is spent and what the
approximate expenses will be and then
makes out a budget. The budget is
2 prepared in the SUMMER time and when
=
,, dred printed pages. 1t is then turned
over to the house who takes the bud.
get and goes through it. Mr.. Taylor
is on this committee and they will
meet next Wednesday. The bills pre-.
pared now are to furnish the money to
run the government beginning next
, July, 1925, and extending over the
fiscal year, July 1926.
! Inc next department is the depart
ment of war, with John w. Weeks sec.
rotary During the war the United
states mobilized five million men,
sent two million abroad and five mil.
ION more were available. The army
! is divided into three branches, rept,.