davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1925-02-01
THE WRITER STOOD IN A
CUBBY LIKE ROOM AND
GAZED AT THE WEALTH OF
A ROCKEFELLER

Bar silver rose TO its high point
OF s1.3S an ounce IN November of
1919. This made 1t profitable for pri-
vate agencies to buy and melt silver
dollars for sale to the market, par
ttcularly should the price continue
upward, and great many spectators
did so and sold the bullion or held 1t
for rise. They got their dollars for
melting from the banks.
Then the price of silver fell to
around 70 cents, and such of the spec
ulators as had not yet dropped their
dollars into the pot blessed them
selves and rushed back to the banks
and redeposited and lost nothing.
But great stores were melted and
the quantities returned by banks to
Federal Reserve banks were the chief
reason why the number Of silver dol
lars in circulation fell as low as
$4,000, 900 in 1921
Now the Government wants to get
back to a normal silver-dollar circu-
lation again, and we are trying at the
moment to put out 10000, 900 of the
new peace issue in place of paper DOL
lars s the latter come into the Treas
ury for retirement as wornout or dir
ty money. That is, instead of issuing
new, clean 81 notes for tho old ones
which we destroy. we are asking the
banks to accept part Of the replace
ment value in silver dollars
THE public demand for paper dol
lars is increasing year by year In
1922 the Federal Reserve banks put
S2S.oo0,oo0 81 bills into circulation,
in 1923 760,o00.000 and this year $685.
100000. Causes Of increase Of demand
are general business growth and i'm
provement, higher wages to spend
and the enormously spreading popu-
larity Of automobile vacation tours
and short pleasure trips. The gaso-
line station business alone is a big
consumer of small-denom mination pa
per money.
Due to the war. the Governm ent' s
reserve stock of printed money is
eaten up. We have not been able to
keep it replenished, because we have
had to print more than 215. 200, 900
pieces of money, bonds and war saw
ings securities during the regent
period. The Bureau of Engraving e
and Printing has been running "a
hours a day.
Our reserve supply of paper money
used to be maintained as for three
months; now 1t is down to three
weeks. This has done away with the
important process Of seasoning the
paper both before and after printing,
and thus the life of the bill is short
ened. The average life used to be
nine months or more; this omission
of seasoning and other causes have
reduced it to four or Ave months.
X X X X
"TN making good paper money
three months are consumed
First the sheets Of blank paper (the
size of eight notes. are wet, then the
back is printed, then the sheets are
dried in stacks three weeks, then the
process is repeated for the face, then
the notes are numbered and given
their seal, then counted and tied in
packages and sent to the treasurer S
vault, where they lie Anal month
In seasoning and are flt to be circu-
lated.
"Instead of this we are now pay
Evening star., 1925-02-01

wounded President from the theater.
There was, no way of getting an am
bulance or wagon without sending q.
messenger and the Peterson roomer
called to the men bearing Lincoln.
Bring him in here" There was n
gas lamp in front Of the Petersen
house and a light in the upstairs
front room, where Saffold had been
reading. The President was carried
in and laid on the bed In q back
room on the first floor, a room rented
by one of Petersen's tenants, William
T. Clark.
The Rambler in other years went
into this matter with all the names
and details, and, seeing this 1858 ed-
vertisement of "W. Petersen. tailor,
4s032 Pennsylvania avenue" brought
1t to mind. The Petersen house became
the Schade home Che who was long
editor of the Sunday Chronicle). The
Petersen -Schade home was bought by
the United States in the early sos
under persuasion from the Memorial
Association of the District of Co
lumbia, organized in 1892 to preserve
noteworthy houses in WASHINGTON.
After the Government bought the
house 1t asked o. H. Oldroyd to bring
his Lincoln collection from the Lin
coin house in Springfield, Ill, and in
stall 1t in the Washington house In
which Lincoln died
Evening star., 1925-02-01
T THROUGH THE OFFICE HERE BUCKLINC ON A
PISTOL BELT AS HE RAN

yer vault where the plumbers toyed
with the concealed alarm wire. 1t is
gloomy underground cage OF black
iron lattice, SO feet long by 50 wide
and II feet deep. divided into 16 COM
partments, above and below, in
the manner some jail tiers are built.
with concrete floors.
On the 30th OF August, 1918, in
the high tide Of the war, this vault
dollars. 112 S96.000 of them. Six
months later. March 7. 1919, not a
dollar remained. They had gone or
were on the way to India, China and
other parts OF the Orient TO circulate
as reminted British redemption coin
and uphold the financial honor, the
foreign integrity, since the world
judges a nation is man by what's
in the purse, OF our ally, England.
We sold thus to the London gov
ernment, and on credit, I0,0o0,o00
standard silver dollars for which we
now have been fully paid in install
ments of s35.009000 or more an
nually. We enabled British banks. as
notably throughout the East Indies,
to redeem paper rupees with silver
coin at time when inability TO do
so would have been OF utmost gravity
in maintaining the colonial grip on
loyalty.
A Treasury official thus pictured
the situation:
In the latter part of the calendar
year 1917. the commercial supply of
fine silver bars was practically eX-
hausted and the German empire at
once seized the opportunity to broad
cast propaganda which proclaim ed
that England, through her banking
institutions situated in the East
4 l. II
tain the redemption in silver of the
rupee: IN other words, would default
her monetary obligation TO nervous
natives before watching world.
This would have been the same as If
the Treasury at Washington, and con-
sequently the banks throughout this
country, had no silver TO redeem, say.
81 greenbacks when presented and
silver demanded.
The use OF silver was an absolute
necessity In tho trade with eastern
countries. and for a short period the
fnanciers OF England studied the
monetary systems of the countries
Of the world for solution. They
found that the United States had, as
an element Of its monetary system,
moro than $50, 900, 900 standard silver
dollars, of which about 453,000,o00
were held in the Treasury against
BllNeT Oh S1
denomination and above. Little time
was lost in making an appeal to US
for such aid as we could lawfully
extend.
x X x
U TNDER the law at that time, it
~ would have been possible to Sc
cure in the open market silver GER
tiicates in exchange for gold. and
upon presentation of these silver
certificates to the Treasury redemp-
tion would have been made in silver
dollars. But that process was too
slow to grip the emergency, so an
experienced committee of our law
makers and financiers drafted a plan
the caption of which was as follows:
ITO conserve the gold supply of
the United States; to permit the set
tlement in silver of trade balances
adverse to the United States; to pro-
Evening star., 1925-02-01
Preparedness IN the Treasury Building Is Seen
When Alarm Bells Ring
And Machinery of Defense Is Set in Motion

the heftiest job of its kind in the an
nails of the Treasury. One thousand
hard" dollars to a bag, the pieces
were heaped II feet deep on a space
80 feet long and SO feet wide. The
task Of getting this vast weight Of
money to the sidewalk and thence
to railway cars for shipment to the
mints at New York, Philadelphia and
San Francisco for melting fell to
Custodian Masten of the cashiers
section. He is still, six years after
only one lone, single silver dollar
got away from him" 1t was quick
ly found between partitions in an
express car and turned in to the San
Francisco mint.
This efficiency record Is especially
fine because more than $4,000 Of the
$1,000 coin bags burst In being re-
moved from the vault. The treasure
had lain there so long a. time. securi-
~ against silver notes in circulation,
that the canvas had rotted. Two bags
colliding at a curve OF the gravity
chute leading from vault compart-
ment to truck-fioor would split open
and scatter streams of rolling, tum-
bling. leaping round dollars. These,
every time 1t happened. had to be
recovered, counted. rebagged in new
canvas. sealed. and packed two In a
wooden box for the railway station.
The task would have been less ardu-
Gus with gold, for gold, being a
nobler metal, IS always weighed, but
silver is counted piece by piece.
Armed guards. of course, We're ION
the money" from vault TO sidewalk
to depot to mint. but nobody any
where got rough and tried TO steal.
Making off with such boxes of silver
dollars would be the stlliest of out
law jobs at best.
An average of Is men daily formed
the devaulting force, and they work
ed eight hours a day from August
80, 1918, to October %, and from No
vember % to December IL. and from
December 26 to March I. That is, Is
men worked 146 eight-hour days. or
l,l68 hours. Could one man have done
the work as we'll. he would have
labored 1880 hours, For the
most part, the force was recruited
from watchmen and laborers Rail
way mail cars were early substitut ed
for express cars, two cars a day be-
ing loaded with 5000 dollars each
between 1880 and 1890 am.
X <
A SSISTANT Secretary of the Treas
ury Charles s. Dewey has 10000
600 brand new beautiful gleamin e
silver Peace dollars he wants to get
rid of. If you Will stand by him in
this you Will save your country ST.
100000 a year, for which Calvin Cool
idge Will thank you out of the well
known economy of his heart, or out
of the economy of his we'll known
heart, according to your politics Mr.
Dewey put 1t this way:
I'm 1919 there were in circulation
about s5,ooO,000 silver dollars and
about 330.0o0.00o paper dollars; in
1924 there are out 100000 silver
dollars and 378,Ooo,0oo paper dollars.
Evening star., 1925-02-01
ARMED GUARDS WERE ON
THE MONEY FROM THE
VAULTS TO THE SIDEWALK

quito true. It wasn't Rockefeller's at
all, but the total in neatly packaged
bundles just Tailed with the amount
John D. was privately and authori-
tatively stated to be worth two years
ago, IN a lower Broadway Office in
New York-s650.000,oO
THIS closet Of Croesus was in the
cashiers section of the Treasury
Building. 4 very short and very
narrow hall divides 1t from a dupli-
cate closet adjoining the long tier Of
cashier cages, but in this second room
the shelves content themselves with
lodging a mere $15,000,000 or so in
green yellow fellows, and some gilt
fering piles of high-hat gold and
humble bags Of silver.
Lacking $4,000, you are holding
in your hand there s1,000,000," said
the absurdly calm custodian. The
slight sheaf of SO grayish-b black
$4,000 notes could have been slipped
into the breast pocket without Of
tending the outlines Of a well-pressed
coat. But the writer did not do that.
What was paltry sS90,000 in such
spacious company! Still"
But right then the writer happened
TO drop his gaze. and in the field OF
The floor loomed the toe OF tho polish
ed shoe that held the gentlemans
right foot. All about us were con-
cealed mechanismS which a polished
toe could deftly press or a swift hand
or elbow quietly touch, and some
where in that vast, dim building a
horrible gong would clatter, and
everywhere bells would r-r-r-ing and
iEnumerable bronze handles would
twist and door locks click sharply
and armed men mysteriously appear.
The writer politely handed the $780,
600 back and said, How interesting"
There is a curious thing in the lit
tie hallway between the cubby rooms.
The s15,000,000 of paper in the one
was money, the $650,000,0 900 in the
other was not money. but was, What
talk this? 1t was money, but 1t
wasn't. The two supplies were identi-
cal, they admitted that. Any note
bill, we would call it-taken from
any package in the 650-million room
would buy groceries or a railroad
ticket, pay a hotel bill or be accept
ed and changed at a bank without
question, the same as the notes in the
poverty-stricken 15-million room. Yet
The former wasn't money.
They meant that it wasn't money
yet" It had not been issued" No,
nothing had to- be done to 1t to make
II issued. But something had to be
done about it. 1t, or any required
portion, had to be lifted from the
shelves in the $50 room, carried
across into the 10 room, and the fact
Of the transfer had TO be entered in
4 certain book in writing Lo, then
that which had been money put was
not money became money; it was
oficially issued" Before il had been
gust reserve stock" Quite as good
before as after to a burglar, however,
i he could get it, Which he couldn't,
or he long ago would have.
Treasurer officials told an inter-
<sting story about the empty sil-
Evening star., 1925-02-01

~ NE afternoon a few weeks
ago a clerk burst through
the office here, buckling
on "A pistol belt while he
ran The silver vaults"
Evening star., 1925-02-01

~ HE oldest business house in
Washington which has come
to the Rambler's notice is that
i Of f. j. Heiberger, tailor,
third of that name in the
Capital. The business has been car
ried on for "A years. Let me tell you
the story.
Franz John Heiberger came to
Washington in 1851 and opened tai
lor shop, called in some of the old
advertisements "a fashionable tai
loring establishment for gentlemen"
under Browns Hotel.
Many Washingtonians know that
Browns Hotel began as the Indian
Queen Tavern and at the door was a
wooden statue representing an Indian
queen. 1t may have been statue Of
an Indian princess or Pamunkey
or Piscataway squaw in festal dress,
but in those long gone days It was
said-1 know not by whom, but it
was said-to represent an Ind n
queen, and 1t is plausible that me
Washingtonians Of a century ago who
saw this image knew as much about
1t as We do today.
1t was a wood carving after the
fashion of the cigar store Indian, but
in this case the sculptor left out the
uplifted tomahawk and the bunch of
cigars with which the wooden Indian
threatened and invited passers- by.
The sculptor made his statue an
Image OF an Indian woman endowed
with beads and plumes. The carver,
who was also a painter. did not
hlanch the face Of the figure. paint a
fever in the cheeks and incarnadine
the lips He gave the woman
nature-like skin of brown.
Taverns had their signs Long ago
the sign of a tavern was a green
bush, and an original chap wrote that
Good wine needs no bush" The
original chap was not Shakespeare.
He makes Rosalind say in the cpl
logue OF LAS You Like It.; IF it be
true that good wine needs no bush
it's true that a good play needs no
epilogue.' The bard put it in quo
tation marks and w. Quincy Ben
ham, in his Quotations" ascribes it
to the Latin phrase by Erasmus
! "Saleable wine needs no ivy hung
out"
Whether that Erasmus was the
bishop who suffered martyrdom under
Dlocletian, or was Erasmus the
Dutch scholar of the fifteenth century,
the Rambler does not know. and is
not going back to the Library TO find
out. He Will make this q good story
without IL. At any rate, in old Rome
the wine merchant or vinarius hung
out ivy as his trade sign. Later our
ancestors put UP a hoar's head, a blue
dragon or a silver swan at the door
and the place Of public hospitality
| became the Boar's Head or the Silver
Swan.
Thus the tavern on the north side
Of the Avenue between Sixth and
Seventh became the Indian Queen
Tavern. On tall pole set in the
footwalk were bell and rope
When meals we're ready in the "ordi-
nary" A slave rang the bell and II
could be heard along the Avenue from
Four-and-a half to Ninth street
| and perhaps further, depending on
weather. traffic. and ones ears. The
Indian Queen Tavern became the
Indian Queen Hotel. Enlarged and
| remodeled it became Browns Hotel,
and that, remodeled, became the
Metropolitan Hotel.
Under Browns Hotel, as under
many hotels then and now, was
row OF shops One of these was
rented by Franz Heiberger and the
Rambler has been told that the sign
| was "Farant & Heiberger, Tailors."
From such references as the Rambler
has il seems to have been opened as
the Washington store Of Hubert
Evening star., 1925-02-01
BY IRVING :. SANFORD.

~ NE afternoon few weeks
ago a clerk burst through
the office here, bucllling
on "A pistol belt while he
ran. The silver vaults"
hs spoke over his shoulder as l
jumped up at my desk.
BY the time | had gone the dozen
steps into the hall" continued United
States Treasurer Frank White, every
one of the multitude OF street doors
of Treasury Building had been locked
by an armed guard.
These doors lock by the twist of
a bronze handle; none of them can
he unlocked until the captain OF the
guard fetches a key from his office.
SO on this particular afternoon the
thousands of officials and employees
in the immense building, from Sec
~etary Mellon down 10 the last mes
senger, and the hundreds OF citizens
probably present on business were
prisoners literally.
NO one of us could have got out
through lower windows. for they are
heavily barred The upper windows
are much too high to leap from, un-
less you want to break your neck.
And you couldn't have stepped
across any of the innumerable cor
ridors without encountering an armed
man or several, in uniform or or
diuary dress
Then l can't imagine a more hone
less house of money in which to try
? burglary or hold-up.' the writer
said
Neither can L." said the Treasurer.
And just what had started your
gun -buckling clerk on his chaser"
The ringing of an alarm bell, one
ct the many concealed throughout the
building. Some plumbers, 1 found
a. .A-1-
Won of the Treasury, near an empty
silver vault, and unwittingly had
touched a wire they didn't under
stand. The contact set off a gong IN
rho office of the captain of the guard
and another at police headquarters,
and the captain had ref1ashed the
signal TO ALE But I suspect Chief
Moran would say I am going into
linwise details"
Col. White smiled. William II
Moran is chief of the Secret Service,
and within the hour had, as the
Treasurer knew, very courteously and
Very definitely refused to discuss for
publication any phase of how the
Government OF the United States pro-
tects it's boards of money against
crooks.
1t is a subject" Mr.. Moran had
stated. with the graceful bow of a
diplomat that is better not talked
about; and the decision of no one
would change my attitude on that
The less the lawless class find out
the less they are equipped to attack
The public should he satisfied to know
their money is being kept safe, and
not ask how
\ little later the writer stood in a
Cubbylike room, perhaps 10 feet
square by high, and gazed upon the
wealth of Rockefeller-in l. 2. 5, 10,
90, so. 100. 1000, 5000 and 10000 dol
lar greenbacks and yellow backs.
crisp and new. or course, that is not
Evening star., 1925-02-01
ItaIy's Mercury

NOTWITHSTAN2ESG its many
mountains, Italy has little min
eral wealth. Sulphur and mercury
arc the only minerals mined on a
large scale. Italy's possession OF the
mercury mines of Idria since the end
of the World War has made her the
worlds leading producer of that min
eral.
Evening star., 1925-02-01
Necklaces of Eeas.

NECKLACES of wild birds eggs
are now being made. The eggs
are paired for size, and after blow
ing are treated by r. chemical proc
ess and the insides filled with a light
composition to give them solidity.
AS the shells have different mark
ings, novel effects are produced.
Evening star., 1925-02-01

Some wise guy made the crack that
this idea of learning by starting at
the bottom is all right unless you're
learning to swim.
The Coconino sun., 1925-12-11

L. r. Harkey of Williams and Mr..
and Mrs. Clyde Moose of the Challen-
der ranger station. Two radios were
also installed by them at the Canyon
last week.
Mr.. and Mrs. L. w. Cureton have
moved into their newly built home
upon the Old Trails highway oppo-
site the Cureton auto camp.
The bungalow at Pine Crest former
ly occupied by the Ray Wickens fam
lily has been completely remodeled and
remade and is now thoroughly mod
ern honey. looking house. Carl
Kinds had charge of the work.
Mrs. Flynn is nursing Mrs. X w.
Williams, who has been quite i'll for
week
School Notes
Students and teachers are eagerly
looking forward to the completion of
the new Williams high school, which
will be completed the early part of
January. The plastering is completed
and some of the rooms are entirely
finished. In the remainder, flooring
| is being laid and the finishing of door
cases, window frames, ETC., is rapid
| ly being installed Going into the
building one is Immediately impressed
by the abundance of light and air, the
windows being SO arranged that fresh
air may be obtained without wind.
As soon as the carpenters and paint
ers leave, the yards will be graded
and put in order. 1t is planned to
open the new building with an APP
propriate dedication program, details
| of which are already being worked
out.
Miss Esther Perry, school nurse
spent the weekend in Phoenix. Her
visit was in the interest of getting a
competent oculist to come to Viii
liams to give attention to the eyes OF
the school children. Miss Perry has
a small fund at her command TO take
care of the optical needs of those un-
able to procure medical aid.
| School will close Friday, December
Is for two week holiday vacation
i Special Christmas programs will be
lgiven in the different grade rooms
and as that day has also been sci
Iaside as visitors day, it is hoped that
lall parents and others interested vii
The Coconino sun., 1925-12-11
Ter the direction of Pete Campbell.

Mrs. Erie Melick is assisting at the
postoffice during the holiday season.
A number Of Williams folk were
out Sunday to get Christmas trees.
The supply of desirable spruce trees
is getting quite limited near town,
and it is necessary to travel some
distance for them.
NJ. E. Duffy is home again after
an extended period of illness in Phoe-
nix.
Miss Catherine Miller was a week
end guest of the E. j. Nordykes, re-
turning to Flagstaff Saturday eve
ming, DR.. and Mrs. 4. A. Miller mo-
toring down for her.
Mrs. Dick Connor was house
guest of her parents, Mr.. and Mrs.
John Juhl, last week.
Joe Lookadoo has resigned his posi-
tion with the Babbitt company to
take effect January first. Mr.. Looka-
doc plans to locate in lower al
titude. Both Mr.. and Mrs. Lookadoo
will be sincerely missed by large
circle of friends.
/ Mr.. and Mrs. Gilbert Merritt re-
turned Thursday the 3rd from two
weeks vacation spent on the coast.
They made the trip overland without
accident or delay of any kind.
| The Blue Cross society met Tuesday
evening at the home of the president,
Miss Angela Negrete Among other
business matters disposed of they
voted cash donation to the St,
Joseph's Altar society bazaar.
Mr.. and Mrs. Harold Goodman of
Atlanta, Ca, are spending the winter
at Pine Springs camp in the interest
Of Mr.. Goodman's health. At present
Mrs. Goodman is substituting at the
local telephone office for the regular
operator, Mrs. Bert Jansen, who has
been called to Los Angeles by the
death of her brother.
Mr.. and Mrs. Frank Smith have
moved into the Reinhardt bungalow
facing Railroad avenue. Mr.. Smith
j is a brakeman with the Santa Fe-
Grand Canyon line.
S. G. Brown has recently installed
Kennedy cabinet radio in his home
here.
1 The White garage have recently
INSTALLED Atwater Kent radios in the
following homes: Mcssrs. Enfree
| johnson, r. L, Irish, r. E. Byrd and