Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1887 — CAR-LOADS OF MONEY. [ARTICLE]

CAR-LOADS OF MONEY.

Figures About the ofMoney in the National Treasury. ' ~ Washington correspondence. Few persons, perhaps, who read the frequently published reports of the fiscal operations of the Government give any consideration to the vastness and significance of these operations. We read of the hundreds of millions of gold and silver in the Treasury, but what few persons have intelligent idea of what is embraced in the jiine figures required to describe the liabilities and assets of the Government? It is only when the auriferous contents of the Treasury vaults are weighed and measured and placed by the side of articles and commodities that are daily handled by the masses that an intelligent comprehension can be obtained by the people of the financial btrength of the Treasury and the great extent of the Government’s' fiscal operations. I find by reference to the latest published statements of Treasury assets and liabilities that among the assets was $281,096,417 in gold and nearly $150,000,000 in silver, including 34,000,000 of trade dollars and fractional coins. Taking up this $281,000,000 of gold and placing it on scales, I find that the gold held by the Treasury weighed 510 tons, and if packed in ordinary carts, one ton to each cart, it would make a procession two miles long, allowing 20 feet of space for the movement for each horse and cart. The weighing of the silver produces much more interesting results. Running this over the scales I find its weight to be 7398 tons. Measuring it in carts, as in the case of tlu gold. the 'Silver now held by the Treasury would require the services of 3306 horses and carts to transport it, and would make a procession over 21 miles in length. The surplus about which so much is said in the daily newspapers amounts to nearly $47,000,000, an increase of $5,000,000 since July 1. Counted as gold this surplus would weigh tons. Counted as silver it would weigh 1685 tons.

Each million of gold adds 3885 pounds to the surplus, and each million of silver adds 58,930 pounds. Applj iug cubic measurement to the Treasury gold and silver, and piling the two metals on Pennsylvania avenue as cordwood is piled before delivery to the purchaser, I find that the gold would measure thirty-seven cords and the silver 400 cords, and that both would extend from the Treasury Department to Four and One-half street, or from the Treasury to the Pension Office in a straight line, and forming a solid wall 8 feet high and 4 feet broad. Extending these calculations asd computations to the interest bearing debt, equally interesting results are obtained. The public debt reached the highest point in August, 1865—juat 't'wehty-two 'years' ago—when it was $1,381,580,205. The general reader will better appreciate the vastness of this sum when informed that it represents 70,156 tons of silver, which would fill a procession of carts that would extend from Richmond, Va., to a point twelve miles north of Philadelphia, the distance it would thus cover being 266 miles. The interest bearing debt is now (not including the Pacific Railroad bonds) $1,001,976,860, showing the sum paid has been $1,379,553,445, or more than one-half of the total amount, and representing 40.637 tons of silver dollars, which would extend 154 miles if packed in carts epntainine one ton each.

Reducing these .figures to a basis where they may be intelligently comprehended, and that the rapidity with which the Government has reduced its bonded debt may nfe fully realized by the general reader, I find that the reduction has been at the average rate of $62,7i 45 975 each year, $5,225,581 each month, $lB4 186 ea«h day, $7,258 each hour, and $120.47 for every minute of the entire twenty-two years. Pursuing the calculation to the smallest divisible space of time, the bonded debt of the United States has been de creased at the rate of $2.09.7 for every second, or for every swing of the pendulum, for the entire period from August. 31, 1865, to July 31, 1887. This is an exhibition of recuperation and material progress on the part of the country, and of sterling honesty and integrity on the part of the Government ahd”people that is without a parallel in the world’s history. Bathing His Children With a Hose. Loa Angtlca Tribune. A novel bath w»s witnessed in L/s Angeles a few daj s ago. A father had stationed his whole family of children on the lawn in order, from the shortest to the tallest, each of the youngsters clothed in a big towel, and when all was ready the hose was turned on, while the youngsters dance I with delight. After fifteen minutes’ brisk application the herd was driven to the rearof the house, where they were dried and redressed. “Yes,” said the paterfamilias, “that’s the way I do it, and you See it saves an immense amount of

Snatching Knowledge. Brooklyn Eagle. “Yes, sir,” repacked Mr. Roundtry), “I am a poor man, and th : only fortune I can give my children is an education, and that they have. Edward is entitled to write D. D. after his name, Alfred and Clara each write M. A. after theirs, and little Timothy is an A. B. All mv children are university .bred.” “Is it possible?” exclaimed the new minister, looking at the children in amazement! “Yes, indeed,” replied the father proudly. “Harvard, Mr. Roundtrip?” suggested the new minister. “No,” said the father, “they took the four-weeks’ course at Chautauqua.” It is So Everywhere. Supt. ol the St. Louis Poor House. Visitors to the institution of which I have charge always express much sympathy for the old men and women who are classed as paupers, and are inclined to pity the friendless and forlorn condition of the aged men. If these visitors knew how many of these feeble and broken-down charges upon the city have healthy and well-to-do grown-up children in the city, more than able to care for them, they would consider much of their sympathy wasted. The law governing the admission of “paupers” to the poor house is not rigid enough. A Home Delicacy. Puck. Mrs. Catesby is giving a small rockparty at Nahant, and the footman has been left in charge of the luncheon. Mrs. Catesby—“What is it, Michael?” Michael —“It’s this way, mum. Mrs. Grill, thot leddy from Chinchinatty, kem up to th’ wagon an’ axed me had Oi annyham. She tuk th’ whole, wan, ma’am, wid knife an’ for-rk, an’ dishappeared in th’ thicket, ma’am, axin’ me to tell yez she jfdn’t care fer anny oonch.” In many localities Hood’s Sarsaparilla is'in such general demand that it is the recognized family medicine. People write that “the whole neighborhood is using it,” etc. Particularly is this true of Lowell, Mass., where it is made, and where more Hood’s Sarsaparilla is sold than of any other sarsaparilla or blood purifier. It is the great remedy for debility, scrofula dyspepsia, biliousness, or any disease caused by impure state or low condition of the blood. Give it a trial.