No robbery of the Treasury vaults has ever been attempted. When one sees the solid walls of masonry and the patrol of soldiers, on duty night or day, with every spot bright with electric light, no such attempt seems likely to occur. The entire vaults inside are a network of electric wires. If, for instance, a tunnel were made under the building, and a robber should reach the vaults, the wires would ring up the Chief of Police, who has telephone connection with Fort Meyer and the navy-yard, so that within twenty minutes a detachment of troops could be on the ground.
A few years ago a negro charwoman, in doing her cleaning, found a package of bonds of more than a million dollars in value. That faithful woman sat by the package all night guarding it, knowing that it must be of great value. Her faithfulness was recognized and she was rewarded with a life position. Bowed and broken, she was an historic figure in the building until she died.
In this building all money from the Printing Bureau and the mints is counted and verified. Here worn money, that which has been buried, rotted by water or charred by fire, is identified by the skilled eyes and hands of women. Of the charred money received from the great fire in Chicago, eighty per cent. was identified, and new money issued in its place. Sometimes money taken from bodies long drowned or buried has to be handled. In such cases these women have the entire room to themselves, as their usual neighbors find that business in other quarters needs immediate attention.
The banks of large cities send in their soiled money weekly or monthly and receive fresh notes in exchange, the government paying transportation both ways. This soiled money is made into pulp, which is sold to paper-makers at about $40 a ton.
It is only the old money that is counterfeited. Counterfeiters rumple and muss their money to give it the appearance of being long in use. Women are especially skilled in detecting counterfeit money. If among the returned coins or notes one single piece proves to be counterfeit, the amount is deducted from the salary of the examiner. Yet this great government pays these women less than two-thirds what it would pay to men for the same service, if men could do it at all.