continuous count of an expert it will require twenty hours to
handle 100,000 standard silver dollars. Under ordinary conditions,
and observing the rules and regulations of the office for count as
to correctness, and at the same time keep a careful eye for the
detection of counterfeits, 4500 per hour, or 27,000 per six working
hours each day is about the limit of capacity of our experts in
that line.
To the second inquiry I may say that it will take an expert 16-2/3
hours to count 100,000 new notes, and for a current or ordinary
day's work 40,000 notes is about all that can be done.
Respectfully yours,
E. H. NEBEKER,
_Treasurer U. S._
Take, then, a million of silver dollars, and set an expert counting it.
If he worked night and day over it, lost no time in eating, drinking, or
sleeping, he would finish a fairly tough job of counting a million of
silver dollars in precisely 8-1/3 days.
I asked the Washington authority to give me some general idea as to the
weight of 100,000 standard silver dollars, and the Acting Assistant
Treasurer wrote me, "that 100,000 standard silver dollars will weigh
7161.5 pounds troy, and will occupy a space of 10.49 cubic feet." Then a
million of silver dollars would weigh 71,615 pounds troy. The silver
brick takes up less room than coin in some respects, but a vault made to
hold a million of dollars worth of silver bullion must have more size
than an ordinary coal cellar.
If you want to get swamped with figures, supposing at least you have the
conception of what is a million of dollars, the total stock of money in
the world is $3,656,935,000 in gold, and $3,944,700,000 in silver,
making a grand total of $7,601,635,000. Say that the population of the
United States is 65,000,000, then about this amount of money, $10.47 in
gold, $8.55 in silver, $6.51 in paper notes, or $25.62, suffices for
each one's use. If there was not as much money as that per head--little
boys and little girls and babies included--the fathers, who hold the
purse-strings, would complain that money was tight or hard to get, and
exchange of goods for coin would be difficult.
Certainly the Secretaries of the Treasury must understand what are the
vast amounts they have charge of. Only try and appreciate how much money
was taken in by the United States in 1883 for gross revenue. It was
$954,230,146. But the United States wanted a great deal of money that
year, and so it paid out in 1883 $885,491,968.
This is one of the big counts of the United States Treasury. On the 29th
of August of 1893 the cash alone on hand was $174,770,422.97 in coin.
Sixty experts began work on it, and it took three months to finish the
job. The weight of mixed coin was nearly 5000 tons.
When you come to figures in their application to time most of us get
quite lost. We call this year 1896--that is 1896 years since the birth
of Christ. In the history of the world that is only an instant, and yet
it seems so far distant as to be somewhat out of our comprehension. But
what is the mental process which can span the period between to-day and
the time when the pyramids were built--say 3000 years before the birth
of Christ. Perhaps one way of comprehending it is to divide every 100
years by three, because 33-1/3 years may about present a generation.
Suppose we take the conquest of England by William of Normandy, and his
coronation at Westminster, in 1066. That was 830 years ago. In the eight
centuries there would be about three generations for each 100 years, and
that would make twenty-five generations and twenty-nine years over. Let
us say the event took place twenty-five generations ago--it is curious
dividing time in that way--how much nearer William the Conqueror seems
to be to us. There is only one trouble about this method; it is the
sense of humiliation it causes, because twenty-five or thirty
generations ago our forefathers must have been rather savage people. At
the same time we have the consolation of knowing that we have improved
since then. Why, Christopher Columbus found America only twelve
generations back--and there are many people alive who have seen five
generations, counting themselves. It does not do, however, to go too far
back, say to the forefather who was alive when the pyramid was reared. I
do not understand 1964 generations ago.
[Illustration: From Chum to Chum]
BY GASTON V. DRAKE.
VIII.--FROM BOB TO JACK.
LONDON _July_ -- 189-.
[Illustration]
MY DEAR JACK,--I tell you this London's a great place, and the more
you see of it the more you want to see. There's only one thing
that's disappointed me about it and that's Dukes and things like
that. I thought Dukes went around in funny clothes with coroners on
their heads and red velvet robes stirring up the dust on the
sidewalks behind 'em but it ain't so. I've only seen one feller
that looked real noble and he was standing on the back of a
carriage on the place where American hackmen put trunks. I thought
I'd spotted an Earl anyhow, but Pop said you could tell from his
stockin's that he was only a Flunkey, and when I asked him if
Flunkies were greater than Barons he said he guessed they
were--anyhow they made other people sort of dwindle in their
presence which Barons couldn't generally do. He wore red plush knee
breeches, and to make him look older they'd put plaster all over
his head. It's queer having a man like that getting a hitch behind
on carriages and I asked Pop what they did it for and he said the
Coachmen were always dropping their aitches and the Flunkey was put
there so's he could get off easily and pick 'em up.
[Illustration]
Yesterday we took a hansom and went out to see the Tower and it's a
terrible place. It has motes running all around it that they fill
up with water when enemies come. Pop says enemies always hates
water and it gives people inside more chances of beating 'em. If
they managed to get over it and scale the walls those inside could
shove their ladders over backwards so that all those that fell on
the land would get their backs broken and those that fell in the
water would get drowned. It sort of all makes me wish that I'd
lived in the old times. I'd like to have seen those old warriors
trying to climb ladders in their cast-iron clothes and trying to
swim ashore with tin trousers on.
[Illustration]
Up in the Armory of this tower they've got nearly a million of
these old suits and lances bigger than telegraph poles. It seems to
me that when two armies dressed up in sheet-iron the way they used
to be ran at each other with all their force it must have been
worse than a railway collision when they met. I'd have thought
they'd have telescoped like two Pullman cars, but Pop says they
didn't. They just dented each other and fell back. I don't believe
even our seventh regiment could have carried uniforms like that,
because I don't think they weigh less than a ton, but it must have
been safe. When a feller met an enemy he'd have to take an axe and
crack him open like a nut before you could get at him. Maybe that's
where the soldier's title of Kernel comes from. I asked Pop if it
was and he got laughing so the man who was taking us around got mad
and acted as if he'd put us out for ten cents. Pop told him what
I'd said and he said what an extrordnery question.
Some of the iron uniforms had great spikes in the knees which must
have been great when it came to shoving an enemy. Pop says that
once a poor warrior with spiked-knee pants was so afraid he was
going to get killed that he got down on his knees to pray before
going into battle and got stuck so fast he couldn't go and his life
was saved.
There's lots of other things in the tower too. They've got a block
that people's heads used to be chopped off on. It has a nice
comfortable little place for your neck scooped out of the middle of
it, which shows that they tried to make death easy for the victims.
I don't think I'd have liked it much just the same and I'm glad
people can die other ways. There are screws there too to put on
people's thumbs when they wouldn't confess that they'd done things.
When a man said he was innocent they'd put these screws on his
thumbs and give 'em a twist and ask him to guess again, and they'd
keep him guessing till he remembered he was guilty after all. Then
they'd take him out and chop his head off and begin on somebody
else.
All the Queen's jewelry is kept in the tower in a cage like
monkies. I spent about a half an hour looking at it. The diamonds
are so big you'd think they were glass and somehow or other they
don't dazzle you as much as you'd think. I think maybe they're not
real and the Queen's just making a great big bluff with 'em, though
they do say that once a man broke in here and got away with more
than half of them, but couldn't get far because they shined so in
the night that the police saw them through his clothes and arrested
him before he'd gone a mile. The crown is kind of nice to look at.
It reminds you of one of those small hall gas fixtures with lots of
colored lights in 'em, and I've a notion that if it was lit up it
would beat one of those colliderscope pictures all holler.
[Illustration]
Then there were maces and great big solid gold porridge bowls for
royal babies to eat their oat meal out of, till you really got
tired of it all and felt as if you wouldn't mind looking at a tin
cup or a pile of rusty iron tracks near a railroad for a little
while. The Queen must be awful rich to own all these things, but
after all I don't see what good it does her to have 'em if they've
got to be locked up all the time. It's like owning a gold watch
your Pop won't let you carry for fear you'll break it. I guess
you've been there. I have--in fact, I am there. It's a stem-winder
and came last Christmas.
Pop says that supper is ready, so I'll have to quit writing. If I
have time to-morrow I'll tell you more about the tower and what I
saw.
Yours affectionately
BOB.
[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]
The annual interscholastic indoor games of the Boston Athletic
Association were held last Saturday--too late in the week to afford
opportunity for detailed comment in this issue of the Department, which
is consequently postponed until next week. These games practically close
the indoor athletic season in and around Boston. This year that season
has proved most interesting and profitable, and the standard of
performance developed at school games has been considerably above the
average.
Chauncy Hall School started the ball rolling early in February with an
enthusiastic closed meeting. The best performances were done by Abrams,
who won the 30-yard dash and the 35-yard hurdles; and Porter, who won
the half-mile. This is Porter's particular distance, and he is not so
strong in either the 600 or the 1000. Some good pole-vaulting was done,
but only the younger boys were entered for it.
English High followed suit the next week with a closed meet.
Unfortunately, spiked shoes were not allowed, as the games were held in
the school armory, but nevertheless the feats were very creditable,
especially the high jump, which was won by Converse, who cleared 5 feet
4 inches with little difficulty. It was evident that he can do much
better than that. Dow at 1000, Purtell at 600, and Emery at 300, were
the best distance-runners. Dow runs with a very graceful stride, and is
a clever racer, as witness his deed in the Cambridge Latin open games,
when running practically from scratch, he finished second only to
Blakemore, the Harvard crack, who had five yards handicap over him.
Purtell can do 600 yards in excellent form, but seems to need more
experience in hard races. Emery showed his mettle by winning the open
scratch 300 in the Cambridge games from a big field of starters. In the
dash O'Brien and Duffy are the best men, but neither is a star. O'Brien,
however, is a sure man in the shot-put, throwing it 38 feet 2 inches in
the English High games.
Roxbury Latin's games were not so interesting to interscholastic
enthusiasts, since most of the events were crowded with college men.
Brewer and Hallowell of Hopkinson's, however, did good work in the dash
and hurdles, respectively, and Warren of Cambridge put the shot 34 feet
8 inches.
The Newton High games were the most successful of the school meets.
Cotting was the star of the day, winning the closed high jump, shot-put,
and 300. Sever of Cambridge Latin was the best interscholastic man in
the open 30, as was Martin of Hopkinson's in the 600. Martin won his
heat by the cleverest kind of racing, but was unable to get through the
big field of starters in the final. Carleton, Captain of Hopkinson's
team, won the open 440 after a hard race. A relay race was run off
between Brookline High and Newton High. Brookline led all the way, until
Cotting, who ran last for Newton, pulled out the race in the last ten
yards.
Boston Latin held a closed meet in the school armory, and, as in the
English High games, no spikes were allowed. Maguire was the star of the
day, winning the dash and hurdles as well as the 300-yard run. Lincoln
did well in the 1000. The shot-put and high jump were not extraordinary
performances, but the 300 brought out a good field.
Cambridge High and Latin held an open meet February 29th. Only one
closed event was run--the dash. Garrett and Sever divided honors in
this, both running in excellent form. In the open dash, which was
crowded with college men, Brewer of Hopkinson's reached the final heat,
and but for the handicap he received for a couple of false starts, would
probably have made a place. Seaver of Brookline won the open hurdle
race. Hallowell of Hopkinson's takes the hurdles with a much better
step, but seems to lack the necessary speed. The 300, which was a
scratch event, was won by Emery, E. H.-S. Abrams of Chauncy Hall, and
Thompson of Cambridge Manual, won their heats in flashy style, but both
were unfortunate in meeting with accidents in the final. Young of
C.M.T.S. was the only school-boy to get a place in the 600. As noted
above, Dow, E.H.-S., got second in the 1000. No interscholastic men got
placed in the high jump or pole-vault; and the performances in the
shot-put were not up to the average.
Of these men, Dow of English High, and Mills of Chauncy Hall, are coming
to New York to compete in the N.M.A.C. games at the Madison Square
Garden next Saturday. Dow has made a good record for himself in the New
England League. He made his début on the track in the summer of 1894,
getting placed in five of the first six races he ran in. During 1895 and
1896 he won numerous other places in open competition, and has so far in
his career of not quite two years captured three first, eight second,
and six third places. Mills has achieved quite a local reputation as a
long-distance and cross-country runner, his last performance being at
the B.A.A. games last February, where he made a brilliant showing in the
two-mile invitation run. He competes in interscholastic circles this
year for the first time. He is best in the long-distance runs ranging
from one to ten miles. Both Mills and Dow are but nineteen years of age.
Two Connecticut Leagues will be represented at the big indoor games. In
addition to the men who are coming from the Hartford High-School and
from the Hillhouse High-School of New Haven as representatives of the
C.H.-S.A.A., there will be a strong team from the Black Hall School to
represent the Southern Connecticut I.S.A.A., and there seems little
doubt that this last aggregation will carry off the pole-vault event
with ease. Paulding, who is entered for this, did 10 ft. 3 in. at the
Yale games a week ago Saturday, and has done 10 ft. 7 in. out-of-doors.
The N.Y.I.S.A.A. record is only 9 ft. 4 in., and that was made by
Simpson of Barnard last year. The other men who are coming down from
Black Hall are Cleveland in the 50 yards, who has no record for that
distance, but has a record of 10-4/5 sec. in the 100 yards; Aborn in the
mile, who can run in about 5 min.; Coolidge in the high jump, who has a
record of 5 ft. 3-1/2 in.; and Green in the 440, who has no record as
yet, but is a promising man, and may enter also in the 50 yards.
The order of track events at the N.M.A.C. games Saturday night will be
as follows: 50-yard dash, Senior, trial heats; 50-yard dash, Junior,
trial heats; 440-yard run, trial heats; 50-yard hurdles, trial heats;
one-mile walk; 50-yard dash, Senior, final heat; 50-yard dash, Junior,
final heat; 50-yard hurdles, final heat; one-mile run; 440-yard run,
final heat; 220-yard dash, trial heats; half-mile run; 220-yard dash,
final heat; school relay race; college team race. The 50-yard trials
will be called at 7 o'clock sharp, and will probably take up an hour's
time to run off. The walk will be started promptly at 8 o'clock.
The field events will also be started at 8 o'clock, and all four of
them, the jumps, the shot, and the vault, will be carried on at the
same time. If any competitor is entered for two field events, he will
have to take his turn at each when his name is called, or forfeit his
chance. This plan has been adopted, after careful consideration, in
order to avoid the long delays usually attendant upon field events. The
school race will be a relay race--each man of the four entered by each
school to run a quarter of a mile. The college race, however, is to be a
team race, all the contestants to start together, and every man to run a
mile.
The track will be of clay and loam, six inches deep and twenty feet
wide, rolled hard. Consequently spike shoes will be allowed, and, as a
result, there ought to be considerable record-smashing. Spike shoes will
also be allowed in the jumps.
Most of the New York schools will send strong teams to the Garden.
Berkeley and Barnard will be represented by their full strength, and
each school will have to exert its utmost efforts to gain more points
than its rivals, for several events that both might count on will no
doubt go to out-of-town competitors. Drisler's team will probably be
made up of Wolff, Pinkus, Curran, and Ingersoll in the sprints; Wolff,
Hildburgh, and Howe in the middle distances; Ballin, Wenman, and Eakin
in the shot; Katzenbach, Wenman, and Agate in the high jump; Howe and
Marlin in the walk; and Katzenbach and Ingersoll in the pole vault.
Trinity will be represented by A. W. Taves and M. Page in the shot, the
former with a record of 39 ft. 7 in.; C. A. O'Rourke, Jun., and E. Moran
in the hurdles; L. S. Jackson in the mile run; G. McGuire in the mile
walk; L. W. Maltby in the high jump; Scott Kidder, pole vault; G. R.
Lemcke and W. E. Mitchell in the Junior run; Dudley Fanning, W. M. Van
Zandt, and F. C. Simons in the sprint.
Pingry's School, of Newark, will send its best men; and a team made up
of the following men will represent Stevens Prep, of Hoboken: R.
Shippen, W. Sharkey, N. Stewart, S. McClave, N. McClave, and C. A.
Colwell.
The accompanying table of indoor scholastic records of the N.Y.I.S.A.A.
includes only those events that are to be contested at the N.M.A.C.
games, and has been corrected to date. There is some uncertainty about
the accuracy of the shot figures. Berkeley claims that T. A. Ball did 40
ft. 5 in. in 1894. On the other hand, E. Bigelow, of Wilson and
Kellogg's, claims that he holds the record with a put of 39 ft. 7 in.
The secretary of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. says that his books give the record to
Bigelow, but for a put of 37 ft. 7 in. only, and he states that he has
no record whatever of Ball's 40 ft. 5 in. put. In the constitution and
by-laws of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. recently issued there is given a table of
indoor scholastic records, and I have adopted the shot figures given
there, 39 ft. 3/4 in. for the present purposes.
N.Y.I.S.A.A. INDOOR RECORDS FOR EVENTS TO BE CONTESTED AT N.M.A.C.
GAMES.
Event. Record. Holder.
50-yard dash No record.
220-yard run 25-2/5 sec. C. R. Irwin-Martin, Berkeley,
1896.
440-yard run 54 sec. C. R. Irwin-Martin, Berkeley,
1896.
Half-mile run 2 min. 5 sec. W. S. Hipple, Barnard, 1896.
Mile run 4 min. 54-2/5 sec. E. W. Bedford, Barnard, 1896.
Mile walk 7 min. 37-4/5 sec. T. L. Bogart, Berkeley, 1892.
50-yard hurdles (3 ft.) No record.
Running high jump 5 ft. 8-1/2 in. W. Baltazzi, Harvard, 1895.
Running broad jump No record.
Pole vault 9 ft. 4 in. E. W. Simpson, Barnard, 1895.
Putting 12-lb. shot 9 ft. 3/4 in. R. Bigelow, W. and K., 1895.
At the last meeting of the Long Island I.S.A.A. the date for the annual
field meeting was set for Saturday, May 23d. The events will doubtless
be the same as usual, and will be run off at Eastern Park. There was
some objection to the date made by the delegates from St. Paul's, whose
nine was scheduled to play against Pratt Institute on that day, but this
difficulty was easily adjusted by a rearrangement of the baseball
committee's schedule.
The revised schedule, therefore, will go into effect as follows--the
arrangement as given in this Department in the issue of January 28th
being superseded:
April 18--Latin School _vs._ St. Paul.
April 22--High-School _vs._ Adelphi Academy.
April 25--Pratt _vs._ Poly. Prep.
April 29--High-School _vs._ Latin School.
May 2--Pratt _vs._ Latin School.
May 6--High-School _vs._ St. Paul.
May 6--Poly. Prep. _vs._ Latin School.
May 9--Pratt _vs._ Adelphi.
May 16--Pratt _vs._ High-School.
May 16--Adelphi _vs._ Latin School.
May 16--Poly. Prep. _vs._ St. Paul.
June 6--Pratt _vs._ St. Paul.
June 8--Adelphi _vs._ Poly. Prep.
The amendment offered at the previous meeting, providing that any team
forfeiting a scheduled game within two weeks of the date of the contest
shall pay a fine of $5, was adopted. This is a step in the right
direction.
On account of the withdrawal of Woodbridge and Drisler's from the
N.Y.I.S. Baseball League, the N.Y.I.S.A.A. baseball committee has
likewise been obliged to revise its schedule, and the following will
consequently supersede that given in this Department in the issue of
February 25th:
FIRST SECTION.
April 24--De la Salle Institute _vs._ Cutler.
April 29--Barnard _vs._ Condon.
May 11--Cutler _vs._ Condon.
May 15--Barnard _vs._ De la Salle.
May 20--Barnard _vs._ Cutler.
May 25--De la Salle _vs._ Condon.
SECOND SECTION.
April 22--Columbia Grammar _vs._ Hamilton Institute.
April 27--Berkeley _vs._ Trinity.
May 1--Hamilton Institute _vs._ Berkeley.
May 13--Columbia Grammar _vs._ Trinity.
May 18--Hamilton Institute _vs._ Trinity.
May 22--Columbia Grammar _vs._ Berkeley.
The Inter-High-School Athletic Association of Washington, D. C., has set
aside June 6th for its field day. I hope the National I.S.A.A. committee
will call their attention to the fact that this is a late date for
associations who wish to enter teams at the National meet, and urge them
to hold an earlier field day so as to send representatives to the
general meeting. Every effort should be made to have as wide a
representation as possible on this occasion, for much will depend upon
the success of the first National affair. The Washingtonians have placed
the hop, step, and jump, and throwing the baseball on their card.
Neither of these can be properly considered an athletic event, and the
managers of the Inter-High-School A.A. will be making a stride forward
if they discard them.
It is to be regretted that the Inter-Academic League of Philadelphia
found it inadvisable to hold a joint athletic meeting with the new
High-School League. Such a meeting would doubtless have furnished good
sport, as both aggregations have strong athletes, and the extra
incentive of association rivalry would certainly have developed a higher
standard of performance.
At the recent meeting of the Maine I.S.A.A. the dispute between Portland
and Bangor High Schools over the possession of the championship cup was
referred to a special committee consisting of one representative from
Bangor High-School and Bangor Y.M.C.A., one from Portland High-School
and the Portland Athletic Club, these four to choose a fifth. The
dispute arose last June through a misunderstanding in the scoring of the
hammer-throw at the spring meet. This trouble should have been settled
long before, but the inability to get a special meeting of the
association has prevented.
The prospects for a good meeting of the association this spring are
excellent, in spite of the fact that the Portland High-School and the
Bangor High-School, the strongest contestants at last year's field day,
have lost many first-class athletes by graduation. Thus it seems
probable that some of the smaller schools will make a better showing
this year than ever before.