Moving Bullion

Five stories below Wall Street are the vaults of the U. S. Assay Office. How they protect the gold stored within them is a closely guarded secret. Since the bomb explosion of 1920, which occurred while the building was being erected, the Assay Office has allowed no visitors within its portals, no customers behind its desks.

Last week the Assay Office was being moved into new quarters. Wall Street felt glad to be rid of it, for noxious fumes have belched from its ungainly chimney. To complete the moving, a billion dollars worth of gold and $70,000,000 in silver will have to be transported to the new building at South Street and Old Slip. The date and method of the moving were kept tomb-secret, although officials publicly estimated that it would take from 13 to 26 days. Also secret is the nature of the construction of the new building's great vaults, although it is known that the chambers will be two stories below street level, built on bedrock below sea level. Less secretive about its vaults is Federal Reserve Bank of New York, perhaps feeling that the massiveness of its defense system would forestall any foolish foray upon it. Barrier after barrier protects the gold room which lies 85 ft. below street level, can be entered only through a 4-ft. passageway which cuts through a 9-ft. steel cylinder, a turn of which can shut it off. Outer wall below the street is 8 1/2 ft. of steel and concrete. Throughout the building upstairs are secret alarms, turned on by gentle knee or elbow pressure. These are sometimes rung in error, sending 100 ex-Marine guards to the spot on the run with guns ready. Deputy Governor W. Randolph Burgess rang a false alarm by mistake the first day he arrived. Communication is maintained with Governors Island, 15 min. away, where ten companies of infantry are stationed. Enough food is on hand to keep the bank alive for a long siege. Tales are told that the vault itself would be flooded if the bank were captured, making the actual taking of the gold a matter of months.

Similar precautions are taken by another great depository of gold--the Bank of France. Beneath the building lies a great underground lake. In bedrock, beneath the lake, is carved a tremendous vault. Were Paris taken by the Enemy, the bank's guardians could retire to the vault, live for one month on food stored there.

While the Assay Office keeps gold & silver, its main business is to test coins and bullion, analyze ore samples for all-comers at a small fee. It is run as a department of the Mint, with headquarters in Manhattan, branches in New Orleans, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Boise, Helena, Carson and Deadwood. Once a year, in the presence of the Director of the Mint, the Assay Commission meets to test samples of U. S. coins. One gold piece out of 1,000 and one silver coin out of 2,000 are selected at random. All incoming foreign coins and bullion are tested.

Although how Assay Office's gold will be stored is not known, it will be transported by Armored Service Corp. of Brooklyn. This company and U.S. Trucking Corp. (of which Alfred Emanuel Smith was president 1921-22), a subsidiary of the Van Sweringen-controlled Pittson Co. through U. S. Distributing Corp., do most of Manhattan's armored car work. Four men compose an armored car crew. They receive about $40 a week. The same crew never serves for more than one day together, lessening the chances for idle conversation brewing into plots. If a man changes his address he must report it within 24 hours or be dismissed. Often he is telephoned in the dead of the night to make sure he is about no bad business. They are trained to shoot from the hip; U. S. Trucking boasts a former Russian general and 17 former U. S. A. captains in its ranks.

Modern armored cars have tear gas bombs, submachine guns, ventilators to throw out poison gas. U. S. Trucking's men use a Colt .45 which they may not take home. Armored Service's men have a Colt .38 which they always carry. The companies' biggest and steadiest business is in payrolls. When big gold movements take place the routes are carefully planned, sharpshooters stationed in strategic windows, rifle squads sent out to patrol the streets and clear them of suspicious characters. U. S. Trucking regrets it did not receive the business of moving First National Bank's treasures. The bank officials thought their old building was structurally unsafe one week-end after U. S. Trucking Corp. had closed. They were so alarmed they had the regular police do the moving at once. Despite this unorthodox procedure everything went smoothly.

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