THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE—THE BROAD STREET FACADE.
Of the statuary on the pediment, the central figure, of a woman in flowing robes, represents "Integrity, the Bulwark of Sound Finance." The two groups to the right represent "Primitive Agriculture and the Products of the Soil," and Mining." The two groups to the left represent 'Motive Power, Scientific and Mechanical Appliances," and "The Designer and the Mechanic."
UNITED STATES SUB-TREASURY, a branch of the Treasury at Washing-ton, and second in importance only to the parent institution. Two-thirds of the direct money dealings of the Treasury are transacted through the New York branch. The vaults contain immense deposits of coin. Not open to Inspection.
The building occupies the site where stood in Colonial times the City Hall and the Capitol of the Province, which afterward became Federal Hall, in which assembled the first Congress. The furniture used then is preserved in the City Hall. In front of the Wall Street portico stands Ward's statue of Washington, erected under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce, and unveiled Nov. 26, 1883, the centennial anniversary of Evacuation Day. The bronze Washington stands where stood the living Washington when he took the oath. Just inside the Treasury door is preserved under glass a brown-stone slab inscribed: "Standing on this stone, in the balcony of Federal Hall, April 3oth, 1789, George Washington took the oath as the first President of the United States of America."
The work of constructing this massive building in Wall Street extended over a period of about ten years. Solidity and impenetrability seem to have been the basic principles upon which it was built. From foundation to roof it is an ingeniously welded mass of stone and iron. Its essential parts do not include a stick of timber. The building stands on solid rock, and its roof is of stone. Its walls are from three to five feet thick, with windows iron-barred and protected by steel shutters. Beneath the main floor, which is of solid masonry, there are a basement twelve feet high and a sub-basement about six feet in height. This sub-basement is a perfect catacomb of heavy brick arches resting on solid rock. For all purposes of defense the Sub-Treasury is a fortress.
Housed within its almost impregnable walls l00 men could resist the assaults of armed thousands as long as the provisions held out. In the upper part of the building there is an arsenal which contains an adequate equipment for at least 100 men. There are three Gatling guns, stacks of rifles, cabinets of huge navy revolvers and, moreover, a magazine full of deadly hand grenades. For the effective use of these weapons provision has also been made. Each one of the steel shutters at the doors and windows contains loopholes through which shots may be fired, and on the roof are three bullet-proof turrets, ten feet high, from which riflemen could in safety shower cold lead down upon a mob. As an additional safe-guard, the ceilings of the stone porches at the two ends of the building are perforated, and from these points of vantage, inaccessible from the streets, the defenders of the building would be able to drop explosives upon the heads of any foolhardy assailants who might try to batter down the doors."—New York Times.
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