Show THERES THERE'S GOLD IN KENTUCKY HILLS I But nut Woe to Crook Who Vho Tries to Take It Out Uncle Sain Salo May lay Eventually Store ll HJ 2 Billions at Fort Knox Dy By WILLIAM 1 C C. C UTLEY CROOK has about as os A much chance of stealing some of the gold out of Uncle Sams Sam's new depository fortress fortress for for- tress as DS a 0 tourist has of stealIng stealIng stealing steal steal- ing the Grand Canyon Canyon and and andas as DS much chance of converting converting convert convert- ling ing it into ready cash I The federal governments government's storehouse store house for bullion which overlooks the military reservation at Fort Knox Kentucky 31 miles mUel from Louisville Is perhaps the most Impregnable Impregnable impregnable Im Im- pregnable guardian structure ever created by man And well it might be for Uncle Sam now owns more than half haU the gold in all the world I ISo So fast is foreign gold lold rushing Into the United States that despite our already tremendous holdings we are continuing to absorb every year more of the precious yellow metal than the entire world produces produces pro pro- produces duces in new supplies supplies moro more than thana a billion dollars a year Secretary of cf the Treasury and other government money experts expert have been busy conferring of late In an effort to find something that can be done about it The United States today owns more monetary gold as reckoned by value than there was in all the world in the boom year 1929 our present holdings approach 11 UMi bU bil lions as compared with the worlds world's supply of 10 19 billions at that time At the start of the World war In 1014 1914 we held one bUll billion on mil mU- millions lions of the total of four billions Inthe Inthe in inthe the world by 1929 1829 we were holding four billions Since the worlds world's currencies currencies cur cur- have been devalued the worlds world's total now nears 22 billions Seek Safety Here lIere About four years ago the rapid flight of capital from our shores was shrinking the nations nation's gold reserves reserves reserves re re- re- re serves serves and the banks were in a panicky state But Dut since the devaluation devaluation deval deval- of the dollar on January 31 1934 our gold has increased by seven seven sev sev- seven en billion millions To be sure two billion COO millions of this was the immediate result of the deval deval- Since the United States now has a currency which Is about the nearest near near- eat est to a stable gold standard gold standard In the world capital has consistently fled countries of less stable currencies for the safety of American securities securities ties and banks As an example during 1936 until France went off the gold standard in September nearly million dollars came into this country from France There are several evil aspects of such luch a condition As the President has haa said much of this Influx of foreign lg capital l may do an about about- I face and leave as quickly as it came And the enormous supply of gold in the he treasury and the excell excess ex ex- teas cess reserves in the banks could If Concrete Conoret pill l boa oi till this tractor structure Is ts Used Und UDder t I machine machin gun emplacement underground depository meats ment at lour Ions corners corner ia to whets where hill bail th the gold VOid help guard gold story tor the world m ma mar y r nD n Entrance from attack h hews tu tuan Hir b be stored tt y A Tare it sted l j pr Vf gate 0 t w lJ v W ii a L I d a e Steel fence could Concrete wells wall oi of be electrified structure x re re with as further farther proof attack Iy three steel r against The federal governments government's new Dew gold rold depository defies the Ingenuity of crooks crook or the power of an enemy Photo copyright McLaughlin Aerial Surveys from International News New Photos The only part of the entire building building build build- ing which has not some air of mystery mystery mystery mys mys- tery about it U is the upper structure unavoidably open to view This is feet long and feet wide It ItIs Itis is Js surrounded by a high steel picket fence which could be electrified to repulse prowlers There Is only one gate In the fence and only one entrance entrance entrance en en- trance to the building No one is allowed to enter either who has not official business inside Secrecy in the construction was maintained almost fantastically by bythe bythe bythe the company which was awarded the contract being sworn to do so Each workman was permitted to work from only a small fragment of the blueprint which he had bad to turn in at the end of the day None was allowed to see the plan as a whole Some facts have leaked out perhaps perhaps per per- haps under the winking eye of the government It is said at least that the underground vault is capable capable capable cap cap- able of storing 19 billion dollars worth of gold nearly gold nearly all that exists It 11 is suspended with spaces 18 Inches wide above the roof and below below below be be- low the floor Boor Varying reports place the walls floor and ceiling at two or three feet thick They are said to be reinforced with interlaced steel coils held together by steel rods running through them Theory has it that all the concrete could be chipped or blown away and the steel would still Mill hold Soldiers Protect Exterior In all of that part of the he depository depository depository tory lying underground there is strong light at all times Woe be unto the criminal who attempts to soften these hese hard walls ways with an r I THE WORLDS WORLD'S GOLD SUPPLY z z z Shaded Portions show Z 7 Z o share held by United States 0 0 Ie t a-t atz n t a t 1 z z z z z 0 0 o 0 0 0 I t I I a aI I- I t 4 I t Mo s-I s t t s-a I- I t 1 t a o t-t t H. H r t 1 t 1 list list- 1 Ia mJ 4 a rn t 4 N J M r 4 r 4 t N t l. l N N N 1931 1932 1933 1936 1937 The United Stales Stales' supply of monetary gold took a sudden leap and kept on increasing when nl Roosevelt devalued the dollar Jan uary 31 1954 1934 used or misused in the right manner manner man ner effect a disastrous inflation Other than the tho blem hem entailed by Uncle Sams Sam's denly enormous gold reserves Is ia she Immediate Im lm mediate physical problem of keepIng keeping keeping keep keep- ing the gold itself where it will wUl be besate safe sate from criminals among our citizenry cit and more important from froman an invading enemy force desperately desperately desper in need of fresh money The answer anwer to this is the new federal fed fed- eral depository In la Kentucky which embodies every imaginable safeguard safe guard that modern modem science has been able to devise It is far enough inland in In- land Janci land miles from the he Atlantic coast coalt and more than 2000 miles from the Pacific Pacific to to require that an invading enemy conquer a large slice of territory before reaching it itt at 4 t ell alt lit it is virtually Indestructible from the air Once reaching it It such an enemy would find its Us problems problems lems only beginning Guard Secrets Secrete Carefully From the outside the depository Is a comparatively small and rather uninteresting W square white two two- story terraced structure Its It vital and larger sections are under the surface of the he earth hidden from view Completely submerged is 11 the he actual gold cold vault its Itself lf which is s 6 64 feet long 40 feet wide and aad two stories deep It Is hinted 1111 bil bit lion lions may eventually be stored here tre acetylene torch The first lick of such a flame would automatically bring a fog of the deadliest poison polson gas A score of additional sentries are the many electrical devices Including In eluding the versatile electric eye designed to catch and Incapacitate a criminal caught in the act of his crime If these precautions fail faU to stop the Invader the he entire underground underground under under- ground structure can be flooded In All these preparations assume however that someone has already made his way through the defenses outside This alone would try the he mettle of Lupin Each of the four corners of the building is protected by a concrete machine machine- gun nest in a commanding post lion tion More machine gunners are stationed in concrete and granite sentry entry huts at the entrance gate Inthe Inthe in inthe the fence To top lop it all oft off the he depository depositor has been built en cn n a military reservation reservation reservation reser reser- where a minimum of 1 1400 00 of Uncle Sams Sam's fighting men are at ataU atall atall all aU times ready to guard fUnd it against attack In addition there here are quite a few United States treasury guards including a dozen new ones which the department recently liS as signed to duty at Fort Knox These precautions have hae taker taken no cognizance of the possibility of in from within but that has haa not been forgotten The steel door to the gold vault can be opened only by the he operation co of three men Three different combinations must be executed before the door will open The three men know only one combination apiece Whenever the door is Js opened other guards are summoned to stand by and see that there is Js no funny business Only in inthe inthe Inthe the secret foes files of the Treasury department department department de de- de- de is the complete combination tion known this is necessary because because because be be- cause of the possibility of death of one of the three who knows a part of the combination Very few persons have a blanket pass to enter the depository The chief of the depository has of course and so have the secretary of the treasury and the President of ot the United States Stales No o one e else regardless of official position can enter without the permission of the tile depository chief Thiefs Thief's Load Heroic About the only possibility left then of thieves making away with some of the gold would require a conspiracy which would involve necessarily just about everyone having anything to do with the de de- de- de If H a thief or a band of thieves had cunningly discovered some way of beating the virtually indestructible ible walls the multiple locks the electrical safety devices the flood floodwaters floodwaters waters and the he poisonous gases he would upon leaving have to pass the machine gunners outside and finally the soldiers of the army post But s suppose he did all aU these things An ounce of gold is worth only 35 If he made away with all the gold he could carry carry and and this could hardly be more than han pounds pounds pounds-he he would have only about worth And he would have bave to be an extremely strong man for fora a pound lOO-pound load requires superb effort effort effort ef ef- fort if it is in the shape of gold bars There is no standard but gold bars for monetary purposes weigh about ounces each Each is inches long 3 inches wide and 1 B. B inches thick Once he has the gold out of the depository the criminal is Js faced with the perplexing problem of ot converting converting converting con con- it into wealth lie He would have to change it to dollars some somo way or other or it would be beof beof beof of no use to him The only alternative alternative alter alter- native would be to smuggle It out of the United States Slates and convert it into foreign currency This in Itself it itself It It- self would be something of a job customs officials being what they are How flow Shipments Arrive Readers will perhaps recall the great to to-db which was made over the he first shipment of gold bullion into the new depository January 13 And an interesting spectacle it certainly certainly was From Philadelphia million dollars worth of the bullion was sent to Fort Knox aboard a special fourteen-car fourteen train There was approximately tons in the shipment since at the present value of 35 an ounce a million dollars in gold weighs about a ton Machine gun muzzles stuck out from the he sides of the gold train like quills from an angry porcupines porcupine's back A dummy train went ahead of it down the track to oy any evil doers along the right of way The load was relayed to armored cars and trucks of cf the mechanized cavalry unit W bristling with a ferocIty ferocity ity guaranteed to defy the attacks of any pirate bands which might be In waiting But the entire load was passed through the doors of three three- inch steel and lowered in the ton 20 elevators to the he subterranean vault without anybody turning a hair Reporters Reporters Re Re- porters and photographers were on hand but were not admitted inside A week later the second shipment this ore one of about million dollars dol dol- lars tars in bullion arrived at the Fort Knox stronghold once more panted by Uncle Sams Sam's fighting men ant am anheir their heir full equipment but minus the tte envoy convoy of photographers It Il wa was safely deposited with the same lack lak of event as the first shipment O C western p r Union |