The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1863-02-25
FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL.
TUESDAY, Feb. 24--8 P. M.

TUESDAY, FeD. Z4-6 r. M.
There was another great advance in gold to-day.
1t opened at 1857, rose to l72, fell back to 1897
rallied to l7lA sold in the afternoon at l72, n and
"a, and closed 1721S bid. Bankers bills were sold
in the morning at ls5 and 1856; later in the day
there transactions at 1877 and 1888, and many
of the bankers were unwilling to name rate No
specific cause can be assigned for the sudden ad-
vance. In some quarters it was believed that our
forces had suffered q disastrous repulse at vicks-
burg. In others 1t was stated that party of cop
perheads had given orders for large purchases Of
gold with view to affect the legislation of Con-
gress, ana to frighten members from passing the
measures which essential to the prosecution
of the war. A purchase Of half million, in the
present excited state of the market, would pro-
badly cause an advance Of s per cent and the
authorities at Washington seem so nervous about
the rise in gold that it might fairly have been
calculated that such an advance would affect
their minds to some extent However this
be, the fact is that gold has risen six
per cent in day, and that the cur
rency has apparently deprecated by just so
much That this depreciation, however. is appa-
rent, not real, must be evident to every one who
will study the subject, and IL is of national import
ance that the distinction should be made and re-
membered. OF all the thousand articles of mer-
chandise and kinds Of property which are inter-
changeable for money, gold is the only one which
has risen per cent to-day. The same, or nearly
the same, quantity of greenbacks which yesterday
would have paid for an acre Of land, house, most
kinds of good bonds and dividend paying stocks, q
barrel Of -four, a cargo of wheat, tea, sugar or
dry goods, will pay for them to-day. No one OBJ
jects to take greenbacks on the contrary, every
one complains Of their scarcity, and one main rea-
son why Mr.. Chase cannot negotiate loan Ia
because there not, at the financial centres,
enough greenbacks to pay for twenty millions of
bonds at any price whatsoever. Had the depre-
citation of the currency, which appears to result
from the advance in gold, been real, as was the
case with the continental money and the French
assignats, everything would have risen in the
ratio Of gold, people would have objected to
sell their property for greenbacks, the banks
would been flooded with them, and it
would have been quite impossible to buy with
greelbacks, at or par, such sound lucra
tive investments as United States skies, Erie
preferred, Michigan Central Metropolitan Bank
stock, Galena or Rock Island. The fact is, the
advance in gold is in the main the product of
speculation, and the currency depreciation which
appears to result from il is fictitious. There are at
the present time, over one hundred individuals
who traffic daily In gold on the curbstone in Will
liam street and in the3 old and the public boards
These individuals own little or no gold, and use
little or none In their transactions, though they
buy and sell hundreds Of thousands Of dollars
with each other daily. II is easy to see that such
an arena OF speculation once opened, the natural
tendency Of gold TO appreciate in consequence Of
paper issues must be vastly accelerated. These
speculators have among them bid up the price of
the metal to figure which IL would not have
reached in two years had the laws Of trade been
unassisted. The question suggests itself, should
not this vile traffic be suppressed or checked in
some way, We have already expressed the
opinion Of the most experienced men in Wall street,
which lie, that suppression OF the traffic In
gold is impossible, and that an attempt to
suppress II by law will only do mischief. tax OF
"a Of one per cent on every transaction In gold at
the boards in private; tax Of at least half per
cent on loans on gold by banks bankers or brokers'
and an amendment TO the Revenue law raising the
charge for brokers' license to deal in gold to some
500 annually, would have good effect In thinning
out the reckless crowd that now gamble in the
metal in William street. But further than this
experience warns us not 70 venture. In England
during the Napoleonic wars II was made penal 10
deal in gold. But IL was dealt in nevertheless and
rose at one time TO lao.
Money was easier to-day, and all the leading
bankers marked down their loans TO six per cent.
Several leading brokers had money left with them
at per cent. Commercial paper which is scarcei
than ever, soils at a 6 for choice names. Deb
certificates arc up e per cent.
Xasre VAS further general advance in prices
a.