Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-06-23
The rise In Gold.

Our noon dispatches quoted it at 225 auC
23o, rise of nearly twenty per cent. owe
the rates of the day before. This new
soon spread on the streets among the bust
ness men and naturally produced feeling
of uueasiness as to the military situation
1t was feared that Grant had met will
some disaster of a very serious character
and our bulletins were visited and reaG
by great numbers of anxious people. The
news was discovered not to be bad-quite
the coOtrary-but still the feeling of dis
trust and anxiety was unrelieVed because
unexplained.
The dispatch of yesterday NOR ing an
nouucing that the bankers and brokers'
were to have a meeting in New York to
petition for repeal of the Gold bill re-
Gently enacted by Congress, went some
ways to explain the sudden rise. 1t was
generally believed that the bill had not
worked well and that the "bulls" of the
New York gold market had taken advau-
tage of their position, the "bear" interest
having been cut off by the terms OF the bill,
to run up the price of gold to suit them.
selves. This explanation is plausible, and
it may be that after all that the gold bill has
proved a damage instead of benefit To
understand how this may be, it is necessary
to explain to the reader that the gold and
stock market iu New York is pretty evenly
divided into what are called "bull" and
"bear" interests. The "bulls" are those
who buy for an advance and the "bears',
are those who sell for decline. The one
interest is a check upon the other, and both
keep the market more or less at an equi-
poise It is only when a "corner," as it is
called, is effected by one or the other party,
or when sudden military news enables them
so to do, that the one interest gets COM
pletely under the control of the other, and
that prices in consequence experience vio-
lent fluctuations.
By those who opposed the gold bill it
was commended that it wou Id work evil, for
the reason that it prevented what was CALL
ed "short" sales. The bulk of sales in the
New York stock and gold market are not
for immediate delivery. Either the buyer
gets time or else the seller-each hoping
that within the time contracted for they
will be enabled to cover their transactions
at profit. Millions of gold have been
sold and yet not a dollar passed between
the parties. At the end of the time agreed
upon the buyer or seller, as the case may
be, simply pays up the difference between
what the article was worth at the time of
the sale and what it is worth at the time
ofseuliug. In this way men with scarce
ly any means buy large amounts of gold
aud stocks, having just sufficient for a
margin-or, as they express it, sufficient
to "put up"
The gold bill was intended and framed
to break up these gambling time sales-iu
the expectation of reducing business down
to bona fde character. The intention
was good and creditable to the projectors
of the bill, aud if the law is really failure
it is great pity. Its main provision is
that no man shall sell gold unless he has it
to sell, and also that he shall sell it at his
regular place of business, and also that an
immediate manual delivery shall follow.
These provisions were SO many death
blows to the gamblers who lived by crowd
ing the curbstoues at the corner of William
street and Exchange Place from morning
until night, and selling in the way of bets
as to what would be the price the next hour
or the next day. In New York the other
day we saw gold fuctuate FIVE per cent in
sn hour under the mauipulatious of these
fellows. All sorts of lying devices are at
tempted to influence the price either for a
rise or fall. Forged army news is no IN.
common thing. Towards bogus procla.
nation was a specimen trick, only on a
somewhat holder scale than common. The
idea of the gamblers is to "corner'' each
other some way or other.
The gold bill was Intended to break up
his illegitimate traffic among sharpers and
to guard the public credit from injury at
the hands of bad men. 1t afforded every
facility to those who really wanted to buy
or to sell gold, to do SO, and in addition put
tho business on a respectable commercial
footing.
To show what sort of crowd it is that
the bill especially reached We quote as fol-
lows from the money article of the New
York EOening Express of Tuesday.
The excitement in the gold market yes
terday eliminated at the evening exchange,
when the price was run up to the long
talked figure of 200. There was a great
curiosity among all classes this morSinR,
to see what action the spectators would
take in regard to the gold bill The Gold
Exchange was therefore crowded at an
early hour, and all those that expected to
see the sales of gold go on as usual were
doomed to disappointment. The operators
showed the greatest respect for the law,