Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-02-13
rh. r.l.rrnph and Fi..,e...

The Alias financial article of Saturday
says:
There is vet no telegram from the East,
and. as a consequence, the business COM
munity is still in q state OF suspense,
The imnortant secret which the dumb
wires refuse to disclose is the value Oh tne
currency in which sales Of California pro:
duce, particularly gold, are maae, anu m no
one knows what to touch, or how TO ue-
eide. The moment the vital spark AMI
mates the connected automaton to the W.
terance of word, the whole community
will be aroused to greater or less acnVity.
The absence of news is the more 10 DC re-
GREETED that the last report left the market
in an unsettled condition consequent upon
the sudden fall and partial reaction OF
gold following the capture Of Fort Fisher |;
The public mind had been predisPosed
to decline in gold, by the reiterated ON
cial and semi-official notices from the
Treasury Department that the volume OF
the United States currency would be cur
tailed, not only in absolute amount, out
by the absorption of interest-bearing lie.
gal tenders for investment. The actual
amount outstanding January LIST, 1860,
was as follows. according to official re-
port: .Ia..g .......
areenbacks. .S13a, l6o, 56s
One-year per ct. notes. .S4I 325, 568 .n .l
Two.year " 1881 OIL '.. ..
Two-yenr " coup. Sc, 300, $50
Three'year compound ........... lll,479r 400
Fractional currency ... 100000
1Oth. soOt1fSIoiVoo
The policy Of the Department is to get
IN the one and two-year notes as fast as
possible, and to pay out in their place the
compound notes. The one-year notes
will all fall due in the next sixty days,
and will be paid, principal and interest, in
the compound notes. which are legal
tender for the face only, and have the in
terest compounded and paid only at the
end of three years. The theory of the
Department is that as the interest accumu-
lates on these notes they will be taken out
of the market by private capitalists. in
which case, if they are substituted for the
one and two-year notes, there will only
be three kinds of Treasury currency, viz:
greenbacks, compound notes, and frac-
tons. The compound notes being alb
sorbed for investment, the actual currency
will be reduced to $3.50, 200, 900, and con-
sequently would rise in value, or, as it is
usually expressed, gold would fall. This
expectation, in connection with peace
rumors, and the very small importations
Of foreign merchandise, which dispensed
with much of the demand for duties and
for remittance, weakened the price of gold.
The rate of interest was at the same time
high, making it more difficult to carry
gold for speculative purposes. Another
element also operated to some extent. In
the daily operations of the gold market, it
was necessary to buy gold for delivery,
and this delivery could not always be
promptly made. An agreement was there
fore entered into by which the Bank OF
America became the common depository
for gold and transfers made by receipts.
While all these elements tended to de-
press the price of gold, others tended in a
contrary direction. If the Treasury sought
to substitute compound for coupon notes,
it also paid out largely 7-3O notes of small
denominations for army pay, etc., as cur
rency. The National Banks were increas-
ing their circulation at the rate of two
millions per week. The money which
had been paid out by the Government at
the West, and that which had been drawn
BY pork-packers and others, was return
ing to the city. At the same time the
Bank of France and other interests in
Europe were buyers of gold, and the dis
position on the part Of importers to remit
whenever they could sell goods was not
met by any increased supplies of bills
drawn against produce, since a decline in
gold kills the export trade for the time,
and makes sales of produce impossible.
Under such circumstances, fall in gold
from 222 to 1879 did not fail to bring in a
large circle of buyers of exchange. The
failure of the telegraph at such moment
is doubly regretted, the more so that the
cause is one which may have its origin in
intelligent and persistent hostility.