Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-03-12
GOLD FLUCTUAT IONS N Wal
STREET AND THE CAUSE

The rise and fail Of gold u crac-
tiOL or two or even one or two per
cent 10 Wall street do not reflect
the financial, commercial or indus
trial condition of the country.
Gold is down a tri1e one day, up a
little the next, and often fiuctuates
in this way several times the same
day. SpeculatiOns and combina.
lions OF brokers, bankers and mon
cy dealers cause this. They live
by il. The bulls and bears feed up.
on each other. Their operations
are based upon no principle Of
finance and r simply gambling.
But when gold goeC down, as II
has been going lately, aud the de.
cline is comparatively steady, there
are other causes at work beyond
the control of spectators or gold
dealers. II has declined five per
cent within q very short time and
twenty per cent in about five
months, the tendency being down.
ward all through. What, then, is
the CauseI This is the question
that deeply interests b BUSINESS men
and every man in the country /; for
by looking at the cause of this
steady decline we may form
some idea as to what the prospect
10 Of gold remaining down.
Its evidently not the amount Of
currency IN circulation that has
affected the price Of gold, because
the volume OF currency is about
the same now when gold is lis to
ll6 as II was when gold was I35 or
higher. The true cause is to be
found in the less demand tor gold
abroad to balance the account OF
the trade. In other words, our ex-
! pOrtatiOns have equalized in II
measure our importalions, without
requiring the precious metals 10
bring upa balance. But here several
important questions arisc. What
have we exported TO equalize more
the exchange! Have the cxpOrta.
tons been the produce Of our soil
and industry only? Ii that be so
Ii our cotton, cereals, manufactures
aud other products have paid Tor
the importatiOns, then that is u
healthy state Of lrade-then gold
will not 90 abroad and will remain
down. II that be the case and we
can go Oh increasing Our products
aud the expectation OF them gold
Will decline more and moro, and
we should not be far from specie
payments. The exchanges aud the
balance of trade with iurcign
countries must determine the price
OF gold.
But have the products Of our soil
aud industry exported abroad
equaliZed the value Of impOrtations
aud the profits on freight? Have
they come anywhere near that! 1t
Is true the valuable cotton rop
which has been going out during
the past few months, has contribu-
ted n good deal to balance trade
but that resource will not hold out
long, and We understand the i'm.
portatiOns recently aud NJ present
are very heavy. The truth is VIC
have been supporting securities,
aud United States bonds especially,
TO q great extent, to balance the
trade against us. The credit OF the
government has improved so much
and tho demand for our bonds are
50 great abroad that our creditors
prefer them to gold. Even the
interest coupons are not sent back
TO be paid IN interest, but for the
purchase gilmore bonds. But there
must be a limit-there must be an
end-tO this mode of paying the
balance of trade against us. The
more securities go abroad Tor this
purpose, the greater will be the
demand for gold to pay the inter-
est by aud by, so that in the end
VIC must either find an extraordi.
nary amount of products for ex.
pOrtation to eqnalize the trade aud
pay the interest on our indebted
ness, or there will be q greater de.
mand for gold than. Shall we have
these products of the soil aud in
dustry to balance the trade after
the expectation of bonds ceases?
Ii we have, gold will not 90 abroad
and will remain down. tive have
not, can gold continue at q low
premium ! or can we approach spe-
Gle payments? These are cues.
tons which prudent business men
should ponder over before they suf.
fer themselves to be led astray by
a state of things that may be only
temporary or accidental
York Herald.