The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-03-05
Commercial and Financial.
Gold Fluctuations in Wall Street and
the Cause.

From Hs N. y Herald, ThVradGy.
The rise and fall Of gold a fraction or
two or even one or two per cent In Wall
street do not reflect the financial, CONNER
clal or industrial condition Of the country.
Gold Is down tritle one day, up o little
the next, and often fluCtuates In this way
several times the same dHy. Speculations
and combinations Of brokers, bankers and
money dealers cause this. They live by
Il. The bulls and bears feed upon each
other. Their operations arc based upon
no principle Of finance and are simply
gambling. But when gold goes down, as
It has been going lately, and the decline Is
comparatively steady, thcro arc other
causes at work beyond the control Of spec:
ulators or gold dealers. II has declined
five per cent within very short time and
twenty per cent in about five months, the
tendency being downward oil through.
What, then, Is the causGY This Is a ques.
ton that deeply interests 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 Is Of gold remaining down.
ltis evidently not the amount OF cur
reucy in circulation that has affected the
price Of gold, because the volume OF cur
rCncy is about the same now when gold Is
115 10 110 as It was when gold was lS6 or
higher. The true cause Is 10 be found In
the less demand for gold abroad to bal
ance the account Of trade. mother words,
our expectations, have equaltzed in mca'
sure our importations without requiring
the precious metals to make. up n balance.
But here several important questions
arise What have VIC exported TO oequallze
more the exchange? Have the eXporA'
tions beon the produce of our soil and in
dustry only. II that be so, If our cotton,
cereals, manufactures and other products
have paid for tho importations, then that
Is healthy state Of tradc-thcn gold will
not 70 abroad and will remain down. If
tllat be the caSc and VIC can 90 on In
crcasiDg our products and the expectation
of them gold will decline moro and more,
and we should not be far from specie pay.
mCnts. The exchanges and tho balance
Of trade with foreign countries must de.
tcrminc the price Of gold. :,
But have the products Of our soil and In
(lustry exported abroad equAlizel the
value of impOrtations and the profits on
Crcights? Have they como anywhere near
that? 1t Is true the valuable cotton crop,
which has been going out during the last
fcw months, has contributed good deal
to balance trade; but that resource will
not hold out long, and We understand the
importations recently and ut present are
very heavy. The truth Is We have been
exporting securities, and United States
bonds especially, to great extent, to bal:
ancc tho trade against US. The credit Of
the government 'hAs improved so much
and tho demand for our bonds Is so great
abroad that our creditors prefer them to
gold. Even tho interest coupons are not
sent back 10 be pAid In specie, hut
for tho purchase Of more bonds. But
there must bc limit-therc must
be IN Cnd-tO this mode Of paying
the balance Of trade against us. The
more securities go abroad for this pur-
pose the greater will he tho demand Tor
gold to pay the interest by and by, so
that in the end we must either find an eX-
traordinary amount of products for eX.
porAtion 10 cQuallze the trade and TO pay
tho interest on our Indebtedness, or there
will be a greater demand for gold than
ever. Shall wo have these products Of
tic soil and industry to balance the trade
after the expectation Of bonds ccasesg III
VIC have, gold will not go abroad, and
will remain down. If we have not, can
can gold continue at low premium or
can We approach specie payments? These
arc questions which prudent business men
should ponder over before they suffer
themselves to he led astray by state OF
things TINT may be only temporary or nc
Cidcntal.