New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-08-21
THE GOLD IN THE TREASURY.

Taking as basis the ofnclal fuDnc DeDt
statement of the list of June, we showed that
there was a discrepancy of about thirteen
million dollars between the coin receipts and
payments in the month of June. and the coin
balance officially reported to be IN the
Treasury on the LIST of July. g This
difference we could only account for on
the suppostiOn that the Syndicate were
bebindhand about thirteen million dollars in
the payments which they contracted to make
on the 1st of June for the new five per cent
bonds To the opinions then and subsequently
EXPRESSED we still adhere. Our suspicious
have been strengthened rather than allayed by
the subterfuges to which the Treasury De-
partment has so freely resOrted to relieve
itself from this damaging accusation. One of
the most impudent of these bubbles we now
proceed to expose.
The Secretary of the Treasury, it is re-
ported, on the night of the 14th of August
denounced the story of deficit as canard,
manufactured out of whole cloth, and sig
nifcantlyn added that to make deficiency
of ten millions in the Treasury coin would
REQUIRE the caIting off of fifteen tons of gold. We
accept that Significantly We attach quite
as much significance to the manual labor OF
moving fifteen tons of gold as the Secretary
himself. But perhaps Mr.. Richardson did not
consider that the thing to be &C
counted for was how thirteen millions
of gold got into the Treasury in the month OF
June not how thirteen millions could be
carted out of it without the knowledge OF
those in charge of the treasure. By reference
to the Public Debt statements it will be seen
that the value Of the coin and bullion IN the
Treasury was reported to be $75,5SS,3l6 on the
LIST of June and $S7, 507, 403 on the 1St of July.
Now it is this increase of twelve millions
which is to be accounted for. That is the nut
the Secretary is called on to crack. We
would have him explain how some
twenty tons of gold got into the Treasury
without attracting the attention of the public
or making ripple in Wall Street. The physical
difficulty is to be met by him, not by us. We
maintain that if he had stated the amount of
his gold on the 1st of July at seventy-four
millions his official statements would have
been consistent with each other. That would
leave only million and half to be accounted
for, and million and half happens to be
Just about the value of the gold which was
exported from New-York to Europe in the
month of June.
MANY persons believe that there are two
great stocks of gold in the country, one in the
United States Treasury and another in the
vaults of the New-YOrk banks. This is an
error There are in private hands in the City
of New-York few hundred thousand gold
coins, exhibited in brokers' windows and used
for small transactions and for making change,
but the mass of what is counted as specie
in the bank statements consists of United
States Treasury certificates for gold deposited
with the United States for safe keeping.
That gold is reported regularly as coin
in the Treasury, and is offset by the certif-
Gates, which ere simply convertible paper
money, precisely similar to the notes of the
Bank of England or any other specie-paying
bank. To show how universal is the use of
this gold-certifcate currency in place of coin,
we may instance the payments for customs.
On Tuesday the Custom-hOuse received 1884,
600 from importers in payment Of duties. Of
this sum only S21 900 was coin, the remaining
100000 being gold certificates. That is to
say, in every twenty-One dollars paid in there
was only one dollar in gold and silver, the
other twenty being the Governments con-
vertibie paper currency issued to the deposit
ors of gold in the Treasury. We hope the
importers and all others who are outraged
every time the gold premium takes jump
upward, appreciate the Significance" of the
fact that, with the trifing exceptions above
noted. the whole available stock of gold in
the United States east of the Rocky Noun
tains is in the United States Treasury.
Our readers will now agree with us in
thinking the reported increase in one month
of twelve million dollars, or twenty-one tons,
of gold very extraordinary circumstance to
happen to the Treasury. The production of
gold from all the mines in the United States
is now estimated to be less than forty million
dollars year. and the annual yield of all the
cold mines in the world to be but little in
excess of. one hundred million dollars. The
gold product of the whole world for thirty
DAVIS is therefore considerably less than the
twenty-one tons which came so mysteriously
nnder the lock and key OF Mr.. Richardson in
the month of June. Remembering that the
Treasury is the common depository for all the
gold east of the Rocky Mountains, both public
and private, let us see what effect takes place
when the annual exports exceed the annual
production. Between July 1, 1870, and July J.,
1871, the exports of gold coin and bullion from
the United States amounted to $64,5OO,OOOD
The coin in the Treasury decreased from
sll2,90OOoO on July !, 1870, to S96,7OOOOO on
July /, 1871. Between July 1. 1871, and July
/, 1872, the exports of gold coin and
bullion amounted to $4S,OoO,000 again
exceeding the production of the mines.
The coin in the Treasury again decreased from
sse7(D(10 on July I, 1871, to ss8OOOOOO on
JtGy 4, 1s71 For calculating the exports of