Arizona citizen., 1877-04-07
THE CITIZEN.
SATURDAl, APRIL 7 1877.
The Gold Board.

This celebrated New York institu
 ton closed about March 20. It exer
 cised such an immense influence upon
 the monetary affairs of this nation and
 therefore of the people, that the follow
 ing from The San Francisco Bulletin
 will be generally read with interest:
 The Gold Board is one of the last relics of our late civIl war. It was peculiarly a New York institution though ihe creature of special national : Legislation. Speculating in gold fol l lowed m the wake of inc TeYerberatiun iof the first gun on Fort Sumter. In : January, 1862, there was premium of , per cent on American coin. By the close OI the year, It had risen 10 34 per cent, and before the end of 1863, Il
 was 50 per cent. IL was believed that these manipulaliOns of gold were not | altogether legitimate, and that they
 were largely the result of purely spec IUlalive movements. \ bIll was accord IinEly introduced into the Senate in
 the carly part or 1864, prescribing the
 manner in which gold should be sold, iand restricting all sales to actual trans factions. There had been great deal
 of selling short" and buying lang,"
 which was having a pernicious intlu.
 ence in unduly depressing the value of ipaper money by creating fictitious value for metallic currency. The ob- Iject of the bill was to put check on l these operations by fOrbidding any sales of gold where the coin was not Immediately delivered. The bill pass
 ed the Senate and WAS then sent to the ! House, where it met with considerable Opposition, but finally passed on the ! l4Ih June, 1864, and was approved by ! President Lincoln within week there after. In January, 1854, gold was from j0 to 60 per cent premium over paper, and in June following it was 150 per 'cent. premium. There were a good many uneXpired contracts out at the time the bill became law, which sell Iers found difficult to fill, and hence gold in July, 1864, was from 122 to 1Sj per cent premium as compared with paper Those were indeed dark days for the republic. But the turning point had been reached, and though d high
 rate of premium was maintained on gold for long time thereafter, July, 1864, has the credit of showing the
 greatest depression m Government pa
 per. Al 2S5 for gold, Greenbacks were
 worth only a fraction over 35c to the
 dollar \ year later they were worth
 61l 2c, nearly twice as much; and they
 have beeh steadily improving ever
 since, and now readily command 953{c
 to 96ll lc tO the dollar. The Gold Board
 has been frequently the scene of theI most exciting events ever experienced
 in stock circles. Scores have there made ;heir fortunes, and others have been financially crippled for life. The memorable Black Friday of Septem-
 Der, 1873. will long retain q place in the history of stock jObbing. For years, the variations in the gold premium
 have been watched with great interest,
 and every change Tn the indicator on
 the dial has been flashed with lIght ming rapidIty all over the land and un-l der the seas. Whether the gold acl accomplished all that was intended by the framers is extremely doubtful; but it probably had a wholesome influenced tor time at least, when the Govern ment was the most severely pinched in getting rid of Its paper and in bor-
 rowing the means To perpetuate its ex-
 IStence. There is no longer an excuseI for the existence of such a dIstinctIyei organization as the Gold Board. and ltI affords Us pleasure in furnishing theI obituary notice. Gold Is beginning tol return to the old channels of circula- ton from which It was banished byl the red glare Of war. The country isl now on a better financial basis than II has been for sixteen years, and every we'll wisher will regret any retrograde steps.