The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1878-11-24
THE END OF GOLD SPECULATION
no SALE OFF GOLD nv NEW YORK;.
History nj the Fluctuations I'm Money Since
RsRR-GFeat Fortunes Made and
Hnst-HshaCR Friday.


room contained ten Or twelve idle brokers
who gathered around Secretary Merseteau's |
desk, but the fountain, once the centre OF
speculation. and the home OF one unhappy |
goldfish that died of terror In the noise and
turmoil Of Black Friday, was totally deserted
The fountain spurted forth 9 weakly stream,
lust plentiful enough to serve for copious
tears. Instead ef the whIlorn jet of spray that
cooled the lofty room, and made the defunot
goldfish elevate his fins In joy and delight.
The brokers looked as disconsoIate as bhe
fouutain The secretary sat behind his desk
with the register before him, but there was
nothing to record. Two doorkeepers guarded
the entrance, but there vas no such tenpta~
lion to enter as that which in tho
DAYS of yoro prompted 81 big Iennesseean to
force mis- way in and take part In the row, 50
they had g. sinpCure of It. There was only
one offer to buy gold. 1t came from the repre-
sentative Of q big house That was known TO
need gold for customs purposes and the little
group Of brokers darted FROM the secretary's
desk toward the door as he entered, prepared
to trade on any terms lie was willing TO
| give no more than par and the brokers went
| back TO the desk with a ludicrous effort to
| disguise the fact that their sally had been
designed to make q trade, And thus the
drearY day passed, without life, WITHOUT
| es1i't
practically ceased TO be q commodity, The
rold Technically the New York Stock
| Exchange gold department may have pre-
| carjo,,s and poverty stricken existence until
the first Of January, by probably before that
| time 1t will die Of inanitOn,
| Yesterday tOOla was bid, the cause Of the
advance being the panicky feeling in Ion
don. but the transactions wore small,
The dealing in gold Nc n commodity has n
varied and Interesting history 1t was begun
early in the war Of the rebellion. although it
was not until January 1869, that ii became q
regularly organized business. The llrst zeal
iugs were made in the streets during the day,
and III uptown hotels ut night, but they were
not large in amount. nor did the premium
rise 50 far above par rs to alarm the country,
The first Bull Kun battle in July. 1861. and
the danger Of al incutsOn OF CuufeIerates
flushed with victory into Washington had no
perceptible effect, but when it became eyi-
dent that instead Of reducing the South
III seventy-fve days, IS some ardent
Northerne1s had predicted. 1t might
take Two or three years to repress
The , reboIlion and when the signs Of the times
showed that the government would have tn
axpnnd the army and the currency slmulta-
neously, gold began to o,up IN price, ana
scores Of specuIators started up IN downtown
regions that had never before been known
there. The first regular traffic in gold was IN
: a. dark cellar in William street, called the
Black Hole. because Of Its Resemblance to the
famous prison In Calcutta, but soon tho TRADE
bnnnmR worthy OF the lEftlGA Dl bilh bS Z gum
in wall street. and the little torpedoes Of vii.
liam street were exploded. ThenCeiOrward
they confined themselves to curbstnne EpeCu-
lations or ''took flyer now and then III III
uptown hotel.
The first days transactions in the New
! York Gold Exchange--such was the name @
! thn organization that wiped out the BlaCh
> Hole-we at lo3. They were made on ian
uarv 3, 1862 Then the premium fell off tt
! 1O2't, on the sixteenth. and 10l4 on the
/ lat, M
February on adverse rumors from the army
, then wintering near Washington. In March
struck 10i several times, and IN hprll tht
), highest quotation WAS lO2, LII May lo4 was
, reached, that being the date Of the siege 0
q Yorktown, which was protracted longer THAI
. had been expected Yorktown having beer
! taken. the premium went down u trltlf
t but the uncertainties OF :. West 9, Poln
. and the march from Williamsburg to ColllIn
y hn Landing, and then up into the Contro q
! tho deadly peninsula, combined with the re
- - verses Of our arms lat0 in June, mad
=, tha premium l0O and n fraction. July SAY
4 the army OF Mcclellan oncnmped aroun
v IIarrison's Landing, and exposed to n deadl
y malaria that almost doCimntcd it,, and tn
I result was al advance from loo to l20. som
y, days tho dial moved two per cent, and Q
q others, whom the news, IT not ahsolutel
- cheering was stil more discUurAgnE, thor
y WAS hardly n movement In September thel
q q was movement to l24 and In the middle
q October the premium touched LIB, on som
- news that nobody now recalls.
t. In July, 1864, the premium advanced fror
~ jQ-nnllng q Jump uf ~ per cent, in tho iirs
" tlny-to $50. Then thcre were several viGtG
J. ries, and the highest and lowest prices on tn
, thirtieth Of July, 1864, were 253 and 25S. q
=, the eleventh the price went to 2H5 on unfhvpl
y able nows from the South, being the hghcs
. prjro on record The year 1867 showed lluctl
atons from ti7 in August to l34 in Docembe
r aud 1869 was the panic year, From Jap''ar
j to April the fluctuations were slight, but j
- May there was ~ rise from 1874 to IA
Il which was lost before, Black FRIDAY
~ On the twenty-thrd Of September thel
wern signs Of Il coming storm. 1t wa
Il, known that tho Jay Could and FISK cllntl
i were resolved to hoist Tho premium, and nc
~ body knew what would be tho action of tn
- - Secretary of the Treasury. Gold sold ut 1ltl
d 1tt,t in The gold room, but at the hotnls sale
d were made ut 1i5, and evnn, it was said at ID
~ On Black Friday the storm broke, and hofn1
~ noon tho price had been run up TO l62/
.Du Brokers became madmen and howed I'LL
~ yelled and jostled like wild beasts. One ma
W lost his mind and fortune together, and wa
T. led away from the noisy scene q mana
70 "Wil The Secretary Of the Troasur
t. sell gold p was anxiously asked on Il
a, sides, and throngs besegcd the sub-trea'
"a ury to get early ncws of his action; At moo
~ it came Cen. Buttcrleld was instructed
II sell s4,OOO,OOO of gold and buy $4,o0O,0Oo {
bonds. In less time than it takes to write tn
~ words, tho news was known in the gold room
q where tho pool brokers were offering lC2l
r. and 1G5 (ttaa latter figure was offered but nc
N recortled), and there was a general rush
n sell At the close of business the dial shove
u 1873, and the brokers retired to their Offices
count up their gains or mourn losses. Som
Ia of the heaviest houses in the street had bee
i. ruined. and those that had gained millions b
= the breaking of the pool bad no assurant
81 81 that ti they mght ever be paid The Gold E,
ID change bank could not make the mmens
l. cIearances Of the two days, and had to be p1
q q into the hands of a receiver. The gold roo1
h was closed for nearly a week, and none OF tn
Ie brokers know how they stood; Failure 10
le lowed failure in rapid succession, and bus
"a ness outside OF Wall street received stur
ID ming blow.
N mIhe French war in 1870, combined wit
=" Commercial causes, sent the premium U
ID from III in April to 1924 in July, but in 18
" and 1872 it ranged between 108 and 49,
t. 1873 there was an advance to 11S folioWe How
10 1O9 The highest price in 1874 was 1875 ar
oe the lowest 100 For the past four years tt