The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1879-01-02
The Rise ..d r.,, Of /. r.m.u. un.,,


tuti0ns
Chicago Tribune. I'll
What is known as the -GoId Room" in
~ York City was a peculiar Institution
III It's origin in the war, and tbriyed
bed IS long as the Influences OF
IRE stronger than the counteract-
nE Conditions OF peace and recovery; it
has been in a state OF decline for t~o or
three years, however, and it will pan, out
al sigh. and mind next week, il is to he
hoped, forever. 1t was the scene Of the
widest speculations of the II eculative era
from 1861 to 1873, and during eight or ten
wears made and unmade more fortunes
than the sock and commercial exchanges
combined. Ii started on a street corner,
rose to the dimensions OF newsstand, de
scended to the depths Of dark cellar, and
finally occupied expensive quarters, and s.
tabli-hed eIclusiveness by fixing the price
of $4,000 membership. This was its rise,
lis fall has been marked BY successive r-duc-
tions Of Importance and quarters until the
fund of the Gold Exchange was divided.
and the business relegated to one rooni Of
the Stock Exchange. But it has taken
fourteen wears 10 break down = practice OF
gambling that attained national dimensions
in three or four years.
Ii was not till the opening Of the year
1862 that gold assumed q well-defined pre-
MUM over paper money. Previous TO that
time there had been charges and commits
sions for handling the coin, but LON that
time on it became a vehicle for speculation.
An indefinite suspension of specie payments
would alone have placed premium on
gold, but the provision for the payment Of
customs in coin and the heavy foreign
purchases made ny the people of this coun-
try, gave this premium decided influence
over business, and made it more available
for speculative purposes than was any other
commodity. From this quasi legi innate
speculation rprang up desperate species
Of gambling, and buying or selling gold
soon came to be much the same thirg as
stalking money on the turn of singl lie
card. 1t followed the very successes and
reverses of the war went up or down A.
the chances of ultimate specie resump.
ton grew more or less remote,
and was the favorite material on which
large combinations operated to squeeze the
outsiders. 1t reached its highest point in
July, 1864, when it required $3.50 in green
backs to purchase 500 in gold. This was
the time Just before day when it is said to be
darkest, and the progress which the Gov
eminent made towards the conquering of
peace secured q decline, though by no
means uniform one gold gambling went
on vigorously until the panic of 1873
brought most of this kind OF speculation to
a close. The most notable epoch in the his.
tory of the Gold Room occurred, indeed,
as late a. 1869 A bull movement was
formed in the fall Of that year which ran
up gold from the quoted price of l3i9 in
greenbacks to 1924, which was the point
where it trembled on that dreadful BLACK
Friday" 1t was the boast OF the clique
running this corner that they could send
gold to 200, and it was widely believed
that the Government, or some Of its chief
men, were back of them. But the cor
ner was broken BY the sale Of gold ordered
by the Government, and the price tumbled
to 1873 more suddenly than it had climbed
up to l63. Grants Administration was
very generally criticised for the part it
played in this gold corner, and charges
were freely made that the President and
others near to him we're interested in the
movement; but certain il is that the Gov
eminent at that time put a stop to gold
corners for gold and all. 1t is raid that
the transactions in that corner amounted to
S5OO,OOO 600, and the disasters were SO nu
merous and complicated that they have not
yet been closed up, and probably never
will be settled.
Since the panic of 1872 the decline in the
gold premium has been gradual and toler-