Morning journal and courier., 1883-09-05
Getting Rid of Their Gold.
The Course Being Taken by the Missis
 sIppI Valley Banks. rIH.,r,n kl,a ak I.nnis Glnha- Dennncraf

The Course Being Taken by the Missis-
 sIppi Valley Banks.
 LFrom the St. Louis Globs-Democrat
 'sThe banks of the Mississippi valley do not want gold,' said Assistant United States Treasurer Edwards to 8, reporter for the Globe-Democrat yesterday. ''They are get ting rid of it as rapidly as they caa- It is too bulky for them to handle and it accumu- Iates they think, with greater rapidity than the old paper money did.
 ''It is too heavy to be carried about, so that men who used to keep one thousand dol lars in their clothes are now almost without spending money while engaged in their usual rounds. When they have much money, and if it is gold, they take it at once to the banks and deposit it in the vaults. In the course of short time the chambers of the vaults become loaded" @
 ''Has no provision been made for their relief ?" the reporter inquired.
 tsYes, sir," the general continued ''The government has made abundant provision for their relief in establishing the monetary rights of the silver and gold certificates. Re- cent acts of Congress provided that when the Assistant Treasurer at New York sends the Treasurer at Washington city an original certificate that he has received $5O0 or it's multiple in gold coin, the Treasurer shall dl- rect the payment of like amount by any Assistant Treasurer that the depositor may designate or the certificates will be for warded by express by the Assistant Treasurer to any point designated by the deI ositor, at the expense of the consignee. Silver certif- cates are also furnished in exchange for gold coin by any Assistant Treasurer of the Uni ted States
 "What advantages are the banks taking of this provisional relief?"
 ''They are taking every advantage of it they can, !" replied the general, with an ex- pression of innocence which told how he ut trukhfHl and ok fhn lima quasiwaggish remark that he did not com prehend ss others would. ':They are using both the means provided for their relief. Some of them come directly to mo with their gold and have it exchanged for the silver certificates But majority of them obtain their certificates through New York. The banks here all have deposits with their cor respondents in the metropolis. When they want to get rid of their gold they telegraph the New York correspondent to deposit to their account a specified amount of gold with the Assistant Treasurer. The assistant then notifies the Treasurer of the deposit and the Treasurer directs me to issue the certificates to correspond to the amount of the deposit
 'sIs there not longer delay by that meth cd than the banks desire to experience ?'
 ''The delay is not so great as one would expect. The work is all done by telegraph, the messages being repeated and certified to by the telegraph company. Very little time is consequently required. An Illustration of the readiness with which the business can be dispatched was found in case that came up day or two ago. At ten o'clock in the morning local national bank sent message to it's correspondent asking it to deposit a certain amount. Half an hour later the de- posit was made and the Assistant Treasurer had forwarded his certificate to the Treasur CT. It was mailed because the original cer- tifcate must be the basis of payment, but the Treasurer got it in time for the payment to have been made the same day. The bank, however, chose to let the deposit remain in the vaults of the government until the morn ing of the day following, when they came around and drew the certificates. The entire proceeding required less than twenty four hours and was eminently satisfactory to all parties concerned D
 "What amount of. certificates do you issue