Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-01-16
SHIPPING GOLD.
SENDING PRECIOUS METAL
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.
Methods Of Shipment and Precau-
tions Taken to Insure Safe Ar
rival Described-The Work
of the Assay Office.

According to the present rates Of ex
change, says recent issue of the New
York Herald, the bankers make abou
$50, 200 on every $1,000, 900 worth o
the precious metal which is shipped t.
this city. This, too, is upon the mer'
rates of exchange Besides they make
very comfortable sort of profit on tht
loan of this money to those who are il
need of it.
In the first place, when the rates of ex
change are very low on this side, the
banker sends word to his correspondent
on the other side to ship him so many
hundreds of thousands of dollars worth
of gold, just as a wholesale importer ol
silk would request his agent on the othel
side to ship him a hundred pieces o
LYONS silk. The visit on this order il
taken to Threadneedle street by the cor
respondent and the requisite amount Of
the precious metal is ordered either by
drafts or upon the presentation of Bank
of England bills for the amount. If the
gold can be secured in either fine gClo
bars or in American double eagles, the
transaction, so fey as the bank is con
cernea, is done. But if the bank de-
clines to part with any of these, then the
demand is made for the payment of the
order or bills in sovcreigns. 1t is hert
that some of the complication of details
comes in. For, Notwithstanding the
general impression that English sover
eigns are always new and beautiful, many
Of those in the great vaults which arr
available for shipment are neither, fol
circulation wears the English coin quite
as much as it does ours. SO instead O
receiving the number of sovereigns IN
sovereigns that the demand is made foI
the old sovcrcigns are dumped into biz
scale and weighed like so much sugar.
Then when the amount in what Mr.
Swinburne calls ''the ruddy red gold
is measured out the correspondent puts
himself in communication with the New
York banker and says that so much gold
at such and such price is held subject
to his instructions. 1t doesn't take long
for a cablegram to get across to order q
prompt shipment aid over the specie
come on the next big mail steamer.
Here again the similarity Of shipment
to that of ordinary merchandise is evi-
dent. The gold is taken from the bank
in canvas bags to the brokers or banker;
Office and rcpacked in small iron bound
kegs. A visit is made then to an insur-
ance company Office and the contents o'
the little kegs is insured at rate OF about
one-eighth Of one per cent. A couple Of
bills of lading are secured aud one OF
these is shipped with the gold and the
duplicate is put iu an envelope with the
insurance policy and sent across by a
mail steamship which sails about the
same time.
The gold is carted by a truckmau who
makes a speciality of this sort of bust
ness to the railway station for shipment
to Southampton. The gold is placed in
the mail car with a special guard, and as
there are no road agents Of surprising
pluck in England, the gold is about as
certain to get to the steamer as the hours
to come around.
Upon the arrival of the treasure al
Southampton or Liverpool, as the case
may be, the gold is put aboard the
steamer aud carried below to the iron ol
steel enclosed apartment known as tho
mail room. Just as soon as the specie
gets aboard the steamers purser takes
charge of it, and until it is landed the
steamship company is responsible for it
to the consignor, and the purser is re-
sponsible for it to the company. This
mail room differs in size on the various
steamers. but they are all about as strong
as iron or steel can make them--in fact,
they are veritable safes built into the
steamer, and may be opened only by the
purser.
All steamships which carry the mails
also carry gold, and as the transportation
of it is extremely profitable, the rates
even now, despite very vigorous com
petition, being one eighth of one pei
cent, the bankers have little else to do
than to select the first steamer which
leaves port. By means Of cablcgrams
the consignee is informed at what time
to expect the treasure to arrive, and he
has his truckmsn down on the pier ready
to receive it as soon as ii arrives.
Every banker and broker in Wall
street knows that there is only one man
who does this exceedingly responsible
work. He is John Barclay, whose trucks
have carried from the steamers to the
bankers offices enough gold and silver
to have paid oil the national debt. HC
doesn't always go to the bankers offices,
though, for in the majority of cases he
takes his precious load according to in
structions direct to the Assay Office ia
Wall street. There the entrance is made
through the big gates at the west Of the
building between the Assay Office and
1 tbo guh Traasurv The cratcS clano 10