Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-31
AN 0VERGR0WN B0GIE
That's What Treasury officials De-
nominate the Gold scare.
UNCLE SAM is SOLID AS A ROCK.
Gold Needed Abroad and It's quivalent
Comes Tack Here.
TIE BIG SURPLUS TO BE SHOWN TO-DAY
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH /

| ESPECIAL TEL FGRAM TO THE DIsPATCH.l
WASHINGTON, Dec 30-Treasurv Off
cials are somewhat annoyed at the gold
scare, which they say originated in Wall
street for speculative purposes In the
absence of Secretary Foster all inquiries on
the subject are referred to William F. Mac
Lehman, chief of the warrant division, who
is the financial wizard of the Treasury. Mr..
MacLennan does not share the anxiety of
some of his associates over the financial
situation, aad in conversation with the cor
| respondent of The DISPATCH to-day he
gave quite a rosy view of the condition of
the Treasury.
''There seems to be" said Mr.. MacLen-
nan, "a lack of information among certain
people on the gold question. Every time
large shipment of gold is announced a cry
goes up that this country is being depleted
of its gold for the benefit of foreign coun-
| tries To persons not familiar with the
situation it would appear that these ship
ments of gold simply take that much pre-
cious metal or money out of this country,
leaving nothing behind in its stead. That
is false impression. For every dollars
worth of gold that leaves this country its
equivalent comes back in the form of mer-
chandise, redeemed bonds or some other Sc
curity.
Why Gold Shipments Are Often Larger.
''It sometimes happens that holders of
United States bonds in Europe desire to
exchange them for gold. 1t also happens
that foreign countries, desiring to increase
their supply of gold, come into the United
States market and buy it. Such transac-
tions, instead of causing commotion in
financial circles, ought to give confidence
in the stability of this Government, for
they show that we have sufficient gold to
meet our own demands, aud can also spare
some for shipment abroad.
LAS a matter OF fact" continued Mr..
MacLennan, "there is over S12 600, 900 more
gold in the Treasury Department to-day
than there was at certain periods last sum-
mer There is something over 1924, 600, 900
in gold now on hand, which is but few
millions less than we hsd at this time last
year. On the 31st of December, 1891, there
was $3.50, 900, 900 of gold in the Treasury.
One hundred millions of that amount are
held in reserve to guarantee the outstand-
ing greenbacks, leaving on hand about S24,-
900 of what We call 'rree gold, because
there is nothing outstanding against it.
Thus, you see, that leaves a comfortable
margin for the trade.
''This does not include the $123, 900, 900
held in reserve for the outstanding gold GER
tifcates When that is added to the S124,-
900, 900 it shows that there is actually $247,-
900, 900 in gold now in the Treasury"
Foster Didn't Mean to Issue Bonds.
Mr.. MacLennan ridicules the statement
that Secretary Foster proposed to issue a
new series of bonds, but was prevented
from doing so by the President. The Sec
retary and Mr. MacLennan have thorough
understanding on all financial questions
and the latter saws there is no reason why
the Secretary should propose at this time to
put new bonds on the market
With regard to the present condition of
the Treasury, Mr.. MacLennan says the debt
statement which will be given out to-mor-
row will show a balance in the Treasury of
something like S130, 1928, 000 The surplus
would have been much larger at this time
had it not been for the enormous expen6i-
lures for pensions during the present month.
This has been an unusually heavy month
on expenditures in all branches of the serv-
ice, and the pension appropriation alone
amounted to S15, ,000, 200.
In spite of the steady increase in the |
revenues from customs and internal revenue |
during the past calendar year the surplus |
has been kept down by heavy expenditures. |
Almost every month during the present year |
has shown an increase in the revenues over |
the same month in the preceding year |
During the present month the receipts were |
over So, 600, 900 more than they were for last |
December.