The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-05-17
WHERE is THE GoLDq

from all the British colonies combined.
WHERE IS THE ooLDq
Not Only L. tho Pyramid Standing Upon
Its Apex, But the Apex Seems to Have
Dwindled to . Very Fine Point.
notice that great many of the
leading journals of the country are
felicitating the people of the United
States upon the fact that there is an
enormous stock of gold in the nation,
and that, as Mr.. Carlisle says:
''There is gold enough in the country
to meet all the requirements of the sit
uation, and if all who are really inter-
ested in maintaining sound and stable
currency would assist the secretary of
the treasury to the extent of their abil-
tiles the existing difficulties would soon
be removed"
From recent issue of the Topeka,
Kan, Press clip as follows:
Nevertheless, the reserve has been
trenched upon and the event gives the
country another evidence of the un-
speakable folly and ignorance which
the goldolators and money sharks bring
to the discussion of the great financial
issue of our time. We were told that
gold would go out if the Bland-Allison
act was not repealed. Awhile ago, the
goldolators and their subsidized news
papers were declaring that the silver
law OF 1890 was draining out gold, and
yet on January 1, 1898, the gold stock
OF the United States was $649, 7S8, 900 as
against s27S, $40, 1875 on January 1, 1879.
These figures are official. They are to
be found in the report of the director
of the mint just issued"
One of the inexplicable and inscru-
Unable mysteries of modern times is
the whereabouts of the vast quantity
of gold said to be circulating in the
United States. 1t is true that accord
ing to the report of the director of the
United States mint, there was on jan
uary 1, 1898, in this nation volume of
gold amounting to S649, 7SS, OOO At the
same date there was gold in the United
SO1, leaving a supposed amount in the
hands of the people of $411, 42S, 209.
The national banks held September
80, 1892, $95, O21, 952; March 6, 1898, $780,
S75,235. Assume that they held on jan
uary 1, 1885, $97, 42S, 2O9. Amount to &C
count for, 1914, 1000, 900.
The report of the comptroller of the
currency for 1892 showed only So, 1856, $40
in gold out of total of $197, 7S9, 1884 in
all kinds of moneys held by 1874 state
banks, 1853 loan and trust companies,
o43 savings banks 416 stock banks, and
1,161 private banks-5,579 in all. But
- ~e
round numbers, under the head of
'Cash Unclassified,'' we will assume
that gold bore the same percentage to
the whole amount that it bore to the
amount classified. Put it at 1913, OOO, 900.
This leaves the residue to be accounted
for, 1921, OOO, 900.
Where is this gold? Does any sane
person believe that even tenth part
of such an amount of gold was in the
hands of private individuals on Janu-
airy 1, 1898? How many of our IS, OOO,-
600 people had 500, $50, or even $50 in
gold in their possession on that date?
How many of us ever see any gold, ex-
cept as we get a glance at it behind the
lattice railing of bank counter? Gold
is not the peoples money and in the
ordinary, everyday transactions of do
nestle exchange, gold coin is almost an
unknown quantity. There is not to
exceed $500, 1000, 900 in gold in the whole
nation.
Let us see if the established facts
will bear me out in making this asser-
ton. The total amount of gold stock,
bullion and coin on June 80, 1888, was
officially stated to be S7O5, 81s,s55. In
his report for that year Mr.. Leech, the
director of the United States mint,
officially stated that $27O, 600, 900 of that
amount had mysteriously disappeared
and could not be accounted for. tab
ulate as follows:
Supposed amount June 30, 1888 - S7O5, 818 ,855
Unaccounted for Observation-Disclosures. 27O,OOO, 900
Amount actually on hand .... S435, 1913 855
Excess of exports over imports June
80, 1883, to January l, 1893 ....... 15O, 600 600
s285. 818,855
Total production same period. ...... ia, 500 900
500. sls s55
Used in the arts same period, say. 47,3l8,855
Gold in United States January 1,
If this insignificant sum of gold was
simply a commodity in the United