The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-08-09
A COLOSSAL OPERATION.

A report comes from London that the
Rothschilds have acquired or are acquiring
control of the gold-mining companies
which are operating in the TraDsvaal.
The story is not in itself absolutely im-
probable. The stocks in these various
companies are for sale on the London
Stock Exchanges; like mining shares gen.
orally, they are liable 10 wild fluctuations;
nothing would be easier for concern with
an unlimited command of capital than to
choose periods of panic and to pick up
majority of the shares. Years ago the
RothSshilds bought control Of the cinnabar
mines of Almaden in Spain. intending to
control the quicksilver supply Of the
world; they would, probably. have sue
ceeded but for the working OF the New
Almaden mines in this State.
The mines of the Transvaal are now
yielding nearly one-third OF the gold sup
ply of the world. The companies which
own them are actuated by the single pur
pose Of getting as much gold out of them
as they can. They have no object in with
holding any portion of their yield. But
crest operator, controlling that yield,
could make more money by increasing and
diminishing it alternately than by unin-
terrupted and expensive mining A for
tune might be made every year by opera
tiOns in the shares predicated upon an
increased or a reduced output And this
is only one field in which speculation might
be profitable.
Gold is money all over the world,
and everything that is bought or sold is
exchangeable for gold. The market value
of all commodities is the quantity OF gold
which they command. But the relative
value of gold to the other articles of mer-
chandise depends in large measure upon
the supply of and demand for gold itself.
If the supply of gold is suddenly increased
by thirty or thirty-fve per cent, the cur
rent price of commodities must rise in pro-
portion, as we saw when the gold dis
coveries of California and Australia took
place; and in like manner, if the gold
supply of the world be unexpe ctedly re-
duced by thirty or thirty-fve per cent, the
price of commodities would fall, as we
have seen since the gold supply fell to
diminished figures. These results do not
always follow fluctuations in the gold sup
ply Immediately; but they come at last.
Now if the Rothschilds are going to
have it in their power to regulate the gold
supply at will. they can operate aim lost to
a certainty in silver. and in the staple
articles of commerce. By Withholding
few millions of gold they would cause
panic on most of the exchanges and when
they had filled their shorts and loaded up
for the rise. they would start boom by
flooding the financial centers with the
precious metal This is the game which
the gossip of the exchanges announces
that the great bankers are proposing to
play.
There is a drawback to the scheme-if.
indeed. any such scheme has ever been
seriously entertained. No man can tell
how long a mine may last or how many
mines may be discovered. So far as can
be inferred from the geological formation
the whole of South Africa from Cape
Colony to the Zambesi is impregnated
with gold. 1t is dffused throughout the
decomposed conglomerate rock wherever
it is found, not in large pockets, but in a
uniform dilution which permeates the
rock generally. like the gold in the Black
Hills. Such deposits are usually wide
spread and enduring. 1t may be that the
Witwatersrand is only one of many camps.
which among them may raise the output
OIL OOuI1 AIElCa 10 al dlHOuHI IHdt even
the Rothschilds could not handle.
And again. as the old miners used to
say, there is nothing as uncertain as gold
mine. Experts declare that in the mines
already opened near Johannesburg there
are a thousand millions of gold practically
in sight. But We know in this State what
the estimates of experts are worth. We
have seen mines peter before. 1t is quite
possible that some unexpected mail may
bring US news of the exhaustion of the
| Witwatersrand, as the Con. Virginia
petered. In that case monopoly of the
Transvaal gold mines might not be worth
much. The Rotbschilds are so sagacious
a house that they are pretty sure to have
foreseen ali contingencies. and the story Of
their buying up the mines of South Africa
is one which should wait for confirmation.