The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-09
AnInterestinE Question.

How much gold will the government
get from the bond sale? This question is
an interesting one. in view of the fact
that the amount of the bids for the bonds
was SO greatly in excess Of the amount of
the bonds offered.
II Is easily understood why the Presi-
dent and the Secretary Of the Treasury.
and. in fact. all citizens who are hoping
for increased business prosperity. are 50
pleased with the result Of the bidding for
the bonds. They are pleased because the
fact that the bonds were subscribed for
so literally shows that the people believe
that the bonds. principal and interest. will
be paid in gold. and that the government
can and Will keep the currency on a gold
basis
1t is by no means settled yet. however.
that the sold reserve will be very
much larger when the bond deal is
concluded than IL was shortly before the
announcement Of a bond sale was made.
The New York World is claiming all the
credit for making the loan a popular
one. and other papers and many individ-
having sold at private sale a large amount
of bonds to the Morgan Belmont syndi-
cate last February. AS a matter of fact.
no credit is due the World, because there
is satisfactory evidence that the admins
tration intended to offer the bonds to the
highest bidders before the World inter
fered i'm the matter.
But will the popular loan prove to be
such good thing after all? That is a
question that cannot yet be sausfactor-
lily answered. The fact must be kep5
in mind that what the government wants
is gold, not more money The Morgan
Belmont syndicate agreed to get gold
to pay for the bonds it purchased from
sources outside of the treasury. It pledged
itself to bring one-half of the gold from
Europe. 1t also agreed to protect the gold
reserve for about seven months. In con-
sideration of doing these things it got
the bonds much below the market price
Where is the gold to come from that is
to be exchanged for the bonds that have
just been sold? 1t looks as if the most
of 1t would be drawn from the treasury.
Already the gold reserve is down to $44.-
100000. 1t is pretty certain that IT will
fall to $iO,OOO.OOO before the first INSTALL
ment of the bonds are paid for. The gold
that has been recently drawn out of the
treasury has not been exported. That
being the case it is evident that it is to
be used in exchange for bonds
What is to prevent the bond purchasers
from drawing gold from the treasury to
pay for each subsequent installment or
bonds? AS far as we can see there is
nothing. If no more gold should be drawn
from the treasury for bond purposes the
gold reserve would be about $3.50 600
when all the bonds were paid for But sup
pose IL should not be more than $4,000. 900
or $S0OOOOOO? Would then the World and
other chronic howlers continue to claim
the credit of having suggested a popu-
lar loan? We hardly think they would
They would. in all probability, condemn
the administration for not having made
it condition of the bond sale that no
gold to pay for bonds should be drawn
from the treasury.
We do not criticise the administration
for having made the loan a popular one.
On the contrary, we think it did what
was right and wise. but we have little
patience with the papers and individuals
for endeavoring to make the people be-
lieve that the conditions on which the
ACKNOWLEDGMENT syndicate got SIS. 900 900
of bonds last February at 1O4lA were pre-
cisely the same as those on which the
public are getting SlOOOOO,OOO ct the pres
ent time at a much higher price.