The morning times., 1896-08-23
To Express It We Use Figures So Vast that the
Mind Is Unable to Comprehend Them.
WHY GOLD GOES ABROAD s2S PER MINUTE
The Yellow Coins Are the Yellow Chips in the Great Game
of Trade-Peep at the Worlds Enormous Stock of
Precious Meals-A River Flowing to the Indian Sea Is
Graphic Representation of the Flood of Precious Stuff

! deep places OF the sea, for none to look
upon but the spuruing and Shiny sea
creatures seeking quite other treasures.
1t furnishes in Jewels, cOins, and trinkets
lost singly by careless folk siuce the
dawn OF history. Much more of it lies
where it was hidden by extremely care
ful folk who died and left no signs of
their intention.
| The annual disappearance of the metals
into India referred to by Sir Robert Girren
is perhaps the stranGest romance of coin.
| The missing metal is absorbed in simple
| boarding by the suspicious people Of the
| far East, Whether iD coin or in vessels of
beaten gold or in jewels and trnkets with
| golden settings, the willy Hindoo buries his
little hoard where no one can kno " its place
but himself Even he knows it only by
| cipher description of its bearings, which he
only can read, and which he never removes
| from his person. When he is eaten by a
tiger or goes to his long sleep III some
foul jungle, stung by n kissing snake
and in the past 1000 years some eighty
| millions of people have died in India
or in whatever other way passes sud
denly from the sight of his own. his
secret dies with him. Bigger boards are
those of the jeweled native kings whose
wealth was so fabulous that II woke War
reD Hastings amazement al his own mod
eration that he took So little.
SO to return to the river figure, India
might be called the sea toward which all
the coin rivers of the world flow never to
return.
1t is no wonder that people go treasure
hunting. though the shores of the new
| world are poor place for the pastime, in
spite of Capt. Kidd and the brave bucca-
neers who harried the Spanish argosies
along our seas, The worlds Oldest coun-
tries might seem to promise the best re-
suits from such quests, though even there
it is doubtless easier in the long run TO earn
new coins than to dig up the old ones
Rare strokes of treasure-trove luck are gen.
orally met by pure accident, as when in
England big pots OF Roman coins. nearly
1000 years old have occasionally been
found.
Where the gold coin of the world hides
itself, outside of India. is II comparatively
simple matter. The United States Treas
ury expects to keep about 500 600 900 as
a redemption fund. The banks of the coun-
try must hold considerably more at all
times. since those of New York city alone
lions a few days ago to tide the govern
ment over.
Great Britain, though less wealthy
country than ours, has more gold, partly
because the Bank of England keeps a huge
redemption fund for all its bank notes. and
partly becaus those notes are not issued
in denominations Of less that 20 and the
golden sovereicns are in constant daily
,,.ir IInfi
clerk is equipped with a wet sponge for
handling bills, an English one has a tiny
scoop to handle gold and a pair of scales
TO test its weight. The banks and people
Of Germany, France and A ustria have also
great deal of gold in reserve and in cir
culatioD. The German war chest, which
always contains many millions of gold for
use in an emergency, is unique institu-
ton. Russia has much less gold than the
other nations, as she uses silver roubles
and paper notes based on them.
People on both sides of the political
fence in this country are agreed that
both gold and silver are needed for COMA &c
purposes because if, as Sir Robert Giffen
says. the arts use up nearly all the new
production Of the two precious metals, a
single one of them, and that one the most
redemption money. The parties differ only
upon the ability of this country alone under
taking to coin silver freely.
The increased use of silver in the worlds
monetary systems. however it can be ac-
complished, is considered desirable by
men of both parties in this country, and
by practically all foreign financial doc
tors. except in Great Britain, where gold
moDometallism finds its only supporters
The river OF gold which constantly flows
outward through New York flows in obedi-
enee to laws which it will take many years
to change. Financial transa ctions between
this country and Europe are managed as
far as possible by exchange transactions
involving no actual passing of money. But
if, after a series Of exchanges, the United
States have bought thirty millions worth
of stuff from Europe and sold but twenty
nine millions, million in money, or only