Iron County register., 1896-10-29
THE PRICE OF GOLD.
Arguments OF Gold Organs Rest Solely
Upon AKisstatements.


Arguments OF Gold Organs Rest solely
Upon AKisstatements.
The New York Evening Post, which
seems to be utterly incapable of telling
the truth about any phase of the coin
age question, published the following
question and answer on its editorial
page on September 30:
To the Editor of the Evening Post:
Sir-What book would you recommend
/ to a person wishing to gain completes
knowledge of that part of the money Ques-
tion which relates to the price OF gold?''
have been unable to find any work that
attempts to elucidate this particular
branch of the question, and inasmuch as
you viii not answer price of gold" queries
except in the most perfunctory manner.
perhaps you can tell me where / can get
- - : --- W. BLACK.
Bayonne, N. J.. September 26.
There is no book which treats OF the
price OF gold. because there is no such
thing as a price of gold. Gold is itself
price. The gold dollar is a weight (26.2
grains of pure metaD. with a stamp on It
TO certify that il is what 1t purportS to be-
How can the price OF gold dollar be moro
| or less than a dollar, more or less than it,
self? If you want to buy American eagles
with English sovereigns. there is a price
for the form OF gold which you want to
procure. This price may be trifie more
than the amount of pure gold in the SOW
ereign. So, too, if you want to buy English
sovereigns with American eagles you may
| have to pay trifie more than the gold
equivalent OF the two. Because bankers
and brokers quote the price of gold bars
and Of foreign coins, a misconeeption
arises that they are quoting the price or
gold, whereas they are merely quoting the
differences between one form of gold and
another form Gold bars usually bring
a trife more than gold coin because they
are easier to handle and because they are
less liable to abrasion.-Ed. Evening Postl
Now mark how plain tale will put
the omniscient editor of the Evening
Post down.
At every mint and assay office main
tanned by the United States government
gold in every conceivable form is pur-
chased daily at the rate of $2O.6T per
| ounce.
The United States assay Office in New
York, within half a mile of the Post
building, buys more gold in the course
of a year than all the other mints and
assay offices taken together, and it in
variably pays the price named above for
all that it purchases.
The mints and assay officers of the
United States pay that price simply and
solely because it is the price fixed by the
| statute, and it never varies.
The pretense of the Post, that il is
''the form" and not the substance of
gold that has the price, is completely
overthrown by the practice of the mint
| authorities of our government. Gold
| coin bearing the United States mint
stamp is bought just the same as old
plate and jewelry, gold bars, retorts,
nuggets and gold dust, at the rate of
&00 ~ for g =. n.
lot
theoretically, owners of gold bullion
take it to the mint and have it coined
and the coins so made are returned to
the depositors, but in practice-and the
practice is based on a distinct statutory
provision-the coins made from their
deposits are not returned to them at all,
but instead they are paid for their gold
at the price quoted above out of fund
set apart by act of congress for that
purpose, and the government reim-
burses itself for the outlay by retain
ing the coins made from these deposits.
If gold is itself price," as the Post
AYERS, why do the owners of gold hull
lion sell it to the government for actual
money? That is what they do, as the
Post can very easily learn by inquiring
at the United States assay office in New
York, or any other assay Office og mint
maintained by the United States gov
ernmenr.
The further assertion made by the
Post that gold bars usually bring a
trife more than gold coin, because they
are easier handled and because they are
less liable to abrasion" has nothing at
all to do with the case, because the gov
ernment pays exactly the same price for
all the gold it buys, no matter what the
form may be.
If the government should fix coin
age price for silver $1.2o29, as bime.aI.
lists demand, as q matter of course that
would Immediately become the price OF
silver everywhere, because nobody bold
ing silver in any form would part with
it for less than he could get for it at a
United States mint or assay office, and,
as matter of course, a silver dollar
would be worth 100 cents as it is now,
just like gold dollar, If we should re-
establish free coinage of both metals
in this country at the ratio of sixteen to
one.-Denver Republican.