Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-08-09
THE EXODUS ~ OF GOLD.

culation of the United States, contract it
by 1925, ,000, produce a horrible panic
and play havoc generally This claim is
made to do service on all occasions, in
season and out of season, but with never
a reason given for It,
For shallowness and absurdity this
pretense stands next to the impossible
dump" of silver from all the world so
often predicted as the inevitable result of
the free coinage of silver. Let us eons.d-
er it a little.
At the outset it is well to bear in mind
that there is not in all these United
States anything near $625, 100000 in gold
that can be found by anyone. Within a
year past all the national banks together
have not hadNat any one time one-hfth OF
that amount, and now they have barely
one-sixth of it. AT no time within a year
has the aggregate of gold in the treasury
and in the national banks been as much
as $300000000, and very little of this is in
actual circulation. 1t is kept by the
banks as their reserve, and by the treas
ury, as now managed, for the special ben
cit and convenience of treasury raiders.
If as much gold be conceded to all others
together as the national banks have lock-
ed up-a very liberal estimate--the total
stock of gold in this country that can be
found has not been more than $3.50 1000, 900
at any time within year, and it is now
much less. Beyond that all is mere guess
ing. OF this but few millions are in
actual circulation, mostly on the Pacific
coast, where it has held its place In cir
culation regardless of other forms of
money, no matter how much deprecated,
and proved a notable defiance of and eX-
ception to the so-called Gresham's law.
All the rest of this stock of gold is as
much out of circulation among our people
in their ordinary business and quite as
much out of their reach as If 1t We're bur-
led in the war-chest of Russia. Practi-
cally, it cannot get farther away from
them than it now Isl and it must stay
where it is until something else takes it's
place where it is now held as reserve,
whether we have free coinage of silver or
not.
Let US suppose, however, that this gold,
whatever it's amount, is free to leave this
country at its owners wills. Let US sup
pose further that the free coinage of sill
yer is an assured future fact, made so by
that of congress that will undo the
crime of 1878 as soon in March, 1897, as it
can be convened. All but idiots or those
wilfully blind must at once see and con-
cede that this assurance of the free coin
age of silver would at once tend power
fully to appreciate the worth of silver
and all other valuabes in this country
measured in gold; and there would be
corresponding depreciat ton in the value
of gold, measured in silver and other val
uables. Not only would these tenden-
cies be manifest here, but also in other
countries, especially those on a gold ba-
sis, to a less degree than here, probably,
but still very seriously. The pressure on
gold for money service and the demand
for it here being reduced, the same re-
suit in some measure would follow else
where; and this reduced demand for 1t
would lower it's value abroad, both for
the purchase of property and for earning
interest If invested in loans.
1t would also follow that gold, which
has been growing in value here, even
when boarded, by the depreciation of all
things else more rapidly than it could
earn interest on loans or profits by pro-
that unearned increment it has hitherto
acquired while idle-and partly by rea-
son of its being idle and withdrawn from
circulation and made thereby scarcer
The temptation would then be removed
that has heretofore existed, to lock 1t up
in steel vaults and let it grow in the dark.
To be of use to it's owners, to earn profits
or interest, it must then come out of its
retreat and go to work, In commerce or
the industries, as all sound policy and
legislation seeks to force 1t to do.
Here then there are three courses open
to the holder of gold. He can keep 1t
under lock and key and idle-paying
taxes on it, If he Is honest enough to do
so, and losing that much-but no longer
getting richer by the relative deprecia-
ton of everything else. If he adopts this
course his gold will certainly not leave
the country, but remain; and it cannot
be less useful to the country than it is
now. This course certainly does not pre-
sent irresistible attractions to money
makers, whatever it may offer to misers,
and they will hardly adopt it unless as
a last resort. The second course would
be for them to send it abroad for perma-
HeHl investment III PIOpSlly hnSeidy
enormously high and yielding slight
profits if any, or in loans at rates of in
terest so low as to be almost nominal,
and tending still lower by reason of vast
accumulations of money, as we see in
England, France and elsewhere. What
inducement is there to an owner of gold
in this country to invest 1t in consols or
rentes, yielding but or per cent, and
affected in value by every varying rumor
and phase of European politics, or in
lands, where farmers are in fact slaves,
agriculture is perishing apace and every
twelfth able bodied man is always an
idle consumer or employed only in get
ting ready scientifically to destroy life
and property by wholesale, and whence
capital has been flying for safety and in
Nestment to us for century? The third
course would be for these owners of gold
to go into our markets and with 1t buy
silver bullion and get the benefit of it's
certain appreciation, whether great or
small, and to convert their gold, declin-
ing and sure to decline in purchasing