The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-09-18
Is II True That
Gold Is Cornered.? :?


From the Times-Herald.
One of the stock statements in common
use among the silverites, volubly made
alike on the platform and on the streets,
is that gold is cornered. That the Roth
schilds. the Belmonts, the Morgans and
other conspirators, generally known as
1.-The money power" have formed a COM
bination to make gold scarce and dear.
thus depressing all who have to borrow
and all who are In debt. The object Of
these conspirators is to ruin debtors and
coniiscate entirely such securities as haVs
been put up. thus bankrupting those to
whom they have loaned money and bring
ing untold disaster on the world. The Sill
vertes allege that this is the result of
1.-The crime of 1873" and was the object In
view when that crime was committed.
When asked for proof of this astounding
conspiracy they only offer the additional
allegation that there is no gold In ciroula-
tion among us and that banks Will not
pay 1t out of their depostors in the usual
course of business.
Now. If gold Is cornered II must he cor
nered in Europe as well as in the United
States, in London and Paris as much as
in New York and Chicago. To corner 4
commodity OF such world-wise use as gold
1t must he made scarce everywhere. so
that those who want 1t must be compelled
to so to the cOrnerers and pay their price
for 1t. else there would be no profit In the
adventure. When men have attempted to
corner wheat they have had to fores.ail
the supplies of that grain coming from all
quarters and it is because, as rule, they
have not been able to do this that wheat
corners have proved disastrous to their
projectors. But there Is not little of evil
dence that the gold supply In London and
Paris, in Berlin and st. Petersburg, is any
less than ii ever was, or that men have to
pay premiums to obtain it, That this Is
true is evident from the large shipments
of gold now being made to this country in
the usual course of business. They must
have plenty of 1t over there. To corner
gold the conspirators would have to obtain
possession of or control all the gold in the
world, not only that which is now In the
form of money, but that which can almost
instantly be turned into money. The
mere statement of such a proposition
shows its absurdty.
To so no further back than the discov-
cry of America, the gold production since
1892 amounts to about $4,000. 900. Some,
of course. has been lost or destroyed
but there is today in form of money over
$i000, 100000 of 1t, while in other forms
there must be nearly as much. And this
enormous amount. which the mind cam
not grasp would have to be under the
mastery of the cornering syndicate. Not
only so, but they would have to buy the
output of the mines. now amounting 10
$780, OOO, 600 annually. If an ordinary wheat
or pork corner, embracing crops con-
sumed almost as fast as produced, works
disastes to its projectors, what must be
the result of gold corner, where the arti-
Gle Is always increasing and can never be
consumed? Would not those who would
dream of such an enterprise be almost
as hopelessly lunatic as those who assert
that 1t has actually been accomplished?
Some years ago an attempt was made
to corner copper by men who had almost
illimitable resources, and they We're bank
rupted, some of them being driven to
shameful deaths as the result. The gold
corner Is myth conceived only by men
who never see gold because they have
nothing to exchange for it. Gold does not
circulate among us at the present time TO
any great extent, not because 1t Is cor
nered, but because there is no temptation
to investment in industrial enterprises,
while its owners are fearful that we may
come to a silver basis, when gold will so
to a premium. 1t Is the Bryans and Tel
lers and Stewards who have driven gold
from circulation in the United States, not
the Rothschilds and the Morgans.