Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-11-03
THE WAY 1T WORKS.
How England Holds ON to Her Cold.
Sells Securities Instead OF ship
ping Buliion.

England is holding to her gold with
| great tenacity. Through the Bank
of England she is vigorously fighting
to prevent any great flow of gold to
the United States. And so far her
| fighting has been crowned with what
| must be to many people on this side
| of the water much unexpected success
In fighting to hold gold the Bank of
England reduced its loans by $4S, 000,-
600 during the eight weeks ended Sep
tember "a and raised the bank rate OF
discount. 1t also went into the LON
don money market with consols or
British government bonds for collat-
eral and borrowed money. Thus it
stiffened money rates and forced q
contraction of loans to other people.
All this contraction, of course, had the
| result of obliging men to sell goods
and securities that had been pledged
| as securities for the loans called. This
meant a pressing down of prices, and
| in general way a check to merchGn-
disc imports and stimulus to exports.
And thus the drain of goidwas checked
in slight degree.
But the radical check, the check
looked for to bring success, is over the
| calling of loans on American securi-
ties and the forced sale of such securi-
| ties upon the American market. Such
sale of staples makes exchange-that
| is, creates a credit in New York
against which drafts may be drawn
and forwarded in place of gold, draft
by letter taking the place of keg of
| gold. In this way has the Bank of
England been fighting to keep up gold.
But of late weeks the New York banks,
| with their reserves depleted and in
much need of gold to replenish them,
have been fighting not to keep gold,
but to bring gold from Europe. Thus
l did the New York banks contract their
loans by $30,o00.00O during the same
| eight weeks that the Bank of England
contracted its by $4s,000,0o0 The re-
suit of the contraction of loans in New
York was to take away the sustaining
power behind many securities. OF
course prices were pressed down, and
| those who owned the securities or the
| products lost money. Yet what cared
| the gold gang for this? But pressed
down as these securities were, the
Bank of England forced British hold
ers of such securities to part with
their gold. And the pressing of Brit
ish holdings on our markets caused q
still further pressing down of prices.
It necessitated the making Of great
sacrifices by British investors, but
those sacrifices they were compelled
to make, and thereby England saved
her gold. This fighting for gold is.
running business, entailing losses and
stopping the wheels of industry all
over the world. How long viii the
masses of the people permit themselves
and their interests to be sacrificed to
the single gold standard moloch?
That which surprises most people,
however, is that England can always
fail back upon a sale of foreign securi-
ties at a pinch and export mail bags of
securities rather than kegs of gold.
This is explained by an exchange as
follows:
England is the great creditor ma
ton of the world, to the extent of about
$750,000,000 year. which represents a
principal of somewhere between $15,-
oOo, 100000 and $4,000, oOo, 600 due her
creditor classes by the debtor coun-
tries of the world. Last year, for ex-
ample, the imports into the United
Kingdom were valued at 6 391, 405, COG,
her exports 234, 350,003, an adverse
trade balance of 6 157, zoo, goo, or about
$785 100000. But though she thus
bought 1877 100000 of merchandise
more than she sold, her imports and
exports Of gold balanced within 6 2s7.
The greater part of this seeming ad-
verse trade balance of a157 1000, 0O0
was balanced off by the interest ac-
cruing on loans made abroad and the
sums earned by British ships.
THE adverse trade balance for this
year promises TO be greater. During
the first seven months of the present
year the United Kingdom exported
6 1872, sos, o57 worth of merchandise, i'm
ported s234,7s7, 94e, an adverse bal
ance of s 102, 0o0. 900, $500, 0o0, 900 for
seven months. And yet England gained
six millions of gold during this period
by the exercise of ways we have
noted"
The whole world is made to pay trib-
ute to the gold power of the shylocks
of England. Is it not high time that
the United States, at least, were MAX
ing another declaration of independ-
ence?-Illinois State Register.
They Had No Case