The Florence tribune., 1898-06-18
SHIPPING GOLD.
How the Coin Is Moved About
 the World.
The Mode of Packing is Little kno~A Outside Of Banking HOuses- There Arc Tricks in
 the Business.

means of final settlement. Our Eu- ropean correspondents pay with secur- ities and bills of exchange" said a banker, "as long as they can do so, and when there ceases to be any pront in that method they send us the goid.' All agree that the Influx of gold is an unmistakabIe sign of activity in besi- ness. "AYe have Abe same conditagns right in our own country, said MauEsce L. Muhleman, deputy assistant United States treasurer. When the cotton ia being harvested in the south and the grain in the west. New York sends to the banks in those regions advances in the shape of bankers drafts. This com mercisl paper is used again by them and there is no need for sending actual money. But when the crops are un- usually large and it requires extraor- dinary sums of money to pay for har- Yesting, then the local banks are com pelled to ask for money instead of pn- per. They need it for their customers. anpayhelp only with money. They are prevented from making further in- roads on their own supply because of the law which compels them to have a certain amount of cash always on de- posit as reserve. That is the case at present, and large sums of actual money are being sent to New Orleans and the west to help the little banks along.
 The same causes are at the bottom of the gold shipments from abroad. h times when there is no demand for money, when business is slack, bankers have so much gold that they prefer to receive paper; but with large crops to move, increasing pay rolls due to in- crease in manufacturing, with in- creased freight transactions and the additional business which follows in the wake of a manufacturing revival, the supply of money becomes low, and the consequence is that we ask our Flu ropean correspondents to send us gold instead of paper" ---ssT
 But gold is not shipped like ordinary merchandise, and the mode of packing is little known outside the banking es- tablishment to which it is consigned The coin gold from Great Britain comes in lots of 500 ounces. These lots are usually packed in five bags of 10u ounces each, and the bags are placed in box, which is tightly nailed and strapped. It frequently happens thot lot is slightly over weight. and in such cases coin Is clipped to make the weight exact.
 Bar gold is also shipped in boxes, each box containing 800 ounces. The bars are kept from chafng by being packed between layers of sowdust,
 American gold coin which has lost less than one-half per cent. by wear is received for its face value, but all pieces which are light as much as one-hali per cent. are received by weight only
 The assay office advances 90 per cent on all the gold which is Left there. and when the actual value has been deter. mined settles by cheek on the subtreas- ury. American gold coin, like the French and the German, is nine-tentht fine, British coin is eleven-twelfths fine and bars are of various grades. Be. cause of the variation in quality all set dement's are made on the basis of "fine gold"
 There are tricks in the gold busi ness." said another banker, (which art not known to the rest of the business world. For instance. the lightweight coin dodge. A man buys American gold in Europe for shipment to this country. He buys 1t by weight and uses it here for it's face value. If the coins have been slightly worn in cir culation, but not down to the one-hali per cent, limit, the shipper makes the difference"
 Gold when shipped to Europe iron the United States is usually packed ir kegs or boxes, each containing five bag of s10,0no each, end when one sees large dray in the Wall street district attended by several men, but loaded only with one or two small kesr, he maJ know that there is m actual moyefnenf in gold--N. r. Tribune.
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