The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-25
midas GOLD HoARDERs.
Immense Amount of Money Hidden
Away in That Country

From the Courier des Etats-Unis
About so nilliards of francs is said 70
be the total amount of the gold product
OF the two worlds since the discovery
OF America And, strange to say, of
this outpouring Of gold, which during
four centuries has been scattered all
over the world. an immense portion re-
mains idle in India. where it has been
embedded. In India the gold returns
to the earth and remains there more
completely hidden than it was in it's
original state.
The amount of gold brought into In
dia during the past 60 years, that is to
say, from 1887 to 1898, is greater by three
milliards nine hundred and forty-three
millions Of francs than the amount ex-
ported. The soil of India absorbs the
floods of gold just as the sands of the
desert swallow the overflow of the great
rivers. When 1t is remembered that this
work of absorption has been going on
with little interruption for 10 centuries,
and still continues under our eyes, it is
easy to form an idea of the immense
treasures that are hidden in that coull-
try. All this gold remains STERILE and
consequently is lost. 1t is absurd to say
that it is brought into monetary circu-
lation or that it passes through the
hands of the native goldsnniths. It is
disseminated in innumerable hiding
places, from which it never energies.
In ancient times and up to the period
of the conquest and occupation by the
English, individual property was not
protected. The country, from one end
to the other, was the prey Of rival fac
tions, who ravaged it ceaselessly and
without mercy. Princes and potentates,
as we'll as the small fry, were squeezed
and shOrn constantly. To escape from
the general robbery the natives, great
and small. carefully concealed their
money and their values under ground.
This inveterate habit became hereditary
among them, SO that to-day the natives
do just what their ancestors did in past
ages 1t is estimated that milliards
upon milliards of francs in gold lie in
the hiding places of India, and it is
known that this colossal treasure is in
coin that dates back several centuries
To the suffering and wretchedness
that poverty ordinarily creates the ma
ttives of India add the tortures. equally
painful. of an incurable avarice. That
is the thing which puzzles the observer
and throws him off the right track. In
that country all the poor and INDECENT
have little hiding places, where they
put away their little treasures and
guard them watching their growth and
never drawing upon them. even in the
face of famine, dishonor, danger or
death. All around and above them are
the proud and the rich. who do just as
their ancestors uld, ana remain exact
ly the same as they were; that is to
say Unsuitable hoarders, suspicious and
cruel misers. They hide their gold in
the vaults of old forts and in citadels,
and add to it from generation to genera
ton, from century to century Like
that of Harpagnon. their beloved treas
ures possess for them charms far more
fascination than those of their immor-
tai houris and their enchanting peris.
The persistence of the maharajah of
Sindhi in petitioning the British gov
eminent to give back to him the fortress
of Gwalior is perhaps remembered-a
persistence that seemed strange indeed,
not to say suspicious, because Gwalior
was not one of the holy places, like so
many others in India After numerous
petitions and intrigues the maharajah
at last won his case. The fortress of
Gwalior was given back to him. And
now quite recently the secret of the per-
sistent effort has become clear to every
body who reads. He had concealed in
the fortress of Gwalior an immense
treasure in coined gold, and this gold
had been put away with so much care
near the corner stone of the fort, to
which subterranean passage led, and
closed up with such skill and cunning
that nobody in ignorance of the secret
could possibly discover the treasure.
In the presidency or province of Bonn
bay it is estimated that there are 300,-
900, 900 francs in cold sovereigns which
are preserved with extreme care, not