The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-20
BY Paul Dandy.

Through the Treasury Department
of his government at Washington,
Uncle Sam gave out a rather startling
piece of news the other day, in the
statement that this country, at this
moment, possesses about a quarter of
all the gold that has been made up
into money in the entire world.
To quote the official figures correct
ly, there is now in the United States
Including treasury coin and bullion)
one thousand two hundred millions of
gold money, whereas the worlds entire
stock of gold money is worth less than
five thousand millions ($4,906, 700, 0G0,
according to the latest f1gures). New
York financiers believe Uncle Sans
figures as to his own gold money are
shy, and that in truth the amount of
gold money in the country is close to
$1,250, 900 000-a billion and a quarter
while all the rest of the world pos
sesses less than SO, $50, 600, 900. This is a
larger sum of coined gold than has
ever been possessed by a single nation
in the history of the world.
Next to the United States, according
to the latest reports, comes France,
with $50, 600,0 900, followed by the Brit
ish Empire, with $3.50, 700, 900; Russia,
with $724,300,000, and Germany, with
$721, 800 900. So far as coined gold is
concerned, it will be observed, the
United States is in a class by itself.
The British Empire is second in the
second class, but Great Britain proper
is last, its store of coined gold
amounting only to SSH ,000 900. All
other peoples are so far behind in the
race as not to be eligible even for the
second class. Austria Hungary leads
the third class with about $230000, 900,
but even at that the great empire is
very poor in gold money, relatively as
we'll as actually, for her gold supply
amounts to less than $3.50 per capita
for her population of 100000 souls.
Uncle Sans children have nearly SIG
in gold apiece, which is less than the
citizens of the French republic, for
each of whom there is a little more
than $21 of gold coin head. Germany
comes third in the per capita compu-
tation the figures being $12.S1, Great
Britain's being 1924 and that of Rus
STA, with her enormous population of
1928, 300, 900, only 1884. The per capita
figure for the entire British Empire is
shade under 1920, that for India's
enormous horde of 297, 100000 being
only is cents. Here, as in
most other things, the British
Empire exhibits the most astonish-
ing extremes, for there are parts there
of where the per capita of coined gold
is in great excess: in Australia, for m
stance, there is $24.26 in coin as money
for every man, woman and child. At
one time the South African republics
led this with per capita figures of
$26. "a, but now Australia is the high
est. Canada's per capita is few cents
in excess of SO.
But these per capita figures of coin
ed gold should not be taken as indica-
tive either of a country's actual wealth
or the per capita of money in circu-
lation. The total amount of money of
all sorts in the United States is rising
of two thousand five hundred millions,
or more. than $2S for every citizen of
Uncle Sam, about double the per cap
ita of gold. In Australia, where the
gold per capita is highest there is
little money circulation at all except