Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-04-09
OUR TREASURY FLOWS
WITH YELLOW NE TAL
Uncle Sam Now Has More than
$1,000, 100000 in Gold.
GREATEST IN ALL HISTORY.
Tremendous Accumulation Makes the
United States Croesus Among
Nations of the World.
shington eorrespondence

Washington correspondence
The United States is the Croesus
present in the United States Treasury.
sub-treasuries, minis and assay offices
more gold than ever before in the his
tory of the country. 1t represents the
most valuable stock of the yellow metal
that the world has ever seen or perhaps
dreamed of. 1t reaches the tremendous
total of S1.O20,313.471 If the coins
We're laid upon each other they would
make a shiny monument 40 miles in
height. They weigh almost 100000
pounds. Every ounce of the metal has
been the cause of hardship, most of it
of death. Every ounce of it has pro
duced joy, sometimes mad intoXication.
1t has inspired greed, lust, envy and
murder. 1t has created romance. To
day it is the symbol of prosperity of
the wealthiest nation in the world
What One Billion Could Do.
1t takes the breath away, that
thought of one billion dollars in gold.
Think what could be done with it, The
national debt of the United States
could be wiped out if the gold could be
used for any such purpose, and there
would remain a comfortable balance. 1t
would provide 100 battleshps of the
Dreadnought type, fully equipped for
service. 1t would support the navy for
ten years, the army for a similar pc
riod. The United States could refrain
from drawing a cent of revenue for one
year, and yet the gold in its vaults and
in the institutions it controls would be
sufficient to meet it's tremendous ex-
penditures.
OF course, all this gold does not be-
long to the government. Gold certificates
are in circulation against coin valued
at S790,011, 1863. That is to say, every
person who has one of these Certifi-
cats is entitled to step up to the coun-
say GIVE me the equivalent of this in
gold" The demand would have to lie
complied with instantly. Then $150,0O0-
900 constitutes what is known as the
gold reserve. 1t is maintained by law
for the redemption of greenbacks. To
the credit of the government also is an
additional $40 1895, 100, for which gold
certificates have been issued. Finally.
there is coin valued at S34966,412 lying
in the cash boxes of the United States
Il e,,,IN tho. - 1,
paid out whenever a call is made
The people, however, do not want
gold. On the Pacific slope it is still the
fashion to use the yellow metal, but in
the effete Vast, as in the more effete
East, it is not wanted. 1t is heavy,
bulky and inconvenient. 1t exposes the
holder to robbery and perhaps death.
therefore, as sOoa as a miner obtains a
pound of gold or any one else gets
hold Of the metal his first act is to take
it to an assay office to determine its
purity and then to turn it into one of
the government Eints for coinage.
When this is done the owner receives
the gold certificates. Certificates are
not issued against bullion.
Other Nations Like Our Gold.
1t is estimated that the total stock
of United States gold coin is ST.
63S, 100000. Thus, there is something
like $5O0,000,0OO which is not in gov
eminent repositories. Where is it?
large quantity IS in national Sanks, not
less than 25,000,000. Probably $780,
100000 more lies in the vaults of other
than national banks. In the vaults of
the Russian treasury at st. Petersburg
there are piles of canvas bags contain
Ing something like S1S,000,000 in Unit
ed States double eagles The holdings
of United States gold coin in the treas
ury of the Dominion of Canada as
reserve for Dominion treasury notes
amount to more than S30,00O,000. Other
nations think SO highly of American
gold coin that they have quietly gath
cred a stock Of it and put it where, in
a pinch, it will do the most good.
OF all the nations this country has
the greatest supply of the yellow metal.
Germany is second, with $1,000, 800 900.
which is S6O0,0OO,OOO less than we
have France is third with $500, 400
OOO Russia fourth with 5000, 900,
United Kingdom fifth, $780, 100000, and
ustria-Hungary sixth, $306, 100000.
France, which has less than half the
population of the United States, has
the largest per capita proportion of
gold. $23.57 The United States has
S1S.66 Germany, ST.. The United
Kingdom, $11.03. Russia, $6.55, and
Austria, $500.