The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1912-10-03

TO the average American banker the
traditional absorption of the precious
metals by the east has had, for long
time, only an academic or intellectual
interest. But the movement in the last
few years has reached such signifi-
canoe with relation to the question of
the gold supply that 1t begins to touch
the practical side Of our banking COM
munity. The financial world OF Lon
don. of course, Is the most directly
concerned but our own relations with
Europe are now so close and. to a large
extent, so reciprocal that the subject
is really one of high Importance to do
nestle fnanciers and merchants. This
is especially so because of the pecul-
iarly exposed financial situation here,
due to the absence of scientific cur
rency system and the large amount
OF paper money which, In the last
analysis, is left In the monetary or
ganism of the United States without
adequate protection through gold re-
serves. Such gold as we have ware
housed in the federal treasury against
goldcertificates, payable on demand, is
admitted by the best informed authori-
ties to be robbed of much Of it's potency
! 5 q; 5rot &. m case 81 psfricc or a
credit famine, such as developed in
the winter of 19O7-S, by it's very posi-
ton. Writing short time ago on
the scheme of monetary reform that
has been so earnestly but as vet so
futilely passed upon the consideration
of congress-, this point Is summarized
by Mr.. George E. Roberts, formerly
president of the Commercial Nationai
Bank of Chicago and now director or
the United States mint, as follows:
1.-THE bullion of gold which backs
our gold certificates gains nothing IN
importance by being gathered together
in one great store; it might as well be
in circulation In place Of the c"rt'fi.
Gates. The government is simply tax
ing care of 1t for the owners. the
country loses the prestige and poten-
TALLY tHdt WOuIu OOiou6 w ~ - ~ 49,
a banking reserve supporting our en-
tire system Of bank credits instead OF
an inert, lifeless mass whose power is
lost in it's scattered ownership"
There have been crises in the pas
when the nations of the world were
hot competitors for gold supplies an
1t Is we'll within possibilities that this
international struggle for the yellow
metal may occur again. 1t Is there
fore matter deserving serious stud!
that so large proportion OF the
, worlds supplies passes annually GU
, of the control of the banking systems
of the more civilized countries into TN
, great sink presented by India, and, t
an extent, by Egypt in recent years
How this movement can be corrected
or how the vast lords of the Far Eas
can be modified and turned into ;
dynamic financial force, is problem
!, not only for English financiers, blu
worth while for our own thinkers AM
practical men to try to solve.
The mania of the Indian and allie
peoples for ornamentation has beel
noted from time immemorial. Recent
ly, in the sos, Prof. Adolph Soetbeer II
, his great standard work "Materielen
made public some interesting letter
which he had received from privat
: friends in India, which give YER
picturesque account of the habits
I4l
Gold coins are not money and tn
soyereigns and the still rarer mohur
are bought and sold as bullion an
melted for conversion into articles
] ornament. The extent to which this
. done is incredible.
I Gold chains worth 1900 rupees are oft
en- worn. Women even of the lowe
classes are seen with ornaments con
sisting of sovereigns or of 20 and l
e franc pieces When l asked one
these women why she carried thes
! gold pieces about her neck, she aske
me why bought watch and piano
- 4 A native trader told me tina
. the capital which he had lying idle l
the form of gold ornaments woul
bring him IL rupees per month. Whe
proposed to him that he should pu
: this sum into the savings bank he re
I jected the proposition with the answe
that he would have no more friends
a as he would no longer look neat an
3 nice A native Judge. an educate
D and sensible man, told me that he ha
Igiven his wife ornaments worth 300
rupees, but that she was always beg
lying him for more because this or tina
Ineighbor had more Of one or anothe
6 sort than she, and she could not en-
ldure another woman looking nicer
He had told her that she had a plan