The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-10-24
tells HOW GOLD
AIDS THE nation
Director of Mint Woolley Calls
Dollar Exchange of Utmost
Importance.

Cincinnati. O., Oct 23-R w. wooliey
director of the mint. in an address be-
fore the Commercial Club here tonight
said. in part:
"A observation-disclosures was recently
asked what he considered the most i'm
portsnt thing in the world. He promptly
replied: The next thing" The next
thing" with us is dollar exchange. Some
contend We already have it. We have it
with South American countries, most OF
whose bills are now drawn in dollars in
stead of in pounds sterling, and we have
il with Europe so far floating cred
its are concerned. But Europe still holds
about s. 800. 0o0OOO of our securities. and
we paw more than 500. 600 annually in
premiums to her Insurance companies.
Furthermore, when this terrible war
is over We will once more spend from
sl00 900 TO 500. 100000 in travelling and
shopping in Europe. that continent Will
undertake to flood our markets with an
enormous amount of low priced cOmmod-
tiles, her ships and her branch banks
will strive valiantly to recover the mar
kets she is now losing elsewhere in the
world through stress of circumstances.
and If we take no stock of the morrow
We shall return to the time-honored Gus
tom of paying about one-third of a bill
lion dollars annually for transportation
across the Atlantic cur goods in European
vessels. Therefore. if you know of any
thing more pregnant with possibilities for
a brilliant future for this country of ours
than dollar exchange. you have the bet
ter of me.
Estate of UnrivaIIed Opulence."
Never in the history OF the world has
there been anything like the second
breath of the European war. From
condition where the stock exchange had
IL LraI
was about to force US to buy back in
breath of this nation following the out
hurry fully IS. 900 OO0Oo0 OF our own securi-
ties where in a few days more than
$lO0OO00DO of our gold was withdrawn to
pay our foreign obligations. and New
York City had sSo,O00,oCO in bonds due
abroad on January l, where the markets
for many commodities were so chaotic
that wise and brave men feared to pre-
dict the ultimate outcome where a gold
pool of $1O0O0O,OOO was formed to rcas
sure our foreign creditors and il looked
as If still another pool would be neces-
sary, We have so far recovered that our
money stock ofSgold is nearly one-fourth
that of the whole world, and We are in
state of potential opulence unrivaled by
any other nation in history.
II may interest you TO know that only
this week the New York assay office
alone received more than $4,000, Oo0 Of
foreign gold coin, every pennys worth of
which goes into the melting pot and in
due time will appear as American gold
coin. Twenty-Five millions constituted
a single deposit on Tuesday. the largest
OF record from abroad ever made at any |
mint or assay office in this country.
From April 10 last when the first |
deposit of foreign gold was made fol- |
lowing the shifting of the balance OF
trade to our side of the Atlantic to |
October 20, Europe, Asia, Australia and |
Canada sent us S130.5e4.22 in coin and |
ine bars. OF course. you understand |
that Uncle Sam melts every foreign !
gold coin deposited at his minis or
assay offices because he pays for ii |
only by weight and fineness and takes
not into consid era tion the stamp of any /
other government.
when this great war is over. no
matter which side wins. the demand
for capital. the opportunity for invest
ment in the old world and the new.
and the need of trained men to send
TO every corner of the world will be
unprecedented. Then will we lend to
Europe instead OF borrowing from her.
We can no longer remain within our
four borders and say to the rest of
mankind let us alone. and we will let
you alone. We are too big for that;
we are too generous and are too
ambitious. Our moral and economic
battle line is irrevocabl far flung. We
grow too many things and can manu-
facture too many things the rest of
the world wants. We must see that
these products are properly marketed
or our output will have to be curtailed.
II we are to sell our wares to other
countries. then we must finance de-
velopments which will make demand
for many OF these wares. Yesterday.
IL naiDted I'M IN I'm |
Today the world is our canvas"