The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-16
ENGLAND |S TAKING . CENSUS OF GOLD PLATE IN COUNTRY Preparing to Mobilize All Precious Metal If It Be
 comes Necessary GREAT FAMILIES
 WILLING TO AID Enormous Collection Owned by Such Men as Pike Pease and the Late
 Grandson of W. E.
 Gladstone
Ky F. |. SCOTT

l Ky E. l.. SCOTT
 1 London, September 2.-(Special Core spondence.) )-England is preparing to mob | iize her entire gold reserve. By this I
 mean not the gold coin that exists in the vaults of her banks. but the immense
 stores of the precious metal in the form of plate and ornaments owned by the
 hundreds of great families of this coun- 1 try
 The English treasury has recently sent out circulars marked 'private" to a large number of persons requesting them to furnish particulars of the weight of the gold plate, ornaments, etc, In their possession No circular has been sent to any goldsmith but personal inquiries are being made of the latter as to the quantity of gold in their possession. and 1t is anticipated by several of the largest goldsmiths that the sale of gold plate and ornaments will shortly be forbidden and that these will have to be held in stock pending government action
 The object of this move on the part or the treasury is, of course, to obtain some idea of the quantity of gold it would be possible to obtain in the country from private sources in view of the financial situation, which will necessitate
 later the export of large quantity of gold to the United States and elsewhere
 To fully comprehend the reason of this measure or rather contemplated measures on the part of the English treasury some little understanding of the broad facts of the present financial situation is neces- sary. There is at present a big debt due by England for goods obtained (chiefly in the way of munitions of war) from the United States. In the ordinary way of trade these goods would be paid for by the export from England of other goods, but England's export trade has for the moment almost ceased to exist. If England cannot discharge her debt to the United States by exports, there is practically only one other way by which she can do so, and that is by an ex- port of gold. Other methods have been suggested into which, however there is no need to inquire. Payment by an ex- port of gold is the plain and obvious method by which England must ul.i- mately discharge her debt to the United States, and in order to do this and at the same time preserve English credit the English treasury must find some means of greatly increasing the gold reserve at the Bank of England. War loans, how ever successful they may be, do nothing to accomplish this purpose All a war loan really does is to transfer "credts" from the ordinary joint stock banks to the credit of the treasury at the Bank of England, but this scarcely affects the gold reserve.
 These credits enable the treasury 10 pay their liabilities in England and to limited extent in the countries of their allies, but it does not help the treas ury to meet it's obligations in the United States. To do this it becomes neces- sary for the treasury to obtain a much larger supply of gold than it at present can command.
 Purchased by Weight
 The plan the treasury has in view is to take the quantity of gold it may need in the way of gold plate, ornaments, etc., that are now in the possession of pri- vate individuals and pay for the gold so communicated in war stock or by a spe- cal stock to be created for this purpose. The gold so taken will be purchased by weight, and will be melted down at the mint for the purpose of coinage. The first step of course in this undertaking is to ascertain approximately how much gold there is in the country available sor such a purpose. This is being done by means of circular inquiries addressed to certain persons and by personally con- ducted inquiries.
 The whole scheme Is being carried out uuucT tHe COHtTOl Anu QlreCtlOn or Noel Behrens nephew of the late Lord Rothschilds, and one of the chief finan- cal experts at the treasury. Mr. Behrens Is at present acting as MT. McKenna's private secretary at the treasury. The first persons to be approached on the subject were members of the royal family. This was done, of course, for the purpose Of creating royal example in patriotism which the members of the great aristoc- racy and wealthy families in whose hands most of the ornmental gold lies would per- force have to follow. King George has agreed to let the treasury have the whole of the contents of the red and white rooms at Buckingham palace. which con- tain practically all the gold ornaments in the way of cups. figures. pilgrim bot ties and boxes in the private possession of the Monarch. The King, of course, could not give up any treasure owned by the nation, but the gold in question is the personal property of his majesty Their value in weight was estimated by the court goldsmith on the accession of King George at $2.50O,O00.
 Queen Alexandra Agrees
 Queen Alexandra has also agreed to let the treasury have all the gold ornaments at Marlborough house with a few ex- captions. One of the most notable of which Is, by the way, the massive gold shield given by tho Kaiser's father to Queen Victoria who beQueathed 1t to King who in turn bequeathed it ab- solutely to his consort. This shield is one of the most valuable gifts that one mon- arch has ever conferred on another sov- ereign. It is about three feet in diameter and made in three rims of solid gold the two inner rims bearing carving work of the richest and finest quality; the outer Is ornamented with scenes from biblical history set in colored jewels. A full de- scription of the shield occupies six pages of one of the catalog books at Marlbor- ough house. The shield was regarded by the late King as one of the most valuable treasures in his possession and however longing eyes the English treasury in view of it's needs may cast at 1t, Queen Alex andra will certainly not part with it, though the gold in the shield is said to be worth so5oooo valued that is by weight only.
 But Small Fraction
 However, the gold that could be sup piled from Buckingham palace and Marl- borough house would be but a small