The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-14
From the Knoxville Sentinel.

From the Knoxville Sentinel.
 A WASHINGTON dispatch said the
 "A other day, the United States has today the greatest supply of gold ir It's History. greatee than any other nation on earth, and probably greater than any two ether nations"
 And the end is not yet The tide ot yellow metal continues to roll in and fill the American coffers to overfiowine A New York dispatch of current date reports a gold shipment from England ol $50. .OO.Ooo now on it's way to that city.
 This gold is voluntarily flowing into the United States without any deliberate and preconcerted effort to attract it despite the fact that the Eurooean countries from whence it comes have made the most strenuous endeavors to get and hold 1t i'll their strong boxes.
 The reason for this movement of the precious metal, which is the basis of all the real, universally recognized money of the world, is interestingly told by Director of the United States Mint the New York World.
 "Paradoxical as it nay seem,' says Di- rector Wooley, among commodities gold is the worlds greatest democrat. IL knows no caste and plays no favorites Though as the standard of value in every enlightened country i- is the aristocrat of finance, 1t ebbs and flows with the tide of commerce. l. Is the sole basis of international financial transactions in Nf tl,r oix zod p y- cept China, and is obedient only to the law of supply and demand.
 That is why with the balance of tra3s more than sl.ooOoO0,o 900 in our favor, and rapidly increasing, it IF drifting steady | into the coffers of Uncle Sam in spite of the strenuous efforts of those belliger- ent nations of Europe that must have our wares to prevent it. Of course every ex pedient resorted to can at best be only temporary so long as peace is deferred l After briefly but comprehensivey ] sketching the history of the worlds golc' production from the discovery of America l to date. Director Wooiey says:
 | II have dwelt somewhat at length upo- the production of gold the world over be- cause once it leaves the smelter that prec- | ious metal knows no country and pra2- tically no master. It becomes a citizen of the universe, if such an appellation
 be appropriate to an inanimate objec.. and much of the coinage supply of the l United States is as apt to come from one portion of the glohs as from another. r Its fixed value is s20.67. or the equiva- 1 lent in foreign money. an ounce. and i, I finds unlimited demlnd at that figure,
 whether in coin or fine bars, at every Amint or assay office everywhere. The
 stamp of the United States carries no guarantee of value either of coins or of bars; it simply certifes that at the time 1 of manufacture the value of the contents
 was as indicated by the figures thereon.
 If there has been wastage since that time the owner of the coin or bar must stand the loss"
 ! Referring to the coinage of silver, which is different from gold in that it is used
 as a subsidiary coin. in that its intrinsic
 value is only about half its face value.
 and in that it 1uctuatcs in price like other commodities, Director Wooley says: Nowadays only so much silver is
 coined as the commercial needs of the
 country require. The present. demand for minor coins for late summer and early 1 fall deliveries. by the way, is phenome-
 nally large and, according to all prece
 dents augurs big pay rolls and boom days for the retail trade
 Continuing, Director Wooley says The
 Secretary of the Treasury's report of July II showed that of S. 997 S6S. .46s. the total gen,
 eral stock of money ili the United states