Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-09-21
Miseellaneous Grading.
MELTING BRITISH GOLD
Beautifully Minted Sovereisns Con.
yerted into Rouah Bars.


A crew Of grimy-faced workmen in
the United States assay office near the
corner Of Wall and Broad streets will
| finish some time tonight the task Of
converting more than 100000 shiny
| gold sovereigns, each beautifully
minted, into rough bricks, smudged
] with charcoal SCOT.
The bricks will stand on wooden
trucks until they have cooled off to
the handling stage. when they will be
trundled across the room and put into
Uncle Sans vaults. Washington in
a few d 8 will direct that some bricks
be s. I'd to Philadelphia The
mint il lat city will put them back
into the melting pots, add a little
more alloy, and turn them into shiny
| coins again, at a considerable expense.
But his time they will become Unit
ed States coins.
The new coins, as likely as not,
| will come back to New York, this time
to stop in the sub-treasury, which is
next door to the assay office. When
war is over and Europe has begun to
regain the ascendency in overseas
trade that she lost with the first
month of hostilities, the time will
come when gold must go to London or
to Paris to restore the balance OF
credits again. Thereupon, Lazard
Freres, or Goldman, Sachs, OF perhaps
]. P. Morgan & Co., will deposit sew
eral millions in gold certificates at the
sub-treasury, withdraw the gold
coins and ship them in little oaken
kegs to the other side. There they
may be kept intact in the Bank OF
England, or, If there is need OF more
gold for coinage than is coming from
South Africa, they will be thrown in
to the furnaces to be turned back into
bricks. 1t is a waste that no n ex-
cuses, but which efforts to avoid have
not overcome.
There have been three shipments of
gold Of a YER unusual character made
from London to New York in the last
few weeks. Each Of these consisted
Of approximately $40, OOO, 900, and was
made on a fast British cruiser. The
secrecy that is thrown around every
thing that the British authorities do
has clouded the operation with mys-
terry, but it is rumored that arrange
ments were made to send 500, 600, 900
in gold here to pay for part Of the war
supplies, which would indicate that
two more shipments of the same size
may be expected.
The first two c~onsignments were
made in United States coins, $50 gold
pieces, which were packed $4,000 to a
bag, three bags to a box. The law
provides that only United States cur
rency shall be accepted at the SUBJ
treasury, so the motor trucks bearing
the treasure were kept idle while a
sample box vas unloaded and carried
into the building to be examined.
When it was found that the contents
were gold eagles the shipment was
admitted. The third shipment, which
reached Wall street last Wednesday
morning, was made up to the extent
Of 1885, 900 in United States DIN
and s11,615,0OO in sovereigns. The
sovereigns were taken into the assay
office.
Gold is nearly always in transit
among the leading nations. The waste
and expense connected with the pro-
cess Of melting coins into bars, and
minting the bullion again is so con-
siderable that American bankers
made an attempt a few years g to
put an end to the destruction. They
took the matter up with the treasury
department and procured the passage
of an act in 1911, permitting the sub
treasures to hold foreign gold coins
at their bullion value, giving the i'm
porters a credit for the amount, less
a deduction for lightweight coins,
dirt and other foreign matter con-
tanned in them. 1t was proposed to
hold these gold pieces until an x
port movement was undertaken again
when they could be sent back to the
country from which they had issued.
The law and rulings under it issued
by Secretary McVeagh were exactly
what the importing bankers had desir-
ed, but these regulations became
worthless almost before the printed
coins were available. The reason was
that the bankers who brought in s10,-
900, 900 or so in sovereigns or louis
found themselves charged with what
they considered excessive deprecia-
ton. When they were told that the
full bullion value, reckoned on the
arbitrary basis Of used gold coin,
had been credited to them, they insist
ed on having the actual bullion value.
The foreign currency, accordingly
had to go through the assay office af-
ter all, and the privileges Of the new
act were not accepted.
Similarly, much Of the United States
coin that goes to Europe never returns
in the same form, but the fact that
the Bank Of England and the govern
ment are not synonymous enables that
institution to use its discretion in the
matter Of gold consigned to it. and Of
late it has held some of the American
coin for re-export. The fact that the
last shipment contained less than half
American currency is taken to indicate
that there is no more United States
coin in the bank so that it appears
that a considerable amount Of the
money exported in the summer Of
1914 will not come back in it's familiar
form.
The English ship our gold coin back
as so many ounces. They pay no at
tention to the count, and to bring each
bag up to the required weight they
chop gold eagles into many small
triangular bits, enough Of which are
included in each bag to make up the
required weight. The sub-treasury
here, on the other hand, reckons by
county, or tale, and it credits the i'm
porter only with the whole coins. The
chips are turned over to the assay
office, which melts them up and re-
ports back the additional credit to be
given. In the cas- Of recent ship
ments the value of these remnants has