New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-08-13

" ASHlNGION, Aug. b.-Gold il
w pauper king these days. His mai,
tenance costs exceed his incom.
Wherefore we have the amazing and :.
the inconsiderate, the burlesque special.
of the gold miners appealing for SUBSIDY
The National Mining Congress has me.
solemnly resolved that the royal metal mr..
be coddled and pampered lest its sources n.
dried up, and it supports its petition to III.
Senate Committee on Mines and Mimi,
with narrowing tales of gold mines ans.
pended, suspending and about to be su,.
pended Also it points the finger of alarm
at the portentous figures that tell Of d..
clining production of gold in the face q,
an increasing demand.
For any other industry in the world d.
Ginning production and increasing demand
would spell prosperity. Wherefore III.
thoughtless might laugh contemporary
the humble petition of the impecunou,
producers of the counter, STANDARD and
transmuter of all wealth. But 1t Is onlv
too true that in these strange and parlou,
times the mainstay of the gold industry !,
other days-viz., that its product was Al.
ways marketable in any amount at ssea
price-has now become its weakness Ali III.
world clamors for gold as never before. Int
the price established, not in the market,
but in the statutes, remains at S2067 the
ounce. If gold were not a STANDARD and
merely a commodity it would be worth a.
least $40 an ounce to-day, and the miners
G,L %bo % H.,
line with the advanced prices of all things
else, and they would be just as prosperou,
as in times past, and the harder thew
worked and the more they produced tn.
weather. they would be, whereas TO-DAY
the more they produce the poorer they get
for their work daily yields them less food
clothing, shelter and pleasure.
Gold is powerful, but it cannot run mine,
directly as if it were an electric current II
can be used to acquire the materials and
instrumentalities of mining, but an ounce
of gold will now purchase only half IS
much Of those indispensable things as in
other times. A contemplation of these
true if abstruse facts is enough to drive
gold miner to drink or crazy, at which lat
ter condition the public considers that he
has arrived when he asks to have his mines
subsidized.
The misery of the situation is that even
though in the national interest they ought
to be subsidized, the psychology is that
Congress would no more dare subsidize a
gold mine than it would venture to subs-
die a printer for printing good paper
money.
Some assistance, however, can and should
be given to the mines. Secretary McAdoo,
speaking as one who knows, insists that
gold mining as war measure is second
only to ammunition and food. Therefore
all material and legal obstacles that hinder
the production of gold should be removed
The king has had no priority over his mean
est subject in the matters of transports
ton, materials and machinery. BE sup
ports the mountainous credits that are
paying for the war, but he has had to wait
YEARLY for the transportation Of his tools
his provisions, his explosives and his fuel
The power companies "soak" him; the army
takes his engineers and his workmen
Every time he produces an ounce q gold
he parts not with the product of machine
but with part of it, and SO he reduces the
value of his property and should get re-
turn of capital as we'll as of profit out Of
every ounce. Thus he cannot tell whether
he is making a profit or not in fact, but
the tax collectors take the profits taxes
just the same
The gold miners, say the authorities in
such matters, are plainly entitled to special
consideration. A subsidy is a wild dream
of impracticability, but their Federal taxes
should be RENTED, the army should not
take their men, and the priorities that now
have been accorded them by rule should be
literally applied in practice
Some enthusiasts have even proposed
that the situation be met by increasing the
legal price of gold in order to put It in
line with other things. That would mean
doubling the price All the authorities in
Washington with whom I have talked on
this subject insist that if this would not
be outright reputation and equivalent to
the good old royal custom Of debasing the
coinage, the mildest characterization that
could be given it would be to compare
1t to the free silver fallacy that was pro-
posed as remedy for condition just
the reverse of that we now have-one Of
declining prices and increasing real value
of gold.