Evening star., 1918-05-19
Protecting the
Gold Holdinps.

o,,-,,. purpose OF pay
dold Holdings. ing for neces-
sary goods imported from the orient.
and especially India. 1t has been nee
essary to procure a larger volume Of
silver. Accordingly the House passed
a measure authorizing the withdraw
al of certificates and the sale of the
silver securing such certificates. the
purpose being to provide bullion as a
means of remittance to foreign coun-
tries.
This act as adopted authorizes the
Secretary of the Treasury to break up
the silver dollars to the number not
to exceed 350.000,00o and to dispose of
the silver thus obtained at a mini
the same time. the Secretary of the
Treasury is authorized to make con-
tracts with producers Of silver for
the purpose of restoring the bullion
obtained through the breaking up of
the silver dollars and subsequently
disposed Of The price at which such
purchases are to be made Is identical
with that fixed for the silver to be
sold, a maximum Of STA fine ounce.
1t thus appears that when the opera =
tion has been carried out 1T will have
resulted in temporarily supplying sill
yer for immediate use in large guam
titles. while the Treasury stock Of sill
yer win eventually be restored to the
same amount as before the transact
tions were undertaken.
One feature of the measure which di-
rectly affects the federal reserve sys-
tenn fs found in the provision that. in
order to take the place of silver cer-
tihcates which are withdrawn as the
dollars securing them are melted and
sold. the federal reserve banks may
he called tRQna federal
serve bank notes. Up to date the
amount Of federal reserve bank notes
issued has been very limited, there
being outstanding on a verv recent
date only s11.e11.ooo. and in actual
circulation outside the Treasury and
the Issuing federal reserve banks,
3S.773,000.
The federal reserve bank notes
will be secured by United States GER
tifcates of indebtedness to be acquired
one-year Treasury notes. Of which
S19.150.000 are now owned by the fed
eral reserve banks The Secretary
Of the Treasury is given authority
from time to time to extend the ma
turity Of such .certifcates as are ac-
security for federal reserve bank
notes. 1t is not possible to state In
advance what amount of silver 10
likely to be sold under the provisions
Of the law. but theoretically the
en Of SSs Of feders
serve. bank notes for an equal amount
of silver certificates. The process of
substitution will necessarily be slow.
depending upon the gradual with
drawal Of silver certificates from cir
culation and the printing and substi-
tuition therefor Of the new bank notes.
thus avoiding any shrinkage in the
denominations Of 81 and 81. In the
same way there will be a later with
drawa1 Of an equal amount of fed
issue of an equivalent sum in silver
certificates. 1t is worth noting that
the act contains provision for the
maintenance of the existing embargo
on silver. If desired, up to the date
when the operation may have been
cess. and the necessary amount of sill
yer restored to the Treasury.
Community apple Pc cking houses are
likely to solve the problem Of labor
in handling. in 4
Community short period. the
A., increasing apple
northwest The success Of the CEN
tralized packing plants in 1918. not pre-
viously tried to any considerable extent
In that region. was Indicated by the
wide adoption of this plan last season.
when perhaps one-fourth Of the crop in
Oregon and Washington was packed In
community houses. Investigations Of the
new enterprise last season conducted by
specialists of the bureau Of markets Of
the Department Of Agriculture make
available for interested organisations
and individuals suggestions as to the
best methods Of constructing. equipping
and operating such packing plants.