Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-13
u. S. May Call
Hoarded Gold
Nv Frederic ]. Haskin

Washington, D. c., Jan. i0.-A call Tor
cold ,aweirv. ornaments and plate, nnd
for pold coin which has been boarded.
nav be necessary as flnal expedlent %
SUPPORT the credit of the United 7fates
government, unless the productlo' g3id
at the mines is considerably III ~ cd
In normal times good deal more gold
is used in making iewelry ana ornaments
than is coined. and there IS always large
amount of gold in boards IN all parts OF
the world. but especially IN Oriental coun-
tries where the strange love Of the yellow
metal for its own sake seems to have an
especially strong hold upon the minds OF
men. If il becomes necessary, the govern
ments Of the principal nations can take
drastic measures 10 call IN all the gold
thev need to replenish their gold reserves.
MUST HAVE GOLD
For gold they must have. Although
economists are disagreed rs 70 Just what
part is played by gold in the trade Of the
world. and although some OF them tnlnk IL
PLAYS dangerous and deceitful part they
are all agreed that we cannot get along
without gold as standard OF value ana
medium of exchange for long time 10
come. And especially during the pres
ent time of enormous international cred
It's. and vast readlustments OF trade ana
finance, gold is Indispensable
The United States, which IS now the
richest nation in the world and the rich
est nation that ever has been Is IN dire
need of gold. As the Secretary Ot the
Treasury has pointed out, there must be
gold in the treasury to support the cnor-
nous credit structure which the gov
ernment has erected and which must be
built still higher to pay war debts and
finance reconstruction In a word, there
must be gold in the treasury TO guaran-
tee the Liberty Bonds YOU have bought
and the ones you will buy Gold must
soon be sent to neutral countries To main
tain the value of the American dollar in
them. An abundant gold supply is an
essential TO the great expansion OF foreign
trade which is said to lie before US.
The part which gold has played IN the
making of modern civilization IS a strange
and romantic one. The committee which
Secretary of the Interior Lane appointed
to study the gold situation points out that
the growth of modern mining dates from
the time Of the great gold discoveries in
California and Australia 1t was the
spell of eager desire which gold casts over
the minds OF men that led them to perfect
gigantic scale. Later these methods,
which the lure of gold had brought into
being, we're applied to the mining OF other
metals, and the enormous production OF
iron and copper, upon which industrial
i civilization is founded, followed as a
/ matter Of course.
The rise of gold as a standard of value
| also had much TO do with the modern
/ industrial expansion. Ii provided uni
yersal unit of labor, which did not de
pend upon the hat Of any one govern.
| ment. The gold dollar became, as the
committee puts 1t "a storage cell OF hl.
man energy vitaliy instrumental iii Great
ing confidence and unity of action amons
the workers of different parts of tbs
world.
But while there is no denying the grea
and essential part which gold has playee
and is playing In modern life, there is
good deal OF room for argument as to tn,
value OF gold as standard of value Tha
it has failed to confer fixed value upor
money Is plan enough to all, and ha
been emphasized by the rapid depreciation
OF the value Of money in recent years
even in the Countries which are stronges
financially, such as the United States
Everyone knows that dollar which h
saved In 1913 is only worth about sevent,
cents TO him now, and the fact that thi
dollar Is backed by. all the gold in tn
United States treasury does not help him
He also knows that if he increased hi
earning capacity IN money Y forty pe
cent since 1913, he is really getting abou
as much now as he was then. for the pun
chasing power of the dollar has decline
about, or nearly, forty per. cent IN til
past SIX years.
These things show clearly that the gol