Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-01-14

yASHINGTON, D. c., Jan. 10.-A call
w for gold jewelry, ornaments and plate,
and for gold coin which has been
boarded, may be necessary as final expedi-
ent to SUI port the credit of the United States
government, unless the production of gold at
the mines is considerably increased.
In normal times a good deal more gold is
used in making jeWelry and ornaments than
is coined, and there is always large amount
of gold in boards in all parts Of the world,
but especially in Oriental countries where the
strange love of the yellow metal for it's own
sake seems to have an especially strong hold
upon the minds of men. If it becomes neces-
sary, the governments Of the principal nations
can take drastic measures to call in all the
gold they need to replenish their gold re-
serves
For gold they must have Although econ
omists are disagreed as to just what part is
played by gold in the trade of the world, and
although some of them think it plays dan
gerous and Ieceitfu- part they are all agreed
that we cannot get along without gold as a
part, standard of value and medium of ex-
change for long time to come. And espe-
cialIy during the present time of enormous
international credits, and vast readjustments
of trade and finance, gold is indispensable.
The United States, which is now the richest
nation in the world and the richest nation
that ever has been, is in dire need of gold
AS the secretary of the treasury has pointed
out, there must be gold in the treasury to
support the enormous credit structure which
the government 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 guarantee the Lib
erty Bonds you have bought and the ones
you will buy. Gold must soon be sent to
neutral countries to maintain 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 u.s.
The part which gold has played in the
making of modern civilization is a strange and
romantic The committee which Secre
tary of the Interior Lane appointed to study
the gold stuatio points out that the growth
of modern mining dates from the time of the
great gold discoveries in California and Aus
tra1a. 1t the spell of eager desire which
gold casts over the minds of men that led
them to perfect mining methods and apply
them on a gigantic scale. Later these meth
being, were applied to the mining of other
metals, and the enormous production of iron
and copper, upon which Industrial 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. 1t provided a universal unit of
labor, which did not depend upon the fiat of
any one government. The gold dollar be-
came, as the committee puts it, ga storage
cell of human energy-vitally instrumental
in creating confidence and unity of action
among the workers of different parts of the
world
But while there is no denying the great
and essential part which gold has played and
is playing in modern life, there is a good deal
of room tor argument as to the value of gold
as a standard of value. That it has failed to
confer value upon money is plain enough to
all, and has been emphasized by the rapid de-
probation in the value of money in recent