Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-10-18
AMERICAS GOLD RESERVE
Wonderful Accumulation Of Yellow
5. Stream.
INTERESTING STUDY OF BASIC MONEY
How the levil of Prices Checks the
Production of New Gold, and the
Effect of Increased Use in the Arts.

The heavy imports of gold con-
tin. to pile up the American reserves
at an unprecedented rate. The net
imports for the month ending Sep
tember 10 was s77,S64,0OO while for
the month ending in August imports
were SSl, ass, 900, more than double the
net of the previous month which was
ss4,S5i;60O. Over 55 per cent. of these
imports during the last month re-
ported came from England and
France. while in July these TWO coun-
tries sent II per cent. Of the total.
Ar analysis of the source of i'm
ports and the destination OF exports
during the month of July shows that
imports came from the following
countries in the order named: France
furnished nearly s2S,OOO,0Oo, England
$21 100000 and the Netherlands, w.
OS5,OOO, with less than $Sl5,oOO from
any other European country. Europe
as a whole furnished over $51, 100000
of the total of s64,00O,O0O imported
during the month of July. OF the
other sections Of the world, British
India provided over $2,O00,00O, China
about $1,0OO,OOO and Austria $780,
900.
The chief export movement OF gold
was to Sweden, amounting to over w.
$1,000, with smaller sums amounting
to less than sSOO.Q0O to Mexico, Can
ada and China.
This heavy import movement OF
gold has stimulated discussion and
some uneasiness as to its effect upon
our price level and whether we Will be
able to maintain our export trade III
the face Of this constant depletion OF
the gold reserves of foreign countries.
Since January /, 1921, We have re-
ceiyed q net excess Of imports or over
$5OS, ,907, 900. A review of the stats-
tics of earlier periods shows that dur
ing the years 1914 there was a gold
balance against the United States OF
S45,409,0O0. During the five years
1s14-19.the gold balance in favor OF
the United States arose from SSsS,7oS,-
900, while since the beginning OF l9Zl
the netnbalance has. swung the other
way to such an extent that our net
imports of gold since August l, 1914
amount to over 81 1884, $4,000.
Foreign governments are making
every effort to maintain their central
gold resefSss and the result is that
gold hasIlargely concentrated in the
hands St8 the government controlled
agencies and. practically no country
outside pfythes United States is said to
be on gtfctfy gold basis. The
changes sef government gold reserves
in most of the European countries
show an increase for present COM
pared With 1918, but, this is merely
the result Of concentrating the gold in
government institutions and with
drawing it from circulation so as 10.
use it as basis of currency and Tor
international gold payment.
The Atest financial statistics for
several countries as reported by the
Federal Reserve Board show the fol-
lowing: = In England the coin bullion
held by the Bank Of England and the
NationalSTreasury has remained sta
tionary during this year at about 49,
100000 u6unds sterling; in France the
gold reserves have increased slightly
from 3,5Ss, ,O0Qa90 to 3,574,oOo.OOO francs
from March to August. Likewise the
reserves t'in Sweden, Italy and Ger
many show a slight change up to Au-
gust. Fpanl reports a decrease IN
the specie reserve from about sl,2S5,-
600 900 to ], ,O5S, 100000 yen from jan
uary TO June. -.
When the United States gold stocks
were being reduced a year ago some
discussion arose as to the need of sti-
mulating gotd production which de-
clined sharply during the period OF
high prices when gold mining became
relatively unproftable.
The speculiarities Of gold produc-
tion from a profit standpoint depend
upon the fact that the market price OF
gold is fixed by the gold standard OF
the country. An ounce of gold is
worth $2O.67, or putting it another
way, the fixed gold dollar contains
23.22 grains Of, gold. This price es-
tablished in 1887 when we adopted
feet TO stabilizing and fixing gold
fort to. stabilizing and fixing gold
prices, consequently gold does not re-
spond to the law of supply and de-
mand as do other commodities. When
prices in general rise and the dollar
has less purchasing power, the profits
in gold production shrink, because the
costs of gold mining are increased for
the producer while the market for his
product remains the same in terms OF
dollars.
Legislation has been proposed to
stimulate gold production by provid-
ing an excise tax on domestic con-
sumption of gold in the manufacture
of gold in the arts which would be used
as a bounty to gold producers in the
form of q premium for new gold.
The monetary gold of all the coun-
tries in the world is worth something
like OOO,OO0.O0O. Production from
1919 IN 1915 was around $3.50, ,000, 900,