The commonwealth., 1922-01-24
The Way To Manufacture
Synthetic Cold May Be Izouz2G.
ROGER CHEMISTS MIGHT PLAY
WORLD

German Government. We alt know !
that the German people are industrious
and that they will get on irrespective
of what happens to their government.
There is, however, great doubt as to
the financial future Of the German
government, Germany's Indebtedness !
is great, her money is almost value !
less and her credit is nil. Owing to !
the fact that the other countries of !
Europe are likewise poor they could |
extend very little help to Germany
even if they cared to do so. Conse +;
quently, the outlook is dark. Ger
,tny's only consolation is that if she
goes by the board she will probably
have company.
There is one hope however, for H.
nancial Germany hope so very slight
that there is perhaps only one chance
out Of thousand, yet it's consequences
are so far reaching that I want this
week. to tell my readers Of it. I refer
to the possibility Of discovering a
way to anufacture synthetic gold.
Private advices have been coming to
me for some time that German Chem
lists are diligently working to dis
o+h oI for lii
j tic gold. I do not know that the
German Government is directly be
hind such experiments but indications
point in that direction. The German,
government would Of course be jus,1
fled in spending a tremendous sun
of money to discover a process Of MAX
ing synthetic gold.
Reports indicate that process has
.already been discovered for the max
ing Of gold from quick silver, the only
difficulty being that the present pro-
cess costs more than the product is
;worth. Ir other words synthetic gold
TODAY is worth more than it's weight
in gold. Consequently it cannot be
used as q substitute for gold. If,
! however it is demonstrated that lead
is made from the same ase as gold
5 and that the difference lies only in
5 the arrangement Of the atoms, wn1cEs
, arrangement t it is possible to change,
r then gold acr be made from lead as
| we'll as analine dyes can be made
: from coal tar.
3 If any such process is discovered
: the havoc it would create is apparent
Il The discovery would Of course first
be treated very secretly, and a tire
.mendous amount Of gold would De
{ made and coined before anyone learn
y ed about it, This gold would be us
ed by Germany partly for paving Of
G it's reparation debts, partly for puE
G chasing raw materials and partly 70
G the relieving of the difficulties Of it
Il own people, Even however after til
L discovery became known little o
9 nothing could be done about it Gol
lis gold, and that's all there is to Il
y An international conference Woul<
l. doubtless be immediately called an
+ the stabalized commodity dollar-a
it so strongly recommended by Prores
'f sor Irving Fisher of Yale Univers1t
IN would, as soon as possible, be substt
d tuted in it's stead. Ali new CONTRACT
- would be based on this comm oditv do
I lar. But what would happen to til
old contracts9 Is there anything t
! prevent people from paying off the
IN present debts with gold dollars.
e Meanwhile, as governments work 5
In slowly, a great change would tax
re place in the security markets Of Fl
&C. world. Almost everyone would .
u affected in some way Or other.
The holders Of bonds and Otht
8 forms Of indebtedness swould naE
. their securities paid off in depreciate
: gold. Gold for Industrial purposes
1 not as good metal as iron, copper {
~ lead. Since the value Of gold tods
consists almost wholly in it's rarit
with this srarity destroyed it wo1l
re sink to a vvery low figure. Th
in means that those who are loaners