Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-01-21

When this question y aAtcd. refer
ence Va made Of course to the present
German Government. We all know
that the German people are indus
trtous, and that they will get on ire
spective OF what happens to their gov
ernment. There Ia. however. great
doubt as to the financial future OF
the German government. Germany's
indebtedness is great. her money is
almost valueless and her credit Ia
nil.. Owing to the fact that the other
countries OF Europe are likewise poor
they could extend very little help in
Germany even II they cared to do no.
Consequently, the outlook is dark.
Germany's only. consolation " that II
she goes by the board she will prob
ably have company.
There is one hope. however, for n
nancial Germany. n hope so very slight
that there is perhaps only one chance
out of n thousand. yet It's consequences
are 80 far reaching that l want this
week to tell my readers OF 1t. refer
to the possibility OF discovering a way
to manufacture synthetic gold. Private
advices have been coming to mo for
some time that German chemists are
diligently working TO discover some
method for making synthetic gold
/ do not know that the German Gov
ernment is directly behind such ex-
perimens but Indications point in
that direction. The German govern
ment would of course be justified In
spending a tremendous sum OF money
TO discover a process OF making syn
thetic gold.
Reports Indicate that process has
already been discovered for the maxi
ing of gold from quick silver, the
only difficulty being that the present
process costs more than the product
| Is worth. In other words synthetic
| gold today is worth moro than Its
weight In gold. Consequently 1t can
not be used as substitute for gold
II, however. II is demonstrated that
lead is made from the same base as
gold and that the difference lies only
in the arrangement OF the atoms
which arrangement It is possible e
change. then gold can be made from
lead as well as aniline dyes can b'
made from coal tar.
II any such process is discovered tn
havoc it would create is apparent
The discovery would Of course frs
be treated very secretly and a tremen
dous amount OF gold would made an,
coined before anyone learned abou
It,. This gold would be used by Ger
many partly for paying Off its repara
ton debts, partly for purchasing raw
materials, and partly for the re
lieving of the difficulties of its owl
people. Even however after the dis
covery became known little or moth
ing could be done about It. Gold ii
gold, and that's all there is to 1t. Al
international conference would doubt
less be Immediately called and tn
stabilized commodity dollar-as Fl
strongly recommended by Professo
Irving Fisher of Yale Universit.
|, would, as soon as possible. be substi
.utcd in its stead. All new contract
would be based on this commodit
dollar. But what would happen {
the old contracts? Is ther
anything to prevent people from pay
Ing off their present debts with gol
dollars?.
Meanwhile, AS governments work 8
. slowly. a great change would take plac
: IN the security markets OF tho worlt
{ Almost everyone would be affected 1
z some way or other.
The holders of bonds and othe
forms OF Indebtedness would hav
their securities paid of in depreciate
gold. Gold for Industrial purposes
not as good a metal as iron, copper {
lead, since the value OF gold toda
consists almost wholly in Its rarit,
With this rarity destroyed it woul
sink TO very low figure. This NEAR
that those who are loaners OF none
I and who have had money invested a
: most wholly in bonds and notes, woul
J suffer serious losses. This does M
. apply to banks. Banks would receiy
= this synthetic gold IN payment fc
: their securities and loans. but the
& would use the same synthetic go,
to pay OF their depositors. Thereto,
the bank, like the commission me-
= chant. would neither gain nor lose /
the discovery.
The great benefit would come
= those who own land, forests. mine
water powers and industries in gel
. eral. Stocks would have a tramendo,
& boom. the greatest boom IN history.
short, the creditor. the man who LOAF
would suffer tremendously but Il
Y operator. the man who owns natur
resources or shares in active bushes
would greatly prosper.
There is only one chance IN a tho