The Coolidge examiner., 1933-09-22


myriad other references to gold
have kept the yellow metal before
the public eye in recent months.
Gold coins brought from the
wreck OF Robinson Crusoe were
worthless to him. On his island,
nobody was In sight from whom
he might buy.
But when CrusOe was rescued and
could mingle again with other men,
then his gold would buy anything
he wanted. What a simple lesson
in the power OF gold
Lust for gold. and the power 1t
wlelds. recast Old world geography
in the plundering raids of Alexander
the Great II brought changes to
Europe's map In the Punic wars.
and in the campaigns Of Marius,
POmpey. Paulus Aemilius, and Jul
ius Caesar.
Leaping the Atlantic in the wake
Of Columbus, 1t was again the gold
fever which led the conquering
hordes on those long explorations
which not only wrecked and robbed
the Aztec and Inca empires and
slew or enslaved whole tribes of
Indians. but laid the first lines of
what is now the map of the west
ern hemisphere.
Yet a third geographic chapter
in mans worldwide gold quest
dawned when the trail woye back
and forth across the Pacific, from
California to Australia, back to
Alaska. then away off to South
Africa. Always, on the cultural
map, the goldseeker left his mark.
Consider California. The Forty
miners rush TO its rich placers
started that western migration which
was to build railways and cities,
found industries. and cover the
West with farms. sawmills, and
schoolhouses. Gold strikes, In the
same way, swelled the human tide
10 Australia and hastened its set
tlement and growth.
When gold mines OF fabulous
wealth opened in South Africa. they
put the Dark continent In the
worlds eye and led, indirectly, to
the Boer war. Cripple Creek, the
Klondike. northern Ontario. now
the greatest gold area In the west
ern world. all have had their pro-
found effects on human progress.
Gold Is Not Static.
When gold was used merely as
personal adOrnment. in plate, or in
the decorative arts, 1t swayed the
destiny only of those who possessed
IL. as in Peru and Mexico. or when
Rome paid chariot loads of 1t to
the barbarians to save herself from
being sacked. But when gold came
into wide use as money, to meas
ure wages. prices. and the cost of
living in all nations. then ii be-
gan to influence the whole world.
Tariffs, the gold standard. foreign
exchange and debts. arbitrage-
gold brings them all into the pic
ture OF international relations.
You think of all this when you
walk through the United States
mint in Philadelphia and see the
shiny new gold coins come tum-
bling out: or when you explore the
vast, silent vaults OF the Federal
Reserve bank in lower New York
city. sunk far below the Hudson
river level, with their stacks of
gold bars and bags of coin worth
billions. High above you, in the
busy street, armored trucks and
armed guards come and go with
still more gold. the gold that is
forever crossing and re-crossing the
oceans, the gold of Paris and Lon
don. of Tokyo. and Buenos Aires.
For gold is never static: inces-
sanity IL changes form and place,
and yet eHdures.
Look ar your own gold watch
and think Some of its gold par
ticies might conceiyably have come
even from the gold of SolOmon's
temple; from an old treasure ship
p!undered by buccaneers of the
Spanish Main; or, again. from new
gold mined only last year in Ari-
Zona.
Look at the motley heaps of Sec
ond hand gold jewelry in any pawn
shop window. Visit one of the great
factories in New England or around
Manhattan. where costume and 9TH
er jewelry is turned out by the
carload. and you see again why
industry uses so much of all gold
produced. Or consider the fortunes
i'm gold leaf laid on the crosses and
,inmeS of churches. such as st.
paul's cathedral in London. the
mosques of Meshed and An Najaf
such structures as the WoOlwOrth
and American Radiator buildings
I'm New York. or the fortunes in
gold worked up every year in the
dental and sign painting trades.
Only about half of the worlds