GREATEST HOARD OF GOLD IN THE WORLD.
By Frank Fayant
[By Frank Fayant, in Success for June.] Nearly one thousand three hundred tons of gold lie to-day in the vaults of the treasury of the United States,—the greatest hoard of the yellow metal ever gathered in the history of the world. Four hundred tons of this gold are piled, like bags of salt, within the four walls of the sub-treasury in Wall Street, New York. Outside the treasury hoard, there is in circulation through the country a nearly equal amount of gold coin, making more than two thousand, five hundred tons of gold in the United States, bearing the imprint of the eagle. The value of this coin is more than one billion, two hundred and sixty million dollars. One of the remarkable things about this gold is that, despite the fact of its forming one-half of the country's circulating money, it is rarely seen in the course of ordinary business. What becomes of all our American gold? The mines of Colorado, California, Alaska, and other gold-producing regions of the West add eighty million dollars a year to our hoard of gold, and three-fourths of this output goes to the mints. The yearly coinage of gold actually approaches in value the entire circulation of silver dollars. The treasury holds in trust, against outstanding gold certificates, four hundred million dollars in gold coin. These gold certificates range from twenty dollars to ten thousand dollars. They are issued from the treasury in exchange for gold coin or bullion, and are just as good as gold. The Englishman wears his pockets out carrying gold coin around with him; the American prefers to have his money in the form of representative paper that can be folded compactly in his waistcoat pocket. In the sub-treasury at New York, recently, I picked up a handful of gold certificates of the value of three million six hundred thousand dollars; the bundle could be stowed away in one's hip pocket, but it represented seven tons of gold. Stored in the vaults of the building at the time was a hoard of gold coin of the value of two hundred million dollars. In one vault, no larger than the bedroom of a New York flat, was an aggregate of seventy-eight million dollars in gold. This was stored in little white bags stowed away in scores of steel boxes, covering the four walls of the vault from floor to ceiling. Every box was sealed, and some of the seals were dated several years back. The first thought, at sight of this gold hoard, is that it is idle money, but it should be recalled that all of it is in circulation by proxy in the form of gold certificates.