Yamhill County reporter., August 17, 1882, Image 3

J
V t
bhlpplng Gold.
An idea current in Wall street is that
the Bank of America has a cooper shop
attachment. This is scarcely true, how­
ever, though the great array of kegs
which sometimes are rolled out all day
long from the rear of the institution
would seem to give color to the belief.
The kegs are considerably smaller than
those which usually ornament beer sa­
loon sidewalks, and they are always new.
But, to those conversant with the sub­
ject the interesting feature of these kegs
is their contents. Each keg contains
$50,1X10 in clear gold. It is from the
Bank of America that most of the gold
shipped to Europe from this city is sent.
This does not meat), however, that the
shipments are for the bank’s own ac­
count. They ure not. At a first glance
persons might supposo that when the
demand arises for gold to send abroad
the shipper would have only to send in
his orders for his hundreds of thousands
to the Sub Treasury, where millions of
specie are on deposit. But there are
sufficient reasons why this plan will not
work. The Sub-Treasury cau pay out
its coin only to creditors of the Govern­
ment, and a Wall street man can not be­
come a creditor of the Government sim­
ply on his own option. He cannot pre­
sent a check upon bis banking house and
secure its acceptance by Assistant Treas­
urer Acton. The laws interpose. The
Sub-Treasury cau pay out gold only to
such an amount as offsets its debits.
These frequently are comparatively un
important. For instance, a couple of
days ago the debits aggregated only
$100,000, and this was to be distributed
among a large number of creditors. But
while they can place no dependence
upon support from this quarter, the as­
sociated banks of the city have a means
of their own contrivance for providing
the needed gold. They have constituted
the Bank of America a sort of trust com­
pany for their advantage. And with the
Bank of America the associated banks
keep on deposit constantly an enormous
sum in gold. Duriug the past year this
sum has ranged from $36,000,000 to $46,
000,000, never falling below the first
named amount. To the members of the
Bank Association »lie Bank of America
issues its own certificates against these
deposits, redeemable on demand. So,
when there is un occasion for making
a large gold shipment, the person desir­
ing to forward it secures from bis own
bank these certificates for the amount
required, and, presenting himself at the
Bank of America, soon has the privilege
of looking down upon the gleaming
wealth as it lies piled at his disposal in
tho rear office of that bank—there, under
his direction, to lie bagged and kegged
and made ready for shipment. It is not
always the case the packing for shipment
is done on the premises of the Bank of
America. One or two of the biggest
houses in the street have “cooper shops”
of their own and make their consign­
ments secure undor their own roofs, but
the rule is otherwise. Kegs in which
gold is packed—“specie kegs,” as they
are called are made of extra hard
woods. They must have an extra iron
hoop, and their workmanship must be
above the ordinary. Specie is not
thrown loosely into a keg, nor, upon the
other hand, is it carefully wrapped in
tissue paper ami piled up one coin upon
another. The keg serves only for pro­
tection for canvas bags, into which the
gold is placed in the ordinary hit and-
miss fashion of pennies in a Jersey farm­
er’s wallet. The canvas of these bags is
especially stout, and the ends are sewed
particularly strong. Into each bag go
$5000, and ten bags fill a keg; so that
euch keg which rolls out from the rear of
the Bank of America is worth the round
sum of $50,000, plus the cost of the cask
itself and the value of a yard or two of
rough canvas. In tlie interests of se­
curity each keg is treated to what is
technically known among shippers as the
“red-taping” process. At each end of
the keg, in the projecting rims of the
staves above the head, are bored four
holes at equi-distcvt intervals. A piece
of red tape is run through these holes,
crossing on the head of the keg, and the
ends finally meet in the center. At the
iioint of meeting the tape is sealed to the
leg’s head by hard wax bearing the
stamp of the shipper. Any meddling
with the keg must break the tape or wax.
and so on the trip across the ocean it is
an easy matter to watch the valuable
consignment and detect any attempt to
interfere with it. Gold crosses the ocean
very much as does every other kind of
freight.
Years ago there
were
some shippers who detailed an em­
ployee with every consignment to act
as a sort of detective and hold a watch
as best he could over their kegs. No
such care is ever taken now. As a rule,
the gold shipped is insured. Safeiy
watched until, on shipboard, the pre-
cioos freight is then under the control of
the vessel authorities and the marine in
surance companies, and upon these
parties is all responsibility placed. The
average rate of insurance is about £.350
—something over $1700- upon a ship­
ment of $1,000,000. There are shippers
who do not insure, or rather they insure
themselves. One prominent house in
Wall street, which sent some $30,000,
000 abroad last year, paid no tax to any
insurance company. The savin? thus
effected amounted to about $50,000. In
maintaining this policy of no insurance,
these shippers say that their savings on
this account since they have been in
business have been such as would en
able them to lose ontright a shipment of
$1,000,000 or more and still have a bal­
ance to their cr slit in the fund which
they have set aside in their own bouse,
ins'ead of paying it out for insurance,
Carefully choosing the steamers upon
which to place consignments, they dis­
count all probability of disaster. As a
rule, however, the shipper who does not
insure' divides up his consignments. bank of England, where it evidently had
Having to ship $1,000,000, he wi 1 give been treasured, and »ot melted and as­
it in equal parts to four or live different sayed, as the director» of that big institu­
vessels. It is a strict rule with some tion would fain convince us poor Yan­
Wall street firms never to trust more kees. Yes, indeed, there's a vast dial of
than $200,000 at a time on any one ship. humbug about the Bank of England's
One of the singular circumstances con­ pretensions in matters such as these.”
nected with the shippiug of gold is that
There is occasionally an interesting
for the last twenty years or more every item of expense of another nature, the
keg which liaH been taken out of W all mere entry ot which on un aocouut book
street has been handed down to the ves­ would be apt to puzzle the mail not ac­
sels by one man, “honest old John quainted with all the petty details of
Barkley,” who is said to have grown shipping. “Sixty bags” is the charge re
rich in the business. For each keg he ceutly sent from London to one big New
takes on board his truck ho is paid $1, Y'ork shipper. This signified that the
and the big, heavy one he has bad built, cooper here in fastening the iron bauds
for the special purpose will carry $2,- upou the specie kegs hail driven his
000,000, or 10 kegs. A similar monop­ nails through the bags containing the
oly is held by Cooper Spier, who fur­ coin. The result was that the London
nishes all the kegs and packs them, get­ agents of the New Y'ork house were
ting $2 for each one completed. In obliged to repack every bag so torn, be
shipping specie there are many matters the note ever so slight before it could
of detail which the experienced man be placed on the English market. The
knows to be of prime importance, but cost of row bugs was a trivial mutter, but
which to a person uuacquainted with it is of trivial matters that the man who
the business seems valueless. For in­ handles millions is generally most care­
stance, in making ready a shipment of ' ful. Shippers of gold to Europe fre­
$1,000,(XX) to Europe the ordinary indi­ quently find it much more favorable to
vidual would be quite as willing to their interests to sell to bullion brokers
bag five-dollar pieoes as double-eagles. than to deal with the Bank of England.
Not so the shipper who has liiseve on the London bullion brokers very often are
main chance. He demands the double­ willing to pay as much as an eighth of a
eagles everytime. Chief among the rea­ penny, or even a farthing, per ounce
sons for this choice is the fact that specie ubove the bank’s rutes. Under such cir­
shipped in any quantity for any consid­ cumstances the average New Yorker does
erable distance always loses in weight, not deal with the bank. Ask in Wail
and consequently in value, from abra­ street at what rate it pays to ship gold,
sion.
While a five-tliousaod dollar bag and in nine cases out of ten tho answer
made up of five-dollar coins would con- I will be “four-ninety.” Some time ago
tain onejthousand pieces,the same sum in $4 90X to the pound sterling was con­
double-eagles would contain only 250 sidered the safe shipping point; but gold
pieces. In the latter instance there is has increased in value on the other side,
not much if an.v more than one-fourth and cun be sold there now for 76s. 3J»d.
the chance for abrasion which exists in per ounce, an advance of from Xd. to
the former. Eight five-dollar pieces 3 16d. Practical operations have shown
show a greater surface and have much that a shipment can be made at 4 89X-
sharper coinage lines than do two dou­ equivalent to buying here a three days’
ble-eagles and the loss by abrasion on a sight bill for that amount.—[New York
long, rough ocean voyage, must, of Times.
course, be considerably greater than
coins of lesser value. The uninitiated
The California Sa mon Fisheries.
would be apt to smile incredulouslv
The prospects of the California Haltnon
when told that there is a loss—and one fisheries are reported this season as not
of consequence-by this abrasion of coins. encouraging. Last year 137.000 oases of
Circumstances, varying on different voy­ salmon were exported by the canneries,
ages, of course, produce variance in the the average value of which was $4 60
extent of the abrasion. “On an aver­ per case, making a total value of $630,-
age,” said a prominent shipper yester­ 200. This year the salmon run is re­
day, “a million of dollars sent across ported small ami the catch far below that
from London will lose—will lose—well,a of last year. Those who take an interest
few dollars.” Pressed to estimate more in piscatorial matters fear that the stock
definitely, the shipper said: “A few dol­ of salmon in the Sacramento is in danger
lars. Oh, that is definite enough.” What of being exhausted. The movements of
the Wall street man considered ‘ a few salmon are, it may be said, mysterious
dollars” was shown by reference to the at best. In the Fraser River, British
account-books of one of the heaviest Columbia, for instance, the character of
houses in the street. Taking shipments the salmon run was very irregular and
of $1,000,000 recently made, one was uncertain, before the establishment of
found to have fallen short in the voyage canning factories on tlie banks of that
a fraction more than nine ounces,another stream were even thought of. One year
a fraction more than nineteen ounces, the run would be so large that there
while in a shipment of $750,000 there was seemed to be insufficient room in the
a loss of a fraction more than twenty river for the school of fish to move tip­
ounces. The average loss can be safely ward, and the banks would be lined with
estimated at sixteen ounces on $1,000,000 the dead bodies of those which had been
shipments. Gold being worth $16 an orowded out. Such a season was one of
ounce, sends the “few dollars” u«> io plenty to the native tribes <it the colony,
about $250. Any movement will have who subsisted chiefly on salmon. But
a similar effect. In Great Britain it is about every third year the salmon run
declared that a shipment from the Bank was comparatively small, and suffering
of Edinburgh down to the Bank of Eng­ and want invaded the Indian camps.
land will cause the loss of an appreciable
The supply of salmon in the Sacra­
percentage,
and
a
government mento river has been demonstrated by
officer said yesterday that a bag experiment to be largely dependent upon
of coin cannot be carried down artificial propagation for its continuance.
Wall street a single block from the sub­ It is the annual stocking of the river
treasury to the custom house without an with salmon fry hatched at the United
abrasion which is discoverable. The States Government Hatchery on the Me
only protection to be fonnd against Cloud river, which lias made the canning
abrasion lies in the shipment of gold of salmon for export possible. This
bars, instead of in coiu. Until quite hatchery has been sustained from year to
recently, however, gold bars have not vear by congressional appropriation.
been readily obtainable. To secure The rivers of the entire conntry have
them the shipper has been obliged to drawn upon its resources. Tais year
pay a premium, and generally so high congress has not appropriated anything
was the premium placed by the bullion for its maintenance. It will consequently
brokers commanding the situation, that be closed unless some arrangement can
the possible loss by abarision would not be made for its continuance under the
by any means balance it.
But not long California Fish Commission. It is rep­
ago a change came over this condition of resented that it will need about $3000 to
affairs, and a law has been passed re­ do this: There is no provision in the
cently by congress allowing the sub­ State treasury for any such disburse
treasury here to pass out fine gold ment. But it has been suggested that
bars from its vaults in exchange for tlie canners or some one else equally in­
nationala coin. This is to the govern terested in the preservation of the salmon
meut's advantage in that heretofore fisheries should advance the money
specie has been obtainable without any needed and trust to the legislature for
charge for the one-fourth of 1 per cent, reimbursement. This has been done be­
coinage cost. The issuance of the bars, fore when a similar contingency arose.
moreover, will tend to keep the United Perhaps the proper thing for the canners
States coin at home. This new law went to do would be to club together the
into effect June 1st, and its appreciation necessary amount and make au out-and
in Wall street is shown by the fact that out gift of the money to the commission
$1,800,000 in bars has been bought for the purpose named, because they,
within the past fortnight.
Another above all others, are reaping the greatest
$5,000,000 has been molded and is in the profit from the maintenance of the
vaults of the assay office ready for de­ salmon fisheries. The close season be­
livery. The bars or “bricks” of gold gins on the 1st of August and ends on
average a value of $4500. Carefully the 1st of September. The time to begin
assayed by the government, they are taking the spawn is, consequently, close
stamped with their weight, quality and at hand, and the opportunity will soon
value. The bars are packed in specie pass by.
In previous years from seven
kegs, bnt the canvas bags are not used, to ten million young salmon have been
sawdust being substituted, a further let loose in the headwaters of the Sacra­
fireventative of abrasion. It is popu- mento each season by the Fish Commis­
arly supposed that all gold received sion, all of which were hatched at the
from this side of the ocean by the Bank McCloud River Hatchery.—[S. F. Bui
of England is reassayed there before ac­ letin.
ceptance.
This is probably strictly
true of gold shipped in bars, and also,
One of the neatest bits of tit for tat
perhaps, of coin which shows much wear that we have heard for many a day oc­
or loss by abrasion. The Bank of Eng­ curred on the Southern Pacific train the
land managers have tried to convince the other morning. A certain lawyer of this
world that they assay every ounce of city, well known for his powers of re­
gold received; but the president of a partee, bad been dow n to Salinas to try
prominent Wall street bank recently a case. Returning to town the conduc­
characterized this assumption ->s one of tor, one of the new swaggering set im­
the “pretty humbugs” which fill the ported from the East, was very imperti­
atmosphere breathed out from behind nent in bis mannite liecause the lawyer
the counters of the Bank of England. was rather tardy in producing his ticket
“I always placed some faith in this when called for to be punched for about
statement of a reassay of all gold taken the twentieth time. Somewhat ruffled,
in by the Bank of England,” added he, the lawyer remarked to a friend next to
“until a year or so ago. when there was a him, “The Southern Pacific shall never
sudden influx of gold into United States see a cent of my money after this.”
from England. Fully two thirds of that “Cfciing to foot it up and down from now
gold came here in the shape of United on, eh?” sneered the conductor. “Oh,
States coin, and this, too, in face of the no,” replied the lawyer, quietly; “in­
fact that we had shipped no such quan­ stead of bnying my ticket at the office I
tity of coin to England in a long time. shall pay mv fare to you.”—[San Fran­
This coin came from the vaults of the cisco News Letter.
A Bo! ' Idea.
In a few days England will reobive the
visit of a highly intelligent foreigner who
will have in his pocket a wonderful pic­
ture of a bridge across the channel be­
tween Folkstone and Gape Grisnez. Its
twenty three miles of length will ex­
hibit many varieties of style. Some parts
will Is, tubular, some iron framework
open to the sky, and some again viaducts
of masonry. Beneath these you will see
(iu the picture) ships in full sail—
“Great Admirals ’ bearing the Queen’s
flag gliding proudly under the central
arches, and tiny fishing boats making
their way with equal ease through the
lower doorway in the shallows. The
arches will rest sometimes on the sea
bottom, sometimes on an artificial foun­
dation of loose stone, or on a couple of
submarine islands which uature has moat
obligingly placed in this very spot aB a
hint of her views on the question of com­
munication bet ween England aud France.
M. Verard de Sainte-Anne is the apostle
of this new idea of intercommunication,
and his scheme is the alternative to the
tunnel. The tunnel is altogether out of
the question. It would be very costly in
any case, and no one knows what soft
plsces iu tho chalk the boring might not
reveal. Then who could breathe down
there? Unbroken railway communication
with England, he says, alone stands be­
tween France and commercial ruin. Bis­
marck, far more dangerous in peace than
even in war, has been quietly plotting a
Bort of commercial Sedan to block France
off forever from all share of the English
trade. England, with her immense com­
merce, binds the Eastern and Western
hemispheres as a main link. France con­
tinues the chain, but Bismarck is deter­
mined to cut her out of it for the benefit
of Berlin.
The French chambers have made a
patriotic but useless attempt to meet this
competition by voting immense sums for
the improvement of Boulogne, Calis and
Dunkirk. They might just as well have
thrown the money into the sea. The
Dutch and Belgian ports—above all,
Flushing—will always afford better land
communication with Gdessa. Berlin, in
fact, lies directly on the line of th' beet
existing route. No, the commercial
commaud of the east of Europe m ana
the ultimate command of Asia, and this,
with a due regard to America on the
other side, n.eans the commercial com­
mand of the world. France, though,
must build much more than the bridge
accor ling to M. Veraru deSainte Anne.
She must not only run a direct railway
line from England to avoid the shipment
which is the sole disadvantage of the
German route, but as soon as the line
touched Paris she must carry it almost
due east, avoiding Lyons aud almost
every city south of the capital, and run
a neck-and-neck race with Germany “in
the straight” for Constantinople via
Trieste. This line, it will be seen,would
leave even Brindisi far to the west. It
would be as short as the German one,
short r than ft t >r many places, ana
where it was not it would still secure the
preference of English exporters, by pre­
venting the loss involved in transfer.—
[Loudon News.
Not*Temp< rance 8<i<1a.
There is a beautitul young lady-a
temperance girl—who has a pair of eves
that sparkle so that a stranger wonl >
think she was winking when she looked
up and smiled. She would not wink
for anything, but when she smiles the
selvage around the eyes seem to draw
up, and—well, if it isu’t a wink it is well
calculated to deceive.
She '.as on the
way to the temperance lodge the other
evening and stopped at a soda fountain to
get a glass of soda and when the clerk
asked what flavor she would have, sho
looked up at him and smiled, and raid,
“I will leave that to you.” Tho clerk
snid when her brother came in after tho
lodge was out to whip him,that he would
have sworn that she winked. It seems
that some of the customers wanted a lit­
tle bramly in their soda, and the proprie­
tor told the clerk that when anybody
winked and looked sort of cunning, to
put in a little brandy with the flavoring.
He thought she was one of the winking
customers, and be thinks now he might
have put in a little too much. The Noble
Duke of the lodge refuses to accept tlie
explanation up to this time, though it is
thought he will get over bis annoyance
before the next meeting and let the girl
remain a member, if she desires to do
so, though she says she does not see how
she can look the brothers and BiBters in
the face. They tell two or three stories
about it, but the version of the Grand
Worthy Chaplain of the lodge seems to
be accepted as the true one.
The soda began to take effect on the
girl jnst as she got into the ante-room,
and instead of whispering the pass word
to the outside sentinel, that worthy offi
cial, who is a yonng married man, says
she put her mouth up to his ear and bit
it, and then threw her arms around his
neck He would not have cared so much
about this, only his wife was in the ante­
room putting on her regalia. The soda
girl caused remark in the ante room by
getting into her r"galis feet first, and
pullihx i- on as she would a pair of
drawers. The c utside sentinel says that
struck him as being more unusual than
the way she gave him the pass word.
However, he let her into the inner room.
There is a bole in the door which the ap­
plicant for admission puts her mouth up
to and whispers the pass word into the
ear of the inside sentinel, who is a lady.
The soda girl put her mouth up to the
hole, after giving three distinct raps,
and as the ear of the sentinel covered
the hole on the opposite side of the door,
the soda girl said, “Set ’em up Soria
with perfn—(hie) —mery in it." As the
regular quarterly pass word was “Strong
drink is raging,” and the inside sentinel
smelled liquor on the breath of the ap­
plicant, she thought some saloon charac­
ter was trying to get into the lodge; so
she drew her stuffed club, the badge of '
her office, aud opened the door. Seeing
that it was a member, the guard let the
girl iu, after reprimanding her for lev­
ity, and the girl marched to the middle
of the floor, a little shaky in the legs.
The custom is for a member on entering
to go to the middle of the floor, look at
the grand worthy chairholder, and place
the right index finger to the right side of
the nose, and keep it there until the
chairman responds, when the newcomer
takes a seat. The girl, instead, placed
her thumb to her nose and wiggled her
fingers, aud went and took a seat beside
the chaplain, aud put her feet upon the
desk in front of the good man. If a
large firecracker loaded with bourbon
whisky had exploded in the lodge room,
it would not have created more conster­
nation.
The chaplain fainted, the worthy
chairman declared a recess, and the
members all gathered around the sister,
whose face was flushed. Her hair was
scrambled, caused by taking off her hat
without removing the hair pins, her
frizzes were around on her left ear, and
one bang was on the back of her neck,
while the place where the hair was
parted ran across her head from ear to
ear. Her brother came up and put her
feet down off the desk, and asked her if
she had been run over by a wagon or
chased by a dog. 'Everybody smelled
the liquor, and when the chief accused
her of having tampered with the soul­
destroying beverage which steals away
the brain, she told him he was a “pre-
var(hic)cator," and hit him on the ear
with a gravel. ■ The sisters tried to get
her to go into an anteroom aud soak her
head, but she said she wanted to ride
the goat, and she took a run and jump
aud sat upon a table as though it was a
side saddle, and laughed so loud the
brothers and sisters thought she would
disturb the worshipers in a saloon not
far away, Finally the choir struck up
the tune, “Cold Water, Bright Water,
and the soda girl sang, “Johnny, Fili up
the Bowl,” and tried to put her thumbs
in the armholes of her vest, and walk
like Pat Rooney. Her brother finally
got her to go home, and now it is a go-
as-you-please between the girl and the
drug clerk and the proprietor as to who
is to blame. She says if she is forgiven
for this she will never swallow another
glass of soda until it is analyzed by a
competent chemist. The lodge is all
broken up about it, because outsiders
are talking the affair over.
The Willow as a Timber Tree.
And there are some trees which are
deserving of mere attention than has yet
been given them in this country. The
willow, for instance, has seldom been
cultivated iu a large way; and yet there
are few trees so easily grown, or which
will pay belter for cultivation. They
adapt tti. . i ■.■ n wi.i*. 1 " e1 —'
and climate. They grow on high ground
and on gravelly soils not less than by
the sides of streams,where we most com­
monly see them. They are of rapid
growth and yield a large return. The
osier-willow is especially useful, we
know, for the manufacture of baskets,
chairs, and other articles of furniture,
we import it to the extent of $5,000,000
annually, when we
might pro­
duce it easily in almost any part of
the country. We hardly think of the
willow as a timber tree or for the pro­
duction of lumber, but only as yielding
a cheap sort of fuel. But in England
the wood is greatly prised for many pur­
poses.
While it is light it is also
tough; it does not break into slivers.
Hardly any wood is so good, therefore,
for thé lining of carts and wagons used
in drawing stone or other rough and
heavy articles.
It makes excellent
charcoal, especially for the manufacture
of gunpowder. It hears exposure to the
weather, and boards made of it are very
servicable for fences. Some species of
it are admirable for use as a live fence
or hedge. On account of its compara­
tive incombustibility, the ivillow is emi­
nently useful for the floors of buildings
designed to lie fire-proof. It grows to a
large size and furnishes a great amount
of lumber. There is a white willow
growing at Stockbridge, Mass., which
at four feet from the ground measures
twenty-two feet in circumference, and
extends its branches sixty feet in every
direction. Tradition says it was brought
from Connecticut in 1807 by a traveler,
who used it as a riding switch. The
Hon. Jessie W. Fell, in giving an ac­
count of experiments in tree-planting on
an extensive scale in Illinois, says:
“Were I called upon to designate one
tree, which, more than all others, I
wonld recommend for general planting,
I would say unhesitatingly it should be
the willow.” Prof. Brewer says: “In
England, where it is often sixty to sev­
enty feet high in twenty years, there is
no wood in greater demand than good
willow. , It is light, very tough, soft,
takes a good finish,will bear more pound­
ing and knocks than any other wood
grown there, and hence is used for
cricket bats, for floats to paddle-wheels
of steamers, and break blocks on cars.
It is used extensively for turning, plank­
ing coasting vessels, furniture, ox-yokes,
wooden legs, Bhoe-lasts, etc.” Fuller
says: “It groweth incrediblyfast-itbe-
ing a by word that the profit bv willow
will buy the owner a horse before that
by other trees will pay for a saddle.”
The basket willow, well cultivated, will
yield a net income of $150 a year to the
acre. On the whole, therefore, it would
seem that tho various kinds of willow,
the economic value of which has been
hitherto ent'rely overlooked in this coun­
try, are eminently deserving of attention,
and will amply reward those who culti­
vate them.—[ Popular Science Monthly.
m