A tremendous panic has occurred in the Gold Market of
New York. On 22nd September, the knot of millionaires and specu- lators known as the " Erie Ring" made a grand attempt to run up the price of gold, so as to extract enormous differences from speculators who had contracted to deliver, and in three days got it up from 136 to 161, in spite of determined resistance. All Wall Street engaged in the fight, securities were sold at any price to get resources, Government stock falling 20 per cent., and trade throughout the Union stopped. Import duties are paid in gold, and while the price fluctuated nobody knew what to charge for anything. On the 24th the Treasury sent £4,000,000 in gold to market to sell by auction, the bubble burst, and most of the " bulls " were ruined. The excitement in the Gold Exchange is said to have beggared description. Men fainted, brokers became insane, and Mr. Fisk, chief of the "Ring," had to drive for his life, and station a guard of police at his door. Accounts could not be settled for three days, and up to the latest advices no one in the speculation knew exactly if he was rich or ruined. If they were all ruined together, the world would gain ; but, unfortunately, the innocent suffer most. Shareholders, for example, in New York railways have been fined, on an average, about 7 per cent.
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