OCR Text |
Show M SCENES ST ! GOLD MOBILIZATION :rnch Patriots Willingly 1 Bring" Their Cherished Little Hoards. SOME PECULIAR COINS Numismatists Sacrifice Valuable Val-uable Collections for the Sake of Country. 3pedai Cable to The Tribune. PARIS, Sept. 11. Tnere n.n c been nme remarkable scenes at the Hank France since Alexandre Felix Kibot. e French minister of finance, issued & call for the mobilization of jo!d. We are spendine two billion francs t month." he said. "It's a frightful am. ind we've ifot to keep it up an titker winter briug on your sold. (ae call spread rapidly and the re-ipopse re-ipopse has been prompt. Monsieur Ribot is only one month rider than Monsieur Colin of the Rus Irs Tours, who was 73 t his spring, dame Colin ?o wrote on the slip she KUYered in the Bank of France with i hundred francs of cold to be ex-rkaaged ex-rkaaged for uatiotial defense bonds. 'I had saved it to make a present- to Monsieur Colin on our golden wedding by," $.he added, "but we decided tfcat we could both pet more pleasure lad satisfaction eat of the ;od by taminj it over as a sort of homage to Moosieur Ribot. . Hundreds of school children will as Mtiate the name of the venerable minister min-ister with their first visit to that ysteripos and awe inspiring instita-ion. instita-ion. always so impressncly guarde! y the handsomely uniformed reinb Kan guards. Their teachers lift then m to the teller's window where gold if exchanged, and they are generally appointed not to see the patriarchal wka of "Monsieur Ribot" somewhere Bis . :be counter. Brings Rare Collection. S5ie woman shoved a pile of coins unounting to 350 francs through the seller's window at the Bank of France, nth the concise explanation. ''For tfoosieur Ribot.' 6he turned to go iway without her bank bills, and had 9 be pnrsnaded that Monsieur Kibot ras not seeking gold without giving he equivalent in exchange. aA man who had spent years collect-ig collect-ig hundred-franc gold pieces, and had otten together a hundred of consecn-ive consecn-ive dates, including the rarest effigies, nought it to the bank. Worth as a iolleetion five times as much, he went iway satisfied with 10.000 francs in ns notes. Another numismatist acrificed a unique collection of 200 ( double Ionis" forty-franc pieces. - Another man, in the familiar peas-Jit peas-Jit blue frock, came in, took his lace hesitatingly in the line and idgeted continually while waiting. He eft the line once and got to the door, agitated, turned back and took his lace again at the foot When his turn aally came he cast a fond glance at he sock he pulled out of a vest pocket, pen poured 7000 francs in gold upon he 'onnter. Estimated by Weight. The counting of the millions of ces received would take too long; it ranld also be too complicated, since, nth the "Ionia," "napoleons" and republics" there are sovereigns, 1 7 .eagles," "doable eagles" in fact, ies of nearly every nation that coins old. Consequently, everv deposit is K? b7 weight Sometimes" weight I the only possible mean; of valuation, in the case of the Cure of Huiron, BO deposited at the branch of the ank of France at Chalona-sur-Marne hapeless mass he had recovered from 'e ashes of the presbyterv after the etreat of the Germans. Coins of the E 1,Talue f 480 francs had been jelted and run together bv the heat of e conflagration. The million and a Ml francs received at the Chalons in-raded in-raded a twenty-franc piece of the of the republic that had been ey pierced by a German bullet. A newspaper announcing the gold leoange movement was smuggled into hamlet on the battle front that has " talten and retaken several times, nn now happens to be occupied bv the wmans. The peasants made a purse J all their gold and drew lots to ooose the one who would have the mot j of carrying it through the lines ., Monsieur Ribot." "All T ask," ; J.h? mniple-minded peasant who ac-'mphshed ac-'mphshed this mission, "is that vou t give me a paper that I can take w to show the gold 's turned over. ' ' ion "11 take it back with us when ' march in," said the colonel, giving a ,r,,eip in the name of the vil-Jp- Vou could never get through fn twice, alive. " "one of the principal banks will Seal Se-al goM to anyone now. but traffic in ,'s s"u Zomg on under cover. A man o vanted butch gold to the value im fran'--9 eot it from a ey exchanger bv paving a premium I aitT- francs. |