MARKET MANIPULATION 99 



large returns on the millions we held, yet even 

 these profits I was able to multiply by manipula- 

 tion. Gold is the best security in the world on 

 which to borrow currency and this, together with 

 our well-earned reputation for liberality in the 

 matter of rates of interest as borrowers, gave us 

 first call on the currency market in times of 

 stress when less favored borrowers were at times 

 compelled to sacrifice securities for cash. 



When the premium I was getting for the loan 

 of our gold seemed less to me than the traffic 

 would bear, I jacked it up by the withdrawal of 

 a million or two or more of gold from the market, 

 borrowing enough currency to carry it. This 

 seldom put up the price, for a market always 

 fights against an artificial scarcity, but for the 

 gold I had left to lend I often received as high 

 as one-half, or even one per cent a day, and a 

 rate of nearly four hundred per cent per annum 

 would be counted good interest even by a syn- 

 dicate bank of to-day. I never allowed such ex- 

 treme scarcity to last for more than a day or two 

 at a time, since that would have pulled gold from 



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