Posted on 5/11/2008, 2:23:11 PM by Homer_J_Simpson
No official explanation is forthcoming of this movement, but it is understood to have no relation to any future industrial financing and may have been made as a precautionary step in view of the possibility of war in Europe.
Such reserve is in addition to that which the Bank of England keeps in New York. It may be recalled that soon after the outbreak of the World War Britain established an emergency gold reserve abroad.
At the same time it is suggested here that the taking of such a step now will have a less alarming effect that doing so at a time of really serious international tension.
If it is the intention of the authorities to continue this process and establish a really effective reserve in Canada, it would probably mean additional shipments later.
Neither Governor Graham Towers of the Bank of Canada nor Finance Department officials would comment on the shipment. It is believed, however, that it is the first of several that the British Government will make with a view to accumulating a gold reserve in this country.
It is accepted as a confirmation of recent reports that Great Britain planned to make large purchases of war munitions in this Dominion and perhaps to help build up an airplane industry here that would serve her needs as well as Canada’s.
The fact that Canada might become a useful back door through which American neutrality laws could be got around, it is thought, may have influenced the British Government in accumulating a gold reserve here in peacetime instead of waiting, as in 1914, until war was actually in progress.
Several hints have been given by the Canadian Government during recent parliamentary debates that Canada’s importance to Britain in a future war would be less as a provider of men than of food and munitions.
I don’t remember exactly why I picked this article to post. Must have been a slow news day. I guess it shows that the British, at least, saw that war was likely, despite all the alliances being signed by the nations of Europe.
“Ottawa Believes It May Be Used to Build Planes”
Since 1938, many changes in the aerospace industries. We now use lighter, cheaper materials...
Seriously I truly thank God that we first developed and used the A Bomb to effectively quash tyrant megalomaniacs.
Thank you Manhattan Project.
hmmmmmm.... let's see... from memory:
It was 2.5 million British pounds.
In those days, a pound was worth, what, $2.50?
So we're talking about $6,250,000 worth of gold...
And gold back then was worth about $30 per ounce?
So we're talking about roughly 200,000 ounces,
over 8 tons,
which at today's price of, say, $1,000 per ounce,
is about $200,000,000 worth of gold.
Not a war-winning sum, to be sure.
But possibly enough to pique the interest of engineers from a large aircraft producing company -- even in today's inflated terms.
Loose Lips, Duranty Era Ping.
http://www.measuringworth.com/datasets/exchangepound/result.php
one pound was worth $4.89 in 1938. The reporter must have rounded to $5 to come up with $12,500,000. Actual value was $12,225,000.
In today's dollars that would be about $180 million.
Thanks. That $275,000 difference would have bought about 2 & 1/2 B-24s - fully armed and loaded in those days.
“Talk about inflation: That $12,500,000 they mention prolly wouldn’t cover the avionics and power plant in a single modern fighter.”
After sorting out the 1938 date for this article, that was effectively my reaction as well.
Try this link: Measuring worth over time
Of course, it depends on how you measure.
A British pound in 1938 was worth 44 today, based on inflation, and today's pound is worth US $2.
So 2.5 million pounds today times 44 times 2 = $220 million.
But the REAL test in these matters is the relative EFFORT the government must make (i.e., TAXES) to raise such a sum, compared to the nation's GDP.
In those terms, one 1938 British pound was worth 236 pounds today = US $472.
So, the whole effort today would be equivalent to Britain transferring $1.2 billion in gold to Canada.
Not such a small sum. Of course, today, trillions of dollars worth of electrons flash around the globe at light speeds daily. But that's a different subject...
1938 = Gold worth $35 an oz.
The P-38 Fighter just being finalized for production. Projected cost about $50,000.
So we have $50,000/35 = 1429 ounces of gold as our price for said fighter. But these figures are always hard to understand. Some writers of that era include total costs. But .gov contracts in that era often excluded GFE - Government Furnished Equipment, i.e. The radios, engines, armaments, including ball turrets. While they affect the total cost to the Taxpayer, it certainly didn't all go to the aircraft manufacturer's.
But even I can't put a dollar number on 'freedom'*.
*But we can get a clue from comparing the GDP/Productivity Per Capita of North vs. South Korea
Another aspect of developing a P-38 vs developing an F-117 or an F-22 or an F-35....
A P-38 probably (almost certainly) used very conventional engines and materials; there were (to my knowledge) no new alloys being developed, no radical construction techniques, no brand-new materials (a la carbon composites and the ways to lay them up to be a wing) and flat-out had to be flying a year, two years or so after being designed or forget it.
When you consider the F-14’s, F-15’s, 16’s, 18’s are designs from the 70’s that likely took 4 years minimum from design to first flight....
Also starting around this time is what was called the Japanese Spring Offinsives in China.
On May 10th 1938 Japan captured the port city of Xiamen. As spring progressed the Japanese move on to capture Xuzhou on the 20th, Kaifeng, on 6 June, and Ankang on 12 June.
Hopefully, some bean counter* can jump in a 'splain how more effective the F-22 is as it 'protects' thousands of square miles in a hour vs. the P-38 just having the pilot's Mark I eyeball.
*Term used affectionately for someone who has real knowledge vs. the "Popular Science" level.
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