Secretary FOSTER. Now. there is a demand for this gold from abroad. and the truth is we owe the money and it is natural. My best information is that our securities are not coming back here. we are shipping securities abroad. but when you take into account the shrinkage of the balance of trade as shown upon the customhouse books compared with former years and then deduct from that the balance of what our people spend abroad. say $120.000.000. $30.000.000 balance freight. $25.000.000 undervaluations (and I think it is probable we are cheated that much). $12.000.000 servantgirl funds scn 1 abroad (the balance on postal moneyorders is $12.001.000 against us). the Chinese send what money they have back to China. most of the money of the Italians goes back. 75.000 American citizens go abroad every year in the steerage who spend more or less money. all of these elements must be considered in determining the balance of trade. When you take all these elements into account you will find we owe money abroad. Seeing these things the Secretary felt that we should keep all the money we could in gold.
Identified stereotypes
The Chinese and Italians are described as sending money back to their home countries.