Maybe everyone has not seen this :-)
stockhouse.com
OR This :-)
12:30p EDT Tuesday, October 19, 1999
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
The internationally known author Arthur Hailey, whose
novels "Hotel" and "Airport" were best-sellers before
they were turned into popular movies, has written in
support of GATA and the gold cause and has joined
our blitz on the Denver Gold Group conference.
Hailey has sent letters to Barrick Gold and to Chris
Thompson, chairman of Gold Fields Ltd., in opposition
to excessive hedging of gold, and those letters are
included below, along with an excerpt from another
Hailey novel, "The Moneychangers," which made the
gold case more than 20 years ago.
The conference, at the Westin hotel in Denver,
continues through Wednesday, so there's still
time for you to make an impact. You can find
a list of gold companies attending the show
at:
egroups.com
You can fax a letter to your favorite (or least
favorite) gold company at the hotel at:
303-572-7288
You can leave a voice message for conference
participants at the hotel's main number:
303-572-9100
I think you'll enjoy what Hailey has done. Please
post this as seems useful.
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
* * *
To the Barrick Gold representative(s)
at Denver Gold Group Gold conference
October 17, 1999
Sir:
This note is from an active and enthusiastic supporter
of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, who until a
few days ago was a long-time shareholder of Barrick
Gold, first as an individual, then as a joint owner
(with my wife) of Storyteller Ltd., a Bahamas company.
But no more!
Disgusted with the excessive hedging (much of it
concealed) by Barrick and the present opposition to
allowing the gold price to rise to natural and honest
levels, I have sold our Barrick shares and am actively
urging others to do the same. I tell them: "You simply
cannot trust these people to put shareholder interest
first, because quite clearly some at the top are
looking out solely for themselves."
I continue, "So don't take a chance! After selling
Barrick, buy into those gold companies that haven't
hedged, or have only done so mildly. It's easy to find
out which ones they are."
I happen to live in a wealthy community, Lyford Cay,
Bahamas, where I fine many people are interested in
what I have to say. Also, because of my activity as an
international writer (my books are published in 40
languages), I also have a wide circle of friends and
contacts, and am passing the word along, urging others
to do the same as I have, plus tell their friends.
At the moment this may not have enormous effect, but as
you know, when a pebble is dropped into a pool, the
ripples spread outward. And, oh yes, my contacts in the
media, which are many -- something else that goes with
being a long-time author -- are becoming increasingly
interested and objective. (One thing that helps is that
I am almost 80, not too active these days, so have lots
of spare time to help GATA, which is so splendidly
representing ordinary investors such as my wife and
myself.)
Of course all the foregoing could change if Barrick
revised its stance and actively supported such
believers in a free gold price as Chris Thompson,
chairman of Gold Fields, who is also, I understand,
attending the Gold Group Conference -- which is going
to receive a great deal more critical attention than
was probably expected.
Yours truly,
Arthur Hailey
* * *
To Chris Thompson, Chairman, Gold Fields Ltd.
Denver Gold Group Conference
October 17, 1999
Dear Mr. Thompson:
This is a note of gratitude from this shareholder in
gold companies, and from my wife, for your honorable
attitude in supporting a free gold price, and in
particular your statement last Thursday about
retrieving the hedge position of Gold Fields.
It has occurred to me that you may be interested in
seeing a copy of a letter (following this page) which I
have addressed to Barrick Gold, which, as I'm sure you
know, not only does not support but even opposes your
shareholder-first stance.
While writing, perhaps I may mention that in 1975 I
wrote a novel, "The Moneychangers," which in part was
supportive of gold, and the book is to be republished
next May or June. Anyway, recently while checking an
original English-language copy (most of my books are in
40 languagesm, I came across a portion that I take the
liberty of enclosing as Page 3.
With all good wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur Hailey
* * *
>From "THE MONEYCHANGERS" by Arthur Hailey
It was, Alex thought, as if the toppling of a giant had
brought home the realization that other giants, once
thought invulnerable, could topple too, that neither
individuals, not corporations, nor governments could
escape forever the simplest accounting law of all --
that what you owed you must one day pay.
Lewis D'Orsey, who had preached that doctrine for two
decades, had written much the same thing in his latest
"Newsletter." Alex had received a new issue in the mail
this morning, had glanced at it, then put it in his
pocket to read more carefully tonight. Now he took it
out.
"Do not believe the glibly touted myth," Lewis wrote,
"that there is something complex and elusive, defying
easy analysis, about corporate, national, or
international finance.
"All are simply housekeeping -- ordinary housekeeping,
on a larger scale.
"The alleged intricacies, the obfuscations and
sinuosities are an imaginary thicket. They do not, in
reality, exist, but have been created by vote-buying
politicians (which means ALL politicians),
manipulators, and Keynesian-diseased 'economists.'
Together they use their witch doctor mumbo-jumbo to
conceal what they are doing, and have done.
"What these bumblers fear is our simple scrutiny of
their activities in the clear and honest light of
common sense.
"For what they -- the politicians, mostly -- on one
hand have created is Himalayas of debt which neither
they, we, nor our great-great-great-grandchildren can
ever pay. And, on the other hand, they have printed, as
if producing toilet tissue, a cascade of currency,
debasing our good money -- especially the honest, gold-
backed dollars which Americans once owned.
"We repeat: It is all simply housekeeping -- the most
flagrantly incompetent, dishonest housekeeping in human
history.
"This, and this alone, is the basic reason for
inflation."
There was more. Lewis preferred too many words, rather
than too few.
Also, as usual, Lewis offered a solution to financial
ills.
"Like a beaker of water for a parched and dying
wayfarer, a solution is ready and available, as it has
always been, and as it always will be.
"Gold.
"Gold as a base, once more, for the world's money
systems.
"Gold, the oldest, the ONLY bastion of monetary
integrity. Gold, the ONE source, incorruptible, of
fiscal discipline.
"Gold, which politicians cannot print, or make, or
fake, or otherwise debase.
"Gold which, because of its severely limited supply,
establishes its own REAL, lasting value.
"Gold which, because of this consistent value and when
a base for money, protects the honest savings of all
people from pillaging by knaves, charlatans,
incompetents, and dreamers in public office.
"Gold which, over centuries, has demonstrated:
" -- without it as a monetary base, there is inevitable
inflation, followed by anarchy;
" -- with it, inflation can be curbed and cured,
stability retained.
"Gold of which Americans once stated proudly their
dollar was 'as good as.'
"Gold to which, someday soon, America must honorably
return as its standard of exchange. The alternative --
becoming clearer daily -- is fiscal and national
disintegration. Fortunately, even now, despite
skepticism and anti-gold fanatics, there are signs of
maturing views in government, of sanity returning...."
-END- |
