Reg Howe replies to Vincent Cook

10:45p EDT Tuesday, July 20, 1999

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Here's a dispatch from GATA Chairman Bill Murphy.
Please post it as seems helpful.

With good wishes.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

* * *

The following press release is scheduled for release
tomorrow morning. Richard quot;The Generalquot; Harmon
(r.l.harmon@worldnet.att.net) is organizing our
campaign to notify the press of the world and the
politicians in the United States, South Africa,
Australia, Canada, and England about this
letter. Please contact him if you can be of
any assistance in the dissemination of what we have to
say. This is it! Time to speak up and take action. When
I called the Senate Banking Committee today, they told
me that they were very much looking forward to what
GATA has to say.

The bond market cannot rally, the U.S. trade deficit
swooned today to over $21 billion, commodity prices are
perking up, the U.S. stock market is clobbered, and gold
still does nothing. Every rally is smothered by the
colluding cabal, and we know why.

They are in trouble! I received word today that the
Swiss gold sale is quot;kaput.quot; How are the bullion dealers
going to cover their massive short positions when the
gold supply they were counting on will most likely not
materialize?

This press release and the letter to Senator Gramm can
possibly make a difference. And so can you! Spread what
we are doing wherever you can. We ARE going to drive
the bullion dealer shorts out of the back end of quot;the
enveloping horn,quot; and as we do so the price of gold
will soar. But the GATA Army must make that extra
effort. Find a way to make us even more visible any
place you can. The Internet is our ally.

The press release follows.

BILL MURPHY, Chairman
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

* * *
GOLD ANTI-TRUST ACTION COMMITTEE
ASKS SENATOR PHIL GRAMM,
CHAIRMAN OF SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE,
TO INVESTIGATE GOLD MARKET MANIPULATION

Dallas, Texas, July 21, 1999 -- The Chairman of the
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, Bill Murphy,
announced today that Phil Gramm, Chairman of the Senate
Banking Committee has received a letter/document asking
that his committee investigate GATA's charges that the
gold market is being manipulated.

The letter/document was initiated after communication
between Bill Murphy and staff members of the Senate
Banking Committee who expressed interest in The Gold
Anti-Trust Action Committee's allegations.

The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee was formed in
January of this year to investigate what appeared to be
blatant quot;collusionquot; by various entities to hold down
the price of gold. GATA retained one of the top anti-
trust law firms in the U.S., Berger amp; Montague from
Philadelphia, to assist them in their investigation and
in their quest to learn the truth about what is really
going on behind the scenes in the gold market.

Speaking from his home in Dallas, Texas, Murphy stated
that, quot;GATA's findings were sent to Senator Gramm quot; in
the spirit of proud U.S. citizens that cherish
democratic principles. For if our suspicions prove are
correct, those democratic principles are being cruelly
trampled. The few people and institutions in the know
in this scheme are gaining incredible riches at the
expense of many. The manipulation of the gold price is
destroying mining companies and their employees and
shareholders as well as whole countries dependent on
gold production.quot;

Murphy went on to say, quot;We suspect that what we have
here is a scandal that is more profound in nature than
quot;Watergatequot; because so many people are suffering
unnecessarily, while, in a bigger picture sense, the
manipulation could affect the stability of the banking
system. We believe that to suppress the price of gold,
the quot;collusion crowdquot; has borrowed so much gold from
central banks and sold it into the market that it could
not be paid back as promised should the price of gold
rise quickly and unexpectedly. Last year the gold
supply coming out of the mines was 2,529 tonnes while
GATA's research reports suggest that the gold loans
have risen to 8,000 to 10,000 tonnes.

GATA has been documenting evidence since last Fall
about the gold market manipulation, but it was the Bank
of England's announcement of its plans to sell gold
that sent off alarm bells around the world. No other
central bank has announced a gold sale prior to its
completion in over 20 years, and the Bank of England's
announcement just happened to be made as the gold price
was storming past a key gold loan borrowing point and
interest in the gold market was finally rising again.

Yet, the night before the BOE announcement (May 6,
1999), GATA feared duplicity and Murphy wrote as such
in his www.lemetropolecafe.com commentary: quot;We got word
late this afternoon that their bullion desk is calling
their clients saying that the gold market is stopping
at $290.quot;

Murphy contends that utterances by some of England's
most notable officials are more than raising an eyebrow
or two.

In this letter to Senator Gramm, Murphy points out that
Prime Minister Tony Blair said this about the BOE sale,
quot;We did this on technical advice from the Bank of
England.quot; Yet, on Sunday July 11, the chancellor of the
Exchequer, Gordon Brown, said in the London Times, quot;The
proposal to sell the reserves was put to ministers by
officials, and, say treasury insiders, agreed to it
with little discussion.quot;

According to another London Times article, the
chancellor is also to said to have been surprised and
mortified by the reaction from Thabo Mbeki, the South
African president, who said last week that the decision
would have a quot;potentially disastrous effectquot; on South
Africa. But the same Gordon Brown, ( just prior to a
recent trip to England by an African delegation ) was
all over the wire services talking about the
righteousness of his gold decision while continuing to
extol the virtues of the proposed IMF gold sale. The
headline on a wire dispatch read: U.K.'s Brown Sees
Wide Support for IMF Gold Sales.

Then there was The Bank of England's Eddie George who
when asked in an interview who made the asset
allocation decisions on the quot;bank reserves,quot; he
answered, quot;the governmentquot; -- that is, the politicians.

GATA contends that the decision to sell England's gold
had more to do with protecting the interests of bullion
dealers than benefiting the interests of the English
citizens and suggests to Senator Gramm it is just one
example of what is really going on behind the scenes in
the gold market. The evidence is plain as day. Prime
Minister Tony Blair said the English gold sale was a
Bank of England decision. The Bank of England says it
was a Treasury decision. The Treasury says it was only
a Treasury decision of sorts and agreed to with little
discussion.

quot;Good grief,quot; Murphy goes on. quot;A decision that may have
disastrous effects on South Africa, a democracy the
West is committed to encourage, was made with little
discussion and no one will take responsibility for it.
Yet, it is such an important decision that Tony Blair
will not reconsider it, even though it appears he does
not know who made the decision in the first place.

GATA believes it is reasonable to ask whether something
is awry in the gold market. We are not making any wild
accusations. We are just searching for some answers to
valid questions. One of them is why the Clinton
administration is so adamant about IMF gold sales when
one considers who is opposed to the sale? They
include: 1) Jim Saxton, chairman of the Joint Economic
Committee, 2) Jesse Helms, Senate Foreign Relations
Committee chairman 3) Tom Daschel, Senate Minority
Leader 4) Dick Armey, House Majority Leader 5) Tom
Delay, House Majority Whip, 6) and Democratic Senators
such as Richard Bryan (D), Tim Johnson (D), Harry Reid
(D), who all warned former Treasury Secretary Robert
Rubin in a letter that they will oppose the proposal
and 7) The Black Caucus, to a person said they would
not support the IMF gold sale proposal.

Another compelling question concerns Fed Chairman Alan
Greenspan's twice made comments on July 24, 1998 before
a House Banking Committee and on July 30, 1998 before a
Senate Agricultural Committee that, quot;central banks
stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities
should the price risequot;. quot;Many in the gold community
would like to know what Mr. Greenspan meant by thatquot;,
Murphy says.

The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee joins James
Saxton, Vice Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee,
in calling for greater market transparency in which
quot;openness and accountability would be mandatedquot;. Saxton
has prepared legislation, the ESF Transparency and
Accountability Act, to reform the Treasury's Exchange
Stabilization Fund (ESF).

GATA hopes that its queries reach as many politicians
in gold producing countries as possible. To facilitate
that effort, they have an e-mail army that will be
sending the letter/document to members of the U.S
Congress. This quot;armyquot; is led by Colorado based GATA
supporter, Richard quot;The Generalquot; Harmon, who is
organizing GATA volunteers from all over the world that
are sending this letter/document to politicians in
Canada, South Africa, Australia and England.

-END-

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