The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-01-17
A d;Iietcrtns Mystery.
WRIT FINALLY BECOMES OF I'VE ;PREclot!
METALS?


METALS:
.HWbat becomes of the precious metals!"
esks an eastern journal, and then proceeds 10
consider the question, and succeeds 10 throw
ing much doubt uponit, or, rather, leaving II
;n;iust az much doubt as before. TheQuesllon
80 w hat becomes of all the pinSI" has been
| oftener asked, perhaps, and has been an
severed with about the same illumination.
Ferdinand Ever, many years ago, IN tnls
| CITY. was hugely amused at aaueStioh asked
! in the Sacramento Union -namely,'"' w here
! does all the water COZ" To which interro-
/ CATION the questioner proceeded, with the
| nhilosophicaI sobriety of an OWL, 10
/ renIy through long, column arece,
| when it might haYe been answered
in Two words-the ocean. But it is not so
easy TO answer satisfactorily the question as
| to what becomes of the precious metals.
| That a vast amount has been extracted from
the earth, according to an English w ritter,
who. of course, must depend to great degree
upon guess. WORK, not less than $4,000, O0O,-
900 since the days OF Noah, in gold and Sill
yer. there can be no doubt. OF this amount
be thinks $4,000 900 have been produced
since the discovery of America, The Chris
tian world is credited with having bad TWO
thousand millions, most of which has been
disposed of by sbipwrecks, gliding, ure, ana
various other ways rs etfectua!ly, we might
suggest, as many of our citizens have dis
posed of theirs by investing in stocks.
He thinks this, loss proceeds at the late
of sixteen millions annually, while. the pro-
ducti1n be puts at forty millions, Whicn
is undoubtedly too low. One half OF Inc
balance-three hundred and fifty millions
he thinks is held in the form of plate ana
81 ,holo IF
in the anti Christian world, wastes and losses
omitted. he thinks that over thousand bill
lions have been hidden in Asiatlc lands ID
different ages OF theworld, and he continues
that il is well known that thousand Mll-
lions were thus hidden in India and China IN
the six Years succeeding 1So1-that Is, du.
ring the tire when wholesale murder and
slaughter and wholesale robbery and despo.
I;atiop were the business of the natives and
their enemies. One would think that China
mnst he carpeted with gold leaf, paved with
silver dollars, glittering with the precious
metals, did he think only of the vast sums
sent there for hundreds of years past, lit.
tle or none of Which ever comes back. But
| somehow these metals have O fate tnere
az they have elsewhere-they disappear.
Like many other commodities, they serve
their purpose and disappear. What became
| of all the gold WltH Wnlcn solomon covered
his grand tempeS What became of all the
Spanish spoiis in South America and in
Mexcop One might ask such,questions for
ever and be no wiser therefor. Gold and
silver serve their purposes and disappear, as
do the human race, and old boots, and all
other material things ami there is none 80
wise as can tell US accurately what has be-
come of them. When the faucet is turned
where has the gas.light gomez one might
ask, and the question would be as reasonable
and perhaps as difficult to answer. We
know pretty we'll where our little portion Of
gold and silver has gone. but that nowledge
doe: not give US any particular qualification.
| Alto California.