, 1876-02-26
supply OF Precious Metals.

Oh
It il estimntrl thut the supply of gold
and 3 liver nhninrd fom tie surrrrr of the
ear h since i, hns hccr inhabited hv mau j.
Sot.O 000.c00 tw,nty.tour thousand mil.
lions of tlo'hrs. There is no satisfactory
say ot verifying this csimmtr, nj If We ad
tmi, this to be- mn approximation to the
a tut amount it fellows that nearly one
half II tbs amOunt has been lost for the
raimltc of th" words supply Mt present
ime is only Sl39O) coo 900 The way in
which loss = orcur ARE chiefly b a rtson q!
coin and hy fire and shipwrrck. These
losses stem tr Il NJ, tut vh'n we cons der
.h, length Of time that god and silver have
hvrn used NJ coin. a small annual nmnunl
10 n large sum. The loss hy nb aston u
coin in circulation is computed ~ | y rcrn'
N ton Years, 90 $40 Oroc of coin woul |
in ten yrrs lpo&. $40 0.CO0 600; in 4 cen
fury Sloo.0N0 ono, and in ten centuries it
worll entirely disppcpr. The loss hy fr"
and shin wreck viii prom'lv average about
81 O'O.oon y rarlun. which rate umoLnls
to $lOo.O)O,O0O in century.
A, the hrGinnir. Of the Christian Err it
= rStimltnl that there ww IN cN'strnC"
rNou $3.50 NoN.O)o. with m annual pro-
In ton o. S'.O)OOOO. hu' thr po mction
gr,lnrllv dec clsr mil in ii2 it Wa
.n0'y $9J) 900 p an0nm, nul ~ w~lrs
supply hr' lh'n diminj,hc Si0j 00) 0O0
The PRO III tio1 thcn gradually inrrwI,ci
nrtjl in thu year 100 it amounted ~ SCI.
600 o. PER nnrn AMI the srDpy then
was $l7NO)0)o II 1870 the supply
wos r.tim,tcl nt SL7I1.OlONl0. anl the m.
null pro lur,ion SI!O)0,0W In l34 tn
cxtens W work NJ Of the Il R,SSihn god
mines h'ou tht the anauni prninHtion NJ to
81 100 .00D, nna in I94} the di.covery nj
gill in California, nnl in }Jl the discOvr.
rirs in Nusrr,'i,, an til wO king Of III
Nevada silver mines. rap dly increased the
annual pro lu tion p, that it reached $!SI,.
00O. .O0) in 1870. ut which timr the worlds
~ ,ply is con- )ite | ut S'i1j0D00o). Since
1853, nt which time the prod dlctlon rcNCh'
il, highest pr mt. the average annual add
ton to the supply is cSt,mltrl at Ssi3,OO),
0)0, less what has been lost. AMI the csti
ml:I of tn, total nov IN existence is S,3,
el0,0)0,O)0. ~ before strel, of which
So, 3!OOO 01j is g'll anl $3.50 10000 is
silver The pro luction OF silver increased
r,s rapidly than that of g,ld until 1853
The amount Of silver po luaI in 1870 /.
estimated at $T,OOO,O00 na of gold nt
only 100000 IL 1853 there had hen
IN increase of only $l2,OOO,OOo in the al.
nual production of silver, while the increase
in gph was $22l 100000 pr amnum. Snre
then the average annual prndu ',ion hIs con.
sist-l OF about three, quarters gol An one
Qunrtrr silver but during the last few years
the D"oporlinn OF silver his ben much
larger, owing chiefly TO the progress malc
in 'leVelup ping the mines in this country and
Mexico. In 1915 the United States pro
ducrl total If sSl ,O00.O00 of precious
metals, "f which ov,r S5t,I0),000 was
silver; Mexico prnducrd 5. 7.00), 900 OF gold
and $50 100000 of silver, while all other
coul,girs furnished only S2j 00O,00J Of sil.
v'r anil : O,OOo, 900 of gold.
In this country the yirll of gold in 1875
WIS about the sane ns in 1874, and equal 10
the average for the last ten wears, while
there WIS an increase in silver of nenr'y
Si.j0OOG 9th rXlct tutas being s26.340,
41G of gold and sjtj39, ,2Gl of silver, max,
in- the Aggregate SS0,sS),O37.
1t Is rs iInatcd lha' III, " mines viii,
lwgr'y increase their p,o luction this year,
and the total Yield 90 gold AM silver in
1876 will he $OO.0OO,O0O. There seems to
h" no prospect Of mNt rally increasing the
productipn Of gold in this country.