Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-02-05
A Gitttertug Mystery.

4
What rccOm,s 90 the preciau, mrfaI>rf
asks an eastern Journal. Rad tnrn proceeds
70 consider the question, aud sucoee - IN
throwing much doubt upon ~. o.. rat,.r.
ltayiT ~ IN Just ~ muca doubt as before
Tao GCCstiOn. What becomes OF all tao
pins tRS been ofIercr a. kcd. uerltarS. aid
has heeu answered " ia about the same illu-
Hlldion. ferd. Ever. many years ago, in
ihls city. was hu:tlN amused at a question
HSked IN the Sacramento Union. namely
Wh're does al The water gp:' To wBtrn
interrogation the guesttouer proceeded. with
the philosophical sobrlefN oil an owl 4, r.s-
ply through long column article. when II
might nave been answered iu Two words
the ocean. BCt y l. nos 80 easy 10 ausWt-r
satisfactorily The 4ueS ION as Ia ,rbsr a.
comes OF the precious metals. That a ys.f
amount has been extracted from the earth.
accorling 10 an English writer. VINO. OF
course, must depend 10 "a great degree unpn
guess work. hot less Than i've Thousand mil
lois since the days 81 Noah, in gold aud
silver, there can he uodouht or this amount
lie thinks that three billions 40 hundred
millions nave been produced since The dis
covery Of America. The Christian worl d,
credited with having had two thousand mil
Hons, most OF which has been disposed a. by
snipwrecKs. gliding, IRE ana various Other
ways as enectCally, we might suggest. as
many Of our citizens have dispose 81 theirs
by investing I'm stocks. lie thinks mis- loss
proceeds at the rate OF sixteen millions au-
nually, while the production he puts al
forty millions, which Is undoubtedly too
low by oae-hslG Of the balance. three
hundred and nifty millions, he thinks Il
Eclu IN the form OF plate aud ornaments.
over thousand billions. he estimates nave
tecu hidden Ia A>iaric lands ia q fI,sranf
AGES OF the world. and he continues t,.aI AZ Is
well known that a Thousand millions were
THIS hidden I'm India aud China In tue six
years succeeding is5l; tina; Is during tle
TINE when wholesale mur,iCr and slaughter
ana wholesale robbery sud despoIiafion were
the business Of the MAJ ives and their enenfec
one would think that CHINA must be carpeie!
with gold Leaf paved with silver dollars
ghtteilg with tue precious metals. Ola lie
tink only OF the vast sums sent Their. for
HUNDREDS OF wears past. little or none OF which
eve comes back. But somehow tnuse metals
have data there 8 s they have elsewhere
ley d'SsI pear Like many other mniDIi-
ll.s, they serve their purpose aud disappear.
Nfai became OF all the gold with which SoI-
ONION g. yeret his grand templeg VIVA be-
came OF all the Spanish SpOils iu south
America a ID IN Mexico One might AK
such questions forever aud be no wiser ( cree
Tor. Gold aud silver serve their purposes and
ssppe2r, as do the human rae aud Of
q. oiS, and ali other material things. aid
There iS none 50 wise as can tell Us accU rate
~ what has become OF them.
When me lancet Is tIrlei. where has tHa
g'~tlsht gone, one might ask, ard the ones
ton would be as reasonable aud PERHAPS as
difficult II answer. We know pretty wei
where our little portion al gold aud silver
has gone, bat that knOyladEe uOss Hnl give
us any particular giatIhCation.