The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1877-08-02
The Future of Gold.

The Future Of Gold.
The gold advocates have received
hard blow at the hands Of one Of the mos
eminent geoIogists Of Europe, Herr
Sues, professor Of geology at the UNI
ycrsity Of Vienna, who has recently pub
lished work upon "The Future OF
Gold II Die Nuk,mN DIES GOIdrs A re-
ognized European authorityin his special
sphere, he not only has amedin this able
and Invaluable book to garner and ar
range the historical facts and the status
tics of the production Of gold, but also
to supply the previously lacking. inior
nation about mOney-which is not
small, even among those who most affect
special knowledge on the subject-and at
the same time to apply clearly formula
ted laws to the economic phenomena
witnessed.
From the standpoint Of the geoIoglst,
Prof. Sues prOnOunccs as Il demOnStra-
ted fact that, taking all the gold ever eX.
cayated from the remote Egyptian era OF
Ramcses II. down TO the latest dlScoy-
cries, there has not been enough OF 1t
uncarthcd to Justify the general estab'
Iishment Of the sinGle-money standard of
gold contended for by certain school OF
writers in Europe, and 50 little reason
does no find for that demand that he OPP
poses to it the strong probabl ty thtt
mankind within several centuries will
have exhausted all the earIh's gold re-
sources
The present stock of gold, increased by
all which may be- hereafter extracted,
estimated at any maximum that can be
intcIigcntly assumed, Herr Suess main
tans, must be, relatively, 50 small that
we cannot nationally escape from the
conclusion that, in the course Of a few
years, there will net be nearly
enough gold at the disposition of man
kind for money uses : From this CON
clusion there is no escape, he at'irms,
when one, calmly surveying the earth,
notes the small extent Of it which geo
logically affords the least hope of furnish
ing future gold fields at all adequate to
supply the increasing demand for this
precious metal And it is upon this
point the work Of this German scientist
IS singuIarly valuable.
lie says that the precious metals have
hree separate sources which mark the
Geological transformation OF their com
,oncnt matter in the outer strata of the
arth In the first class, gold and silver
re found infinitely disseminated in the
ock'. Thus, gold is found blended with
platinum and other metals as at Mini
'apil, in the Oural mountains but so
w arc the localities, and so small the
'roduct, that this source is not to be
aiken into account in estimating the
worlds resources for maintaining
metallic money system. A second
ource he places in the seams or assures
which have resulted from volcanic
orces, and to which belong the famous
,onanya mines of Nevada, the lodes or
ems of New Granada and OF the Carpa-
hian mountains, also of Victoria and
Queensland, and some of the gangues'
II New Zealand. The third or last
ource are the placer and fluvial gold
ields of California, Australia, New Zeal
md, and the Oural and Rivcrine dis
riots of northern Asia, the gold dcpos-
Is of which have had their origin in the
chemical operation wrought by the air,
ogether with the mechanical displacc.
ncnt and removal affected by water.
These ever active, powerful transforming
gents discomposcd the older strata, and
transported them to the beds in which
hey are now found, and which are worked
~ hydraulic processes,
Herr Sues places the aggregate pro-
luction Of gold from 1913 to the close of
SIC at about So 100000, of which
til but 1891 900, 900 was drawn exclu,
lively from the last mentioned class of
ources, which consequently must be re-
,arded as the only substantial field OF
in the future. In this rela-
ion, the geological lesson, according to
his eminentsavant,i is, that Reproduction
If gold must depend essentially upon
hose parts of the earth where, for GER
ain time, the primitive rocks were ex-
,0sed to decomposition and consequently
IS those sections are relatively very in
considerable, and 50 much of them have
Ilready been exhausted of their gold.
hat we must reach the conclusion that,
It this very time, "more than half of all
he gold which can ever be extracted,
,ossibly, from the earth by human labor.
ingenuity, and perseverance has already
ome into the hands of man." and further
hat the period of ultimate exhaustion
must come with the greater rapidity
because of the intensely greater scale
With which mining is now carried on by
i'd of modern improved machinery and
processes for extracting and deducing
res to bullion, together with the great
Iepths that are now reached and ex-
'lored. Therefore, the period at which
here must come permanent, substantial
|iminution OF the annual discovery OF
old, with constant reduction of the
mount of that metal lett uncon,umed in
he arts, and in handling, must be rerar.
ed as approaching so close as the near
nture. Of course, as gold becomes
rarce and dear, it will be moreand more
itficult to transact the increasing bust
ess OF the world with it, and some sub
titute will have to be found. On the
Their hand, though silver, as Prof. Suess
is mainly extracted from
ruptive veins and fissures, those sources
re so numerous and widely spread over
ne earth, and relatively so large and
ch that the supply may be confidently
,garded as more unfailing than the
,urces of gold; and AS likely to extend
, far rem0ter future. At the same
me, great progress is to be anticipated
/ the methods Of extraction from all the |
res of silver.
Therefore, dispassionately regar!ed. |
ON the purely scientific point of view,
Icrr Sues does not hesitate TO pro-
ounce not only against the feasibility of |
tablishing a single gold standard for J