Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-05-12
Custer Chronicle.
OF INTEREST TO EVERYBODY.

lected In parcels from divers sources, all
official. being found in the public docu-
mcnts of several governments.
The mines Of the United States produce
about $50, OO0, 600 worth Of silver bullion
ayear and the remainder Of the world
$50, 600, 600 in round numbers.
Last year the silver coinage OF the
United States was s34. $3.50, 600, and that
of the rest of tk,a world $91, s34, 600 in
round numbers.
While the silver coinage outside OF the
United States was $97, 634, coo, the total
silver product of the world outside Of the
United States was $50, 900, 600, but about
S12, 600, 900 Of the outside coinage was the
product of old coins melted down, leav-
ing the consumption Of bullion at 1885,
00O, 600 in round numbers, against o
ullion product outside Of the United
States of $50, 600, 600.
The consumption of silver into currency
uses, embraced in the term coinage here
used, does not include China, which has
exclusively a silver money, and comprises
more than a fourth Of the earth's popula-
ton. Nor does ID include Africa, except
Egypt, and some other parts OF the world
which produce no silver but usei as their
only money.
The consumption of silver in the in
dustrial arts in the United States in 1886
is stated by the Director Of the Mint at
S5, 1913, Alb, and ,aHt Of the remainder of
the world at SIC, AIS, $50.
The consumption Of silver bullion in
coinage and in the arts in the United
States was 800, 564, 600, leaving a surplus
of about S11 600. 600.
Other nations used S101, ATS, 600 worth
of silver bullion in coinage and the arts,
exclusive of old coins recoined, against a
production Of silver bullion amounting to
$50, 600, 900.
Some part Of the silver used in the arts
is old coin, but an official inquiry among
Jewellers in 1885 furnished the result that
1888, 644 worth Of old coins had been used
IN a total consumption of S., 1913, Alb worth
OF silver while in Sl1, 152, 100 worth Of
gold consumed by the jewelers. there was
So, 1927, 1873 worth of gold coins melted
down. There was, consequently, a ten
times proportion Of gold coins exactly to
that Of the silver coins of those respective
metals consumed in the arts.
In our above credit of the consumption
Of silver bullion in coinage by other ma
tions than the United States, 1877 ,000. 600
ing for consumption otherwise, and the
same is true Of China as to the consump-
ton both for currency and the arts. Those
two exclusively silver-money nations com
prise about half the population Of the
earth. An immense and permanent alb
straetion Of silver bullion occurs, how
yer, on their account. For example;
midas average net import Of silver
ranges between $40, 900, 600 and $50, 600,
600 worth a year, and while the silver cur
rency of India is only about 1895, 000, 00G
she has absorbed from the western hemis-
phere in fifty years, 81, 300, 600, 600 worth
of its silver As to China the statistics
are meagre and are worth nothing.
The correction for India alone, how
ever, increases the average consumption
of silver bullion outside Of the United
States to $f21, AIS, coo worth every year,
while the silver product outside of the
United States is only $50, 000, 0C0 "A year.
Since the days of the Caesars, India has
been constantly absorbing silver and Civ
ing none up. but the rate Of absorption in
the east has been immensely increased by
the decentralization and ~cheapening of sill
yer in the western hemisphere. The eX-
change value of silver is even slightly
higher there in terms of the native pro-
auctions than it was thirty-five years ago
or fifteen years ago. Hence a decline of
a third in its value in the western hemi-
sphere creates profits to traders equal TO
that discount in the operation of shipping
it in exchange for India and China wheat,
VIII, SSttoh, clihj "ooi, Na ahh ~
produce.
1t can be shown that the absorption of
silver bullion into current money and
artisan products, and the perennial alb
sorption by the nations of the Eastern
Hemisphere. have absorbed more silver
bullion since the advent o Recommendation
in lS71-73 than the mines Of the world
have produced in that period by five
hundred to a thousand million dollars
worth.
Silver bullion put into the form Of coin
carries a fiat value 81 80 to 45 per cent for
different coins Of different nations: and
silver bullion put into the form of plate,
watches, etc, carries an art value of 100
10 900 per cent. greater than its bullion
value. He who melts down coin, icwelry
or plate to get bullion to sellwould, there
fore, Lose 80 TO 1000 per cent. of value,
and if he could then sell his metal to
Uncle Sam on the free mintage basis of
Europe of 151 to l he would lose that diff.
ference. All that silver is, therefore,
oafaly mt IF tho yyov