The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1889-02-22
MONEY ANswERErH ALL
THINGS"
SPEECH OF HON. wM. NJ. sTEwAT, OF
NEVADA, IN THE SENATE OF
THE UNITED STATES
JAN. 2, 1889.
now MONEY AFFEcTs CIVILIZATION.

JAN. q, 1903.
now MONEY AFFECTS CIVILIZATION.
The discovery Of gold and silver in
Mexico and South America revived
mining for the precious metals in the
Old World as well as the New. The
despairing serfs and slaves of poverty
striken Europe we're inspired with
courage, enterprise, manhood, and in
dependence by the gold and silver pro-
duced by the revival Of mining. A new
civilization was created which soon
rivaled, and now surpasses, the glory of
antiquity.
For more than three hundred and
fifty years the flow of the precious met
ais from the New World has been ad-
ded to the product of the mines of the
Old, and gradually, but constantly,
distributed among the people. Fluc-
tuations in production have at times
occasioned scarcity Of money; but the
want of money and the distress caused
thereby, since the discovery Of Amer
lea, have mainly resulted from unwise
legislation and combinations and con-
spiracies among the rich to deprive the
people of their just share of the rewards
Of labor and enterprise.
Sir Archibald Alison. in his old age.
after having contributed eight large
volumes to the discussion of the new
civilization in Europe which resulted
from the discovery Of gold in America,
significantly remarked that
"This history has been written with
little purpose if it is not apparent that
in an ancient, opulent, and commercial
nation,
Meaning England
"the monetary measures which the
holders Of realized wealth, for their
own sake, are prompted to pursue, is
the source of such unbounded industrial
distress and frequent recurrence Of
monetary and commercial crises as per.
haps more than any other cause impels
the industrious part of the nation into
distant lands"
We would not complain Of the mon
etary measures of Europe which ban
ished millions of its best population to
America if the holders OF realized
wealth in money, bonds, and securities
10 Europe and America were not now
engaged in a conspiracy to improverish
and oppress the people of this country
by robbing them of the glorious oppor-
tunity afforded for wealth and prosper
ity by the discovery and development
of the gold and silver mines of our own
favored land.
Money famines, occasloned by fail
ure in the production Of the precious
metals, have been rare since the discov.
cry Of gold and silver 10 the New
World. The most disastrous and pro-
longed interruption in mining which
has occurred in the last three hundred
and City years happened in the present
century. In speaking of the reduced
production Of gold and silver from the
beginning of the year 1910 to the end
of the year 1929, occasioned by the
Spanish American wars, Jacob says:
"We are now arrived at period
when great and sudden change took
place in the production of the mines OF
gold and silver. After space of more
than three centuries during the whole
Of which there bad been constant in
crease of the quantities obtained, and
each succeeding perennial period yield.
ing Q larger portion than the similar
number of years that preceded it., the
whole of the mines in every part Of the
Western Continent declining greatly in
their prodnce; and though they have in
some measures been restored, it has
been by slow degrees, and they are yet
very far from having the copious pro-
duce which they yielded before their
general abruption from European gov.
ernment.r -
Jacob estimates the average annual
production of gold and silver in the
world duaing the period above referred
to as not exceeding $25, 100000. There
was some increase of production of the
precious metals between 1880 and 1850