The morning call., 1892-04-26
GOLD AND SILVER.

The report of the Director Of the Mint in
forms us that tie product OF the precious
metals continues to increase. Ten years
ago tie worlds product Of gold and silver
was reported by the Mint officials to be
500. 7oo Oo0. of which SOS, 100000 was gold
and SiO6, 900 silver. Now the same
authority reports that the worlds product
for 1891 was 1903 405 010 of which Sf24. go, 900
was gold and Sl39.l75,o0O silver. The in-
crease in silver has been mainly in the
United States, Bolivia and Australia; the
increase in gold has been mainly in South
Africa. Venezuela and the United States.
The heaviest product of gold and silver
in The United States ever reported was in
1873, which was the year of the Comstock's
last boom. In that year the country pro-
duced $50, 400, coo of the two metals; $751;
100000 in gold and S4j 100000 in sill
yer. In the placer days the gold
output was larger than this; in 1852
1858 and 1854 il was returned as over
S60,000000 a year. There was at that time
little silver produced in tie United States.
\ Tor. indeed, did. that metal assume place
am ong tie chief products of the country
till about the middle Of the sixties, when it
began TO be found not only in the vein on
Mount Davidson but III various other ioceli-
ties On The slope of the Rockies. In 1865 an
output of S11, 2j0. 900 of silver was reported;
the gold output for the same year being
given at S53 000,CC0. In the following six
years the production of silver gradually
crept mp; in 1871 it was reported as So, 000,-
Geo, gold still maintaining the lead with
product of 4S,000,oC Three years later,
for the first time in our history, the silver
product outstripped the gold product, the
figures being S37, 10000 Of silver to $685.
500, 900 of gold. This was In 1874. Then
followed the b0nanzas in The California and
Virginia, and in 1873 gold resumed its pre-
ponderance. as above stated. From that
time the gold product has steadily declined
and the silver product has steadily increased.
In 1879 there was 1000, 900 more silver
produced in the United States than gold. in
1880 100000, in 1881 SS,000.000 more. in
1882 S1i.00e,000, in 1888 $4,000, 900. in 1854
S1S000,000. These proportions have not
materially varied since then. The United
States product of gold has averaged about
thirty millions year. its production Of
silver about fifty millions. Now, we have
to record an increase OF both metals in 1891.
The production of previous metals in that
year was SEQ S05, 900. of which S33, $4,000
was gold and So, $50. 600 was silver. 1t is
fair 10 ascribe part of the increase in the
latter TO the exaggerated hopes which were
built on the effects Of the law requiring the
Government to buy four million ounces of
silver per month.
These figures must be studied by those
who seek TO form an intelligent opinion on
the silver question. twill be noticed that
forty years age. when the present ratio be-
tween silver and gold was determined by
u
there was little or no silver produced in the
United States. and the countries from which
the world was deriving its silver supply
Mexico. Bolivia. Peru. Chile and Ger
many-were producing less than they
now are, while the United States
was producing twice as much gold
as it is now doing and Australia were
not far behind them. 1t stands to reason
that such disturbance in the supply could
not help altering the relative price Of the
two metals, and that the alteration could
not be easily prevented. The schemes of
the silVer-miners to check decline in the
value Of their product ignore tie first prin-
elple OF political economy which declares
that price is governed by supply and de-
mand. They are on par with the old
English law which required dead people 10
be buried in wooden shroudS in order TO in
crease the profits of wool-growers. They
were certain to defeat their own object, as
the price of silver-S6 cents an ounce, as
against % cents when Congress passed the
bill commanding the Secretary to buy AGO.
COO ounces mOnth-sufficientlY proves.
Senator Morgan Of Alabama. not without
an eye TO his cotton planting constituents,
processes 10 believe that free coinage would
diminish the gap between gold and silver
How could it? We produced last year
IS, $4,000 ounces of fine silver, as against
less than million ounces forty years ago,
and 1904. $40 fine ounces of gold as against
about 3 200, 600 ounces forty years ago, and
yet the Senator claims that by some legsa-
tive device an ounce of fine silver can be
made TO buy as much gold as it did then.
He must surely understand that if the cotton
crop of the United States should be reduced
from It's present average Of 1000 900 bales to
100000 bales, which was the average forty
years ago, the price Of raw cotton would be
higher than it is, and that no legislation
would keep it down. Why should silver
and cotton be governed by different rules?