Mohave County miner., 1893-01-07
Continued from 6fth page. }

England 10 not friendly ut present to
American commercial policy. As Lord
Salisbury has said, there is veritable
"wsr Of tariffs" all over the world. That
war IL very hitter. and necessarily pro-
duces hostility. There is " growing sen
timent, even at home, that American
protection has perhaps been carried 100
far. A purely selfish policy NAV not
prove polite for nations or men. 1t 10
doubtful whether any policy which pro-
duces var, whether OF arms or tariffs, IL
wise. Every effort which we nave made
TO exclude British manufactures has been
repaid by efforts 20 exclude our raw ma.
tsrial, by gigantic developing In India
and elsewhere. But, right Or wrong, the
hostilities Of such u war have oeen en-
gsndered. and We must expect to suffer
from them st the conference. The con.
sensus Of educated opinion is st present
that England will oppose us, and that
nothing will come OF it. England has
only Just awakened TO the fact that she
has been killing of large proportion Of
her silver customers. AT first she gained
enormously by the single gold standard,
buying Tor silver, anu selling for gold.
II not convinced that she will hereafter
be loser by = continuation of that pol
icy, she will not consent To change.
In that event, silver will no doubt 20
much lower than 1t has ever been, ut
least for time, and its complete res.
torA.ion will be relsgA'e ! 10 tn, rem ,tr
future. II wall be our p,licy tp continue
TO coin oaly our own pro.iact, which
amounts TO about the SUN vi the present
Treasury purchases. This will keep sill
yer Ut par With gold within our own lin.
its. Other silver-proiucing and silver
monomet allie Nations viii gradually bc
forced to still further contract their pur.
chAses abroad, and to d-seIup their own
resources, both Of products and manu-
fActures.
II remains to consider the probable
output Of the mines under these circutn-
stsncss,-or under any circumstances.
Oi course, the product of silver ~ill in
crease IL encouraged, and decrease il dis
courxsed. Thsre is certain dread that
the product 10 ut present too large, and
that ~ il has increased siesdils i.r .
number of years past, it will continue to
increase. A writer recently declared
that it 10 produced at y cost Of ffty-five
rea.s, and that the present agitation is
nothing but = conspiracy Of the ''sil 'er
bsroos'' 70 enable them to s~ll at dol
lar.
That 10 . grave mistake. No doubt
there are certain BONANZA mines in Col
orAdo, and perhaps ei.swhere,-~hich
can produce silver at fifty.fve cents; but
for every mine which 30 produces it. y
dozen, or perhaps twenty. produce it at
. loss. II 10 probable that every dollar
of silver and gold produced in the world
has cost = dollsr-that is, striking y bal.
snce Of the general mining account.
Even during the great honAnx4 on the
Comstock It has puolicly asserted that,
taking the losses with the gains. that MAS
the case, although two Of the mines de-
clared two million y month apiece in
dividends Tor some years. But The con.
sequent excitement Was indescribsble; ;
tboussads mon thousands OF "~ildczt"
snd unprOductiye Dines were opened,
worked for time, and ABANDONED 1T u
great loss. II 10 believed nov that the
balance sheet of the mining upon the
Comstock would show . prof, hut il .
doubt existed 10 to the Coms,ock ut the
period Of its greatest production, no
doubt can exist ~ to the average cost
u mining on infs. ior lodss. Il 10 we'll
known that, ~ - Iu!e, there IL not more
than one or AZ ,nost two. o.-psyiny prop
critics, even in the riches mining district.
The C0msto,k may be said to be worked
out, though no doubt the upper levels OF
some Of the mines will he worked ut y
small profit tor some years to come. But
in all the great State VI Nevada there
are now only some $1,000 people! As it
has been with Nevada 50 il will be with
Utah, Montana. Colorado, and else here.
some Of these states have already skim
med the cream some are still gathering
il. But even at this moment experienced
miners and miuing men will sustain lne
in the opinion that every dollar produced,
whether Of gold or silver, cumming up
the average total OF losses aud gains.
costs ct least . dollar.