The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-09-20
sUPERLATIvE MBEcILITY.

stfEhLAlINE IMBEtlLlils
The only excuse that has yet appeared
for prolonging the silver debate in con-
gress is the extraordinary ignorance of
some OF the newspapers of the coun-
try. One would suppose that the Phil
adelphia Press. for example. would be
familiar with rudimentary facts in gold
and silver coinage. and yet that paper
says in answer TO a correspondent:
An honest dollar is just what II pur-
ports to be. IL either contains n dollars
worth OF metal. in which case II will
not lose any of its value by being melted
or exported. or else IL paper II Is ex-
changeable always on demand for a dol
lars worth OF gold or silver. A gold
dollar is honest" because a requires
fun dollars worth OF labor and capital
to mine and market the gold contained
In IT, The silver In the silver dollar on
the other hand. costs in labor only from
20 TO 40 cents, and when presented for
coinage Is worth just So cents, whereas
the gold In the dollar presented for coin
age Is worth a fun 100 cents.
II the Press believes this, II must have
wondered why anyone should want to
own a gold mine. or what advantage
would II be II II costs a dollar TO mine
dollars worth Of gold? And then how
could the Press account for the enormous
fortunes made in gold mining? There
are numerous instances OF persons who
had no capital who became rich by dis
covering gold mines. And the dividends,
did the Press ever think about them?
h. Inc
which up TO Jan. l of this year had paid
s4.94S.750 in dividends and whose stock
Is worth about 400 per cent.-a mine IN
which the total money actually invested
was less than OO.OOO-how does the
Press account for such an extraordinary
result? The idea that there is no profit
in gold mining is certainly a most start
ling and novel one and will have ten
dency 20 alarm the Fairs and Floods
and Mackeys who have been laboring
under the delusion that 1t was a profit
able business.
Let us look for a moment at the "bo-
nanza" properties. Is the Press aware
that but for the gold In the Comstock
mines the ore could not have been
worked profitably? From the Comstock
discovery In 1859 to 1893 these properties
produced s141. 9s6. S44 in gold and $685.
S77547 in silver. The total dividends
were S134 .O66, $50 and the total assess
ments $s1.5ss.5 45. leaving a net profit OF
$50 47s.23 SO that the expenses con-
sumed all of the silver and two-thirds
OF the gold. or all OF the gold and three
fourths OF the silver. as you may please
TO put it. If either metal had been alb
sent there would have been no DO
nanza." The Comstock lode is commonly
called a silver lode, but II is equally a
gold lode. and in fact was at first worked
for gold only. The first year no silver
was produced, and for three years fol-
lowing the gold production was more
than twice as great as the silver. Neither
did this property show the reduction of
cost in production OF which there is so
much absurd talk in the discussion Of
silver. In 1870 the gross yield was So
SIS. 500 and the profit s2,529.5S7. In 1888
the gross yield was 1882. 5O4 and the
profit s2,26S.747
II the Press will examine the census
report OF 1880 1t will find a special state
ment of the profits OF hydraulic gold min
ing in California and Nevada, showing
that the cost of producing a dollars
worth OF gold varied from 80 cents to so
cents. The latter figure was from a
mine where the ground paid only cents
TO the cubic yard. In drift mining.
where the gravel was treated in mills.
IL cost So cents to produce a dollar in
gold. In the Homestake IL costs about
40 cents. And the Press thinks 1t is
honest" to give that gold dollar a pur-
chasing power twice as great as IL had
twenty years ago. The gold dollar dug
out OF the Comstock In 1888 was as hon
est as the one dug out in 1870.
but the silver dollar dug out Of the same
mine at the same cost was dishonest
And this, too. although the silver dollar
would buy only as much In 1888
lar would buy 30 per cent. more.
That any sane man should attribute the
so-called decline Of silver to cheapening
production is truly wonderful When
India demonetized silver few weeks ago
the production Of silver was suddenly
cheapened 10 cents an ouncel When
England began buying silver the cost Of
production suddenly increased 4 cents an
ounce! Bah. School boys have been
caned for making statements not half so
silly