The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-11-07
THY INCREASE OF GOLD.


,oarr ,.o,n the special Washington
correspondent OF the New YORK dourhaI Vi
Commerce that the Director OF the -"i"'
has been giving especial aUtehuo"
the new and improved methods OF soiu
mining which have been successfully APP
r1ted during the last year In TINS couii-
,ry and In South Africa, ana we are
nrornised in his next annual report
creap deal Of information touchihg inc
s,bfect These processes have been III
creasing the annual production OF the
,yorld's gold. steadily for T. number OF
years and the increase goes on. FROM
H. dove1onrnent of the new hydraulic
rrocess in California and the other west
ern gold producing States. the director
expects very large increase III 'no
American gold product this year "''o
ne does not care 70 modify his cs'liiid'e
NJ S32Ol0 900 TO Sf3600.009 as the gold pro-
duct of the United States Tor the ycaI
1894 he admits frankly that ne "ouiN
not be surprised from present deNeiop
ments ifit reachaed $45.O00O. On si''ii'"i
scale the production for this country
would reach the ENORMOUS SUM
Kat
and two-thrds per cent, or over $%VV''''''
net increase over the average hguIes io'
1891 and 1892 While the greater JUN
OF American gold mining Is quartz INN
ing. the washing system sun pays an
,ronor,ant mart. and with the improved
methods in both systems the soio w
tanned now shows considerable III
crease when only the same amount Vi
quartz is crushed or gard washed ne
parding the utility Of the new electrical
machinery the director does not express
any opinion. as very little has yet Deeh
accomplished by 1t. though It's irlehds
claim very much for it ana apparently
", reason. In the matter of economy
II ought TO figure.
Colorado Is making a great record as
a gold producing Stale this year. ana
very good share Of the increase III 'he
American production will be credited
IN that State. The Colorado miners seem
10 have thoroughly awakened TO the
necessity of turning their attention from
] silver 10 cole mining, and have done
so most promptly. The market Tor si'Nei
hoe ~ course. been much limited by a
| decreased demand. This has beeh a
| noverful stimulus to fresh goll mining
| ventures.
| These statements open up some very
| interesting inquiries The glut or silver
| which improved processes for EXTRACTING
| Il from the ore has produced, has driven
| it's price down to point when makes
| mining II profitable in only part OF
the mines that were operated few
years back. so that the supply OF SILVER
Is falling off. But improvements in pro-
ceases for extracting gold is making the
| production Of that metal more ana more
| profitable and Is GIeatly increasing ihe
| supply. These conditions must neces-
| sarttv tend toward bringing the respective
| valuations of the metals nearer together'
and they may, in time, make goid 'he
less valuable metal, according to present
st.,ndards-that is an ounce OF gold may
| come TO be worth less than sixteen
| ounces of silver. II that day SHAH ar
rive and il seems entirely possible, wha'
u,iu he the position of the free silver
men then? We predict that we shaH
never have one word upon the supJecr
II there Is any clamor heard at all II
will be for the free coinage OF gnu III
case the reasons which caused us to dis
continue the coinage of silver dollars
should cause a future Congress TO discon-
tnue the coinage of gold dollars. There
will be no more talk of gold bugs, but the
| whole clamor wiz Sc against silver bugs
We do not believe there Is an honest
! advocate of the free coinage of silver
who would disagree with MS about what
we say here. We do not believe there
| Is one who would say that he shouio
care anything about the matter in case
| cold became so abundant as that one
| ounce o. 1t was worth no more than SIX
teen ounces Of silver. We believe ne
| would admit that in that case lie Wouit
go ON using gold and would not care
ran whether any silver dollars were
| coined or not.
This is complete proof that the whole
| c,amor for free coinage is at bottom u
| get a cheap dollar to pay debt Wlth'
L