Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-07-25
SUPPLY OF SILVER.


on the supply of the white metal which
argues that silver has been produced
the world over, and from mines that
have been worked for ages Yet silver
has rapidly disappeared when the mines
failed. When the Attica mines failed.
silver soon became scarce in Greece,
and Scion reduced the size of the
drachma one-third. In the years of
the Antonines, Rome had $3.50, OOO, 600
in money. yet 400 years later this was
reduced to s46, OOO, 900, and the silver
coins were reduced one-half in weight
All the rest was lost or consumed. A:
the time of the discovery of America,
the supply of precious metals was very
low. The American Encyclopedias says
that the combined value of the gold
and silver was not to exceed e34, 0O0,-
600, or s17O, OO0. 600 in all the world. and
commercial and financial distress was
approximate estimates have been
made. Won Humboldt, than whom
there is no higher authority. estimated
that the whole product of silver in the
world from the discovery of America
to the opening of the present century
was 81, 356, 900, OOO
The production of silver during this
century. according to Dawson, who es-
Inmates from 1900 to 1s4S. and of Prof. w.
P. Blake in his report on production
of the precious metals" from 1S4S to 1868,
and of the reports of the minis to the
present, has been 1000, 900. 900 more.
The grand total of the worlds product
for the past 400 years is about So, $780,
600, 900. But out of this the world has
been consuming for all these 400 years.
Rome consumed e3a5.0OO,O0 in that
period when the world was small and
commerce meager. The first 81 ,OOO,-
600. 900 was mostly transported to Eu-
rope to meet the famine for precious
metals there prevailing, and SO need
ing it that it required fifty years to
make noticeable rise in prices. 1t is
safe to deduct as consumed So. $50, O0O,-
900. leaving as the present value at the
ratio of 16 to $1,000, OOO, 900. and this
is a liberal estimate of the worlds sup
ply to-day.
1t is interesting to note how the
great productive district moved north
ward until it was in the United States.
For the first 800 years after the discov-
cry of America, the mass of the worlds
PIoouCt was HUH CIu anu NuCAACOs
81. 100, 600, 900, and 5000, 600, COG produced
in all the rest of the world. No silver
was as yet produced north of Mexico.
From 1880 to 1S4s Peru and Mexico pro-
duced S1,e44, 900, 900. and Europe and
Asiatic Russia S325, ZOO, 900; nothing
yet north of Mexico. From 1s4s to 1868
the production of silver in the United
States is first noted. Peru and Mexico
$3.50, 900, 900, the United States ST., OOO,-
600, Australia S2O,O 900, Europe and
Asiatic Russia S16O, 900, 900. From 1868
to 1873, the United States takes the
lead with s1s2. 100000 Mexico $140.-
600, 900. South America $50. 900, 900, and
all the rest of the world but So, OOO,-
600. In the particular year 1878, when
silver was demonetized, the United
States came easily to lead all
the world in this product.
The following estimates are
from the best available accounts from
all the countries named: Great Britain
and colonies. $1,000, 900; Sweden and
Norway, $25O.OOO; Russia, $500, 600;
Austria Hungary, 81. $780, 900; German
empire, $1,000, 600; France. $1,000, 600;
Spain, So, 600, 900; Italy, S5OO,OO Mex
leo, SIC, 900, 900; Central and South
America. $4,000, 600; Canada, 5000, 600,
and the United States the grand lead
of $50. OOO. 900. That year should have
been regarded with pride and comfort.
Since 1873 to the present. we have
produced 5000. OOO, 900. In one year,
1878, producing sos. 600, 600, the highest
ever attained. The lead in this product
is easily with us now.
h. -
as a nation to the year 1850, we bought
and imported silver for our coinage,
S25, OOO, 900. A silver mine would then
have been regarded as a great national
blessing. During the same period we
had coined 800, 900. 900 in gold. From
1850 to 1873 we coined $3.50, 600, 600 of
gold and about 500, 200, 900 of silver.
From 1878 to 1898 gold has decreased IS
per cent. in product, while we have
the grand lead in the production of
silver; but silver is demonetized and as
money is of no more value than paper.
Silver through the ages has held a
variable ratio to gold. NJ. Leon
Foucher says silver in the very early
ages was sometimes worth more than
gold. In Egypt. in the age of the
Menes, the ratio was ~ to L; 500 B. c..
the ratio was 6 to 1; in the time of
Xenophon 10 to 1; in the sixteenth CEN
fury IL to 1; in the seventeenth GEN.
fury 16 to 1; the eighteenth century
II to 1; the nineteenth century the
authorized ratio over Europe 15I to 1;
in the United States since 1884. 16 to
l. This ratio holds the metals as
about equal in value in the average of
a long period of 100 years. Silver was
worth more than gold by this ratio,
the larger part of this century but
would have closed about equal had
there been no adverse laws.
There is no reason to suppose that
this temporary output can be con-
tinued. The mines of Attica, in Potosi,
and in the Sierra Morena mountains,
and in Valenciana, and thousands of
Others. have become exhausted without
causing a surplus. Take the worlds
silver to-day, 10000 tons, one cubic
foot of silver weighs CSC pounds, and the
number of cubic feet is in round num-
beers, 400, 600. These if placed in a
rectangular heap would make solid
90 feet high, and would represent in
value. at the ratio of 16 to l, about
S., 600, 00O, 900, about equal to the
worlds heap of gold. The two to-
gether, $40, DOC, 900. 600, the whole metal
lie base of the two precious metals for
the whole worlds commercial transac-
tons.
While the center of the gold pile is
in the Bank of England in Lombard
street the center of the silver in