Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1894-1895, 1895-07-26
COST OF OUR GOLD.
ABSURD THEORY ADVANCED BY
YELLOW METAL MEN.
The Favorite Stock Argument of the
Single Gold Standard Adyocates-In-
ternationa1 BimctalIism Is Dead
Time to Drop Such Talk.
Cost of Gold,


The fayOrite stock argument of the
advocates and defenders of the single
gold standard is what may be called
1.-THE cost of production" theory.
1t runs about this way: First, that
gold is Il commodity, the value of
which is governed and fixed by the
same factors which control the values
Of al other commodities, to-wit: cost of
production and supply and demand.
Second, that gold would have the same
exchange value it now has if it did not
have coinage privileges and was not
used as money. Third, in Prof. Laugh
Inns language:
IF this explanation of value be kept
clearly in mind, It will De easy TO see
why Il government stamp on money
cannot fix its value. The stamp, certi-
flying that gold coin contains % I'D
grains of pure gold, is not all that is
needed to give to the gold an exchange
value; nor is it even an essential. Gold
would have Il value even if it were new
err stamped. The stamp is only 4 con-
venience to save weighing and assay
ing at every use OF gold"
1t would seem unnecessary to con-
tinually expose this absurd theory. and
yet such 4 course seems unavoidable,
from the fact that the argument thus
advanced is the citadel Of the money
power-the last ditch" as it were
Noticing, very briefly. the supply
and demand" argument, it will be suf-
ficient TO state that for the past ten
years we have produced an average
supply" of 100000 ounces annually.
while the demand" for use in the arts,
has been about One-half, or 100000
ounces annually. With no other "de-
mand' except that of the useful arts,
gold would be worth less than the cost
of production; but here it is that the
demand for monetary purposes inter-
venes, and by affording an unlimited
market, at fixed price, for all surplus
supply renders it impossible for any
gold to be obtained for use in the arts
at less than its money value, rs fixed
by the coinage laws. SO much for sup
ply and demand"
And what about "cost of produc-
tion?"
Relative to the cost of producing a
gold dollar, W. L. Kendrick, of Denver,
Col. says: THE cost of producing one
dollar, coinage value, in silver from
some Of our great silver mines of Colo
RADIO has been so often given at from
80 cents to 30 cents that / give the fol-
lowing as the, in most cases, actual,
and in other cases closely approximate
cd. cost Of producing one dollar, coinage
value. in gold from number of our
great gold mines. Since the LIST of Jan
uary the cost of producing one dollar
in gold from the Independence mine is
t cents; the Victor mine for the past
two years, % Is cents; the Portland
mine for nine months, including heavy
development work and new machinery,
so cents; the BOgart mine for the month
of March, when they first encountered
ore, cents; the Isabella mine for the
year 1894 including the expense OF Ia
Dor troubles, doing development work
and new machinery, 49, cents. The
cost Of producing gold in the Union,
Elkton, Moose, American Eagles, Little
Johnnie, Tom Boy, and a number of
other mines of the State, will average
with those above given. Gold is pro-
duced from our large gold mines at
much less cost on the dollar than silver
from any silver mine ever opened in
Colorado"
Confronted with these facts, our gold
bug friends come to the front with Il
statement like this:
"Old minerS-men who have had from
thirty to forty years active experience
N gvld-mining- that to take all the
money received from gold mines and
place it on one side of pair of scales,
and take all the money that has been
expended in prospecting and working
Improbable mines and place it on one
side of a pair of scales and very nearly
a balance would result
What nonsense! Why not apply the
same argument to silver? or fish? If
all the fruitless efforts expended and
time wasted in fishing We're computed
and taken into account in afiiXing the
price of fish, none but very rich people
could afford TO eat fish. And il the
cost of all the labor and seed expended
in the fruitless efforts to raise wheat,
IN eases where the crop fails, were add
cd to the price of the wheat that is pro-
duced to what heights would the price
Of wheat soar? There is nothing III
the COlu-bu0'S argument
Silver and Prices.
torn tx.l.itn To t1ln Nnr,r