The Wichita daily eagle., 1895-06-08
THAT ABUNDANCE OF GOLD.

unable to understand the stress of the
unfortunate victim beneath his feet
Gcschen, the ex-governor of the Bank
of England, told Gladstone that the de-
monetiZatiOn of silver in India would
create an immediate demand among
the European powers for a additional
billion dollars in gold. and it did. Still
the selfish single standard swell, ignor-
ing conditions, statistics and every
thing bearing upon the subject keeps
right on insisting that there is an abun-
dance Of gold for monetary basis. 1t
is a demonstrable fact that for years
past that the actual amount Of the an
nual product of gold available for in
creasing the stock of the worlds money
has been little or nothing. The more
fair-minded monematllistS admit that
the larger portion of the annual gold
production of the present is consumed
in the arts and for other non-monetary
purposes. We suppose there is not In
the world more uncomprOmising
monometaollist than Mr.. Robert Giffen,
the English statistician and economist.
He has become known as the militant
mOnometallist" because Of the bitter
ness of his attacks on bimetallism and
bimetallistS. But in his book, the
"Case Against Bimetallism," he says
that many monometaliists place them
selves at disadvantage in denying
that gold is appreciating, and he frank
ly declares that almost the entire an
nual production Of the mines is devoted
to non-mOnetary purposes. The lead
ing authority on this question is the
late DIR. Soetbeer, the great German
scientist and economist, who calculates
that $50 ,000, 600 per annum is consumed
in the arts and industries alone, with
out calculating the amount withdrawn
by boarding. etc; and he says that it
is possible that not an ounce OF gold
that comes from the mines is really
and permanently added to the none
tary circulation of the world. The re-
ports of the director Of the United
States mint say that the amount thus
consumed sis enormous and constantly
increasing" The report for 1893 gives
the amount Of gold of the current an
nual production devoted to other than
monetary purposes as SSS,0O0,OO0 and
it can be demonstrated from this very
report Itself that this is far below the
actual figures. The manner in which
-, =, 1I Sc 70 oI1
gether the amount consumed in the
arts, the net exports to India and the
product of the Russian mines. The
gold exported to India is boarded and
so is all the product Of the Russian
mines, and both are therefore very
properly deducted by the director of
the mint from the total product. That
he has not made fair statement, how
ever, very plainly appears by institut-
ing a little comparison. He gives the
amount consumed in the arts for the
year 1893 at $6O,OOO,OOO. On the very
next page he gives the average annual
consumption for the years 1868 at
S56,OOO,O0O; or in other words an an
nual increase of only $4,000,OOO for the
whole world in over twenty years. In
the very same report he shows that
there has been an increase of nearly
twice that much in the United States
alone. Again, he very properly de-
ducts the net imports of gold by India,
but it so happened that these for the
year 1893 were only $3,OOO,000, while
the average for the preceding ten years
was about S20,OOO,OO0. This itself
would have raised the figure to about
S1O5, ,0OO, 900 annually devoted to other
than monetary purposes. The figures
of DR.. Soetberr are S20,000,00O in ex-
cess Of this, and he is supported by the
greatAust rian scientist, Suess, by Rob-
ert Giffen and other eminent authori-
ties. On a most conservative esti-
mate the amount OF gold annually de-
voted to other than monetary purposes
for the decade 1SSO-9O could not have
been much less than S100,0O0,O0O,
which leaves a very narrow and pre-
carious margin for adding to the
worlds stock of money. The scarcity
Of gold with reference to the demands
that are made upon it is not a matter
Of argument or speculation, but a plain,
palpable fact that stareS us in the face.
Besides this large non-monetary use of
gold practically absorbing the total
output Of the mines. the immensely in
creased demand for no-mOnetary pur-
poses must be considered, not only be-
cause of the increase in population and
business. but because Of the fact that
whole nations that We're on the silver
or the double standard have Joined in
the scramble for their share of that
scarce and precious metal. With these
plain facts before us, it seems strange
that any man should be found with
the hardihood TO deny the scarcity and
appreciation of gold and assert that it
is abundant and ample 10 meet all the
demands of trade and commerce Mr..
Goschen, formerly chancellor of the ex-
chequer under Gladstone, estimated
that the change from silver or bimetal-
lie TO the gold standard was n new de-
mand for not les than one billion dol
lars in gold. and several nations have
Joined in the wild scramble since that
declaration.
FoRTY-FOUR MILLIONS.