The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-08-06

less holes in the ground while s10o. 900
is spent in a paying mine. 1t is rough
ly estimated that $4,000. 900 was ex-
pended in the Cripple Creek district in
1898 in developing mines, mills, build
ings and other things necessary to min
ing.The amount of gold marketed that
year was about $500 900. During the
years 1S94-5 the yield was about ST.
100000. It is q conservative estimate
that 500, 000, 900 was invested directly
and Indirectly to produce that result.
Out Of 1000 mines 25 of them gave back
81. 600 600 in two years. Hundreds of
mines returned nothing. 1t is my de-
Hberate conviction that every dollar
that ever came out Of the ComstOck
lOde-that wonder of modern times
has cost, directly and indirectly, over
500. Then why do men mine because
when a mine does pay it is likely to
pay very largely. Why do men engage
in the mercantile business, when 80 per
cent of them fail in the course OF a ser
les of years?
Every thoughtful mining man of ex-
peT1ence knows that the OverprOductiOn
of gold or silver is not probable, and
that, If the constantly increasing de-
mands of the world are met for a series
of years, it viii be because new fields
for mining are found. On an average,
every paying mine must pay about 10
per cent per month to reimburse its
owners for the capital, time, risk and
interest before it is exhausted. The
great COmStOCk mines are practically
Quilted of all high grade ore today. The
low grade ore, which contains about
tWo-thirdS silver and One-third gold in
value, viii not pay anything but small
profit with silver at $1.29 per ounce.
Certainly there is no fear of overpro-
ductiOn. The constantly increasing
wants of mankind will absorb all the
gold and silver that can be produced.
1t Is well understood by conservative
mining engineers that the amount of
gold in sight in the Transvaal has been
grossly Over-estimated, and there are
oh
States today that have positive assur-
ances Of any large reserves"
How about the 53-cent dollar2"
Has anybody ever seen a 53-cent
dollar? If the dollar of 371A grains of
silver cannot be raised to $129 per
ounce, 1t will not be used to pay debts
with as a dollar. I have never seen an
advocate of silver that had the slight
est expectation of paying debts with
debRsed dollar at its stamped values.
The silver men are not regulators.
That is a campaign SANDER. It is folly
10 worship gold or silver. Beyond it's
use in the arts and for money it is val
ueleSS. Gold can drive silver out and
silver can drive gold out, as is we'll IN
controversy That is bimetallism. If
gold and silver are primary money,
when one goes out the other comes in.
These changes are liable temporarily.
What OF it, We are practically on a
silver circulating basis now. We can
not get any gold. If our gold actually
goes out of the country it will go to pay
the debts we owe, and we want to pay
our debts. 1t will surely come back
when the present exaggerated idea of
its value dies out, and it will surely die
out if the United States, with its TO-
100000 rustlers and its S65, 900 600 600
worth of property, holds steadfastly to
Its right and power to act independent
ly.
We have an object lesson, a practi-
cal demonstration of the necessity of
bimetallism, before US today, when a
rev men have cOrnered gold. I am a
b1TnetalIist. If we are to have mono
metallism, it would be better for us to
go to the silver standard. We could
then get most of the trade from the
silver countries, and sooner drive the
world to bimetallism. What, put the
United States on par with the half
civilized silver countries? That sounds
like the old cry, What, force US to vote
with nigger2' The silver countries
are prosperous today and we are in
trouble. Singular isn't it? In my
Judgment, the greatest need of Iegisla-
ton. the WiSest thing we can do is the
retirement of all our notes payable in
gold, just as rapidly as a silver substi-
tute IN notes can be provided. That is
an object worthy the issuance of bonds
There are strong arguments on both
sides OF the money question, but let the
people go deeply into the subject, elm
mating all rhetoric, ridicule and preiu-
dice, and have no alarm about the re-
suit. Daniel Webster declared repeat
eddy, and with the greatest emphasis.
that the constitution requires the coin
age of both metals; and it would be a
d1SObedience to constitutional duty for
congress to discard ether