The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-02-01

regard the war message.
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l. CoIDTo BECOME roo ABUNDANT?
The Baltimore sun has been making
some Investigations into the production
of gold which are very interesting and
we copy from it the foioWins
All the evidence concurs TO verify
IDOL Increase of gold production, ana
mo one can safely predict the hinl' %
thn worlds gold supply for the next zen
,-ears in view of the ASTONISHING Eie'~
already recorded. In our own Stale ol
Colorado alone the annual prouuct VI
the yellow metal has risen from s5'VVgsoV'
In 1899 10 go 0eo, 900 estimated Ia lNs'' ne
,.o,ls's entire production Of gold Tor
Zoo ,.ss according TO Mr.. Preston, the
director Of The mint. 'the largest in his
torv." but the product Of 1880 was .
per cent. larger and fully four to five mil
lions in excess OF the production OF me
bi,sh-water wear of the great California
mining period The figures OF the South
African mines as put forth by their pro-
motors seem almost fabulous. me Lon
don stock quotations OF the South Arr
can mining companies in August iast'
when the speculation was at IT'S helshl'
representod the mines out there To DC
of the value Of upward of TWO billions o.
dollars. But there was Il great deal OF
wind I'm those quotations. Those Of the
companies that are paying dividends
not all of them by any means-are re-
ported as paying on an average 10 per
cent and using for that purpose about
p per cent of their total output. The
Initiation is no doubt enormous. but there
is 10 question of the existence of a solid
UNDERMINING Of new gold. The South
African field is certified 10y trustworthy
surveyors to be the largest yet discovered.
It's deposits arc not in solid quartz. but
i'm a KIM of conglomerate gravel in veins
of considerable thickness. so that they
can be easily worked. and the average
yield Of gold per ION OF cong!omefate Is
very even. SeteGal shafts have been
sunk IN this wonderful country TO depth
of over one thousand feet and still the
veins are found as far down as that TO
be fun Of gold. Eminent engineers are
credited with the opinion that the South
African gold fields alone. which actually
produced S5OC0o.0oO last year, viii pro-
duce twice that quantity within four
years. and within ten years Will be an
nually yielding more gold than all the
mines Of the world put together were
producing ten years agO.
When so conservative an economic wri-
ter as NJ. Paul Leroy Beaulieu announces
his belief that within two or three years
the world will yield more than $780, ,oOO
I'm gold. and probably even $40 600. 600
annually. and this will continue for TWEEN
ty-iive or thirty years" we may reason
ably conclude that the greatest OF all
gold-mining cras has opened and is des-
tined TO swallow up the whole free-silver
coinage agitation. The scarecrows that
have done such long and faithful service
i'm the free-silVcr cause is scarcity of
gold" and the alleged impossibiliiy OF
giving the world enough metallic money
for a working business basis without coin
ing all the silver, plus all the gold. at
ratio fixed by a superstitious belief that
the two metals always had been and al
WAYS would be produced. counting by
centuries. in the proportion OF 10 to l.
But what becomes of those scarecrows,
and who will any longer respect the IS
TO ! superstition. when the gold yield Of
1895 was much greater than the combined
supply of gold and sill yer together in 1871.
silver being estimated on the coinage bG-
sis Of rs 10 I. and when conservative es-
Inmates make It well-nigh certain that the
annual output of gold by the wear 1900
will be $4,000 600. and VIII still 20 on
increasing? Tho free-silvcr argument
about scarcity OF gold" never had much
solid fact TO rest upon. hut what little it
possessed has disappeared. The oracles
Of Nevada continue 70 talk Of 4 scarce
and diminishing supply of gold. but they
are like actors who have lost their cues
and remain on tho stage mounting lines
which have 10 meaning. because all the
scenery has been shifted
The facts stated in this article ought
to be very troublesome ones to free coin
ers. but We doubt very much whether
ona Of them