Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-01-24

STATISTICS SHOWING THEIR
RELATIVE VALUES.


At the time of the discovery of Amer
lea the amount of gold and silver in
Europe in use rs money was insignif-
cant. being estimated by Humboldt at
not more than 100000 600, the larger
accumuatiOns made during the rise Of
the Roman empire having been almost
entirely dissipated Three hundred
millions of dollars is considered 10 be a
very liberal estimate OF the whole stock
of gold and silver i'm existence in the
then known world at the time of the
discovery of America. The production
Of gold and silver in the world since
1893 is given on pages IA and 115 of the
report of the director of the United
States mint for 1894 at 400. 800 476
ounces of gold of coinage value Of
$3.50 101 600, and 1854 O23.7 16 ounces Of
silver of coinage value of S9,9O9 Gal 900.
How much of this gold is still in eXis-
tence is problematical for it is impossi-
bic even to approximately estimate the
actual loss in use and the waste of the
precious metals in manufacturing and
the arts. The approximate amounts OF
gold and silver in use as money in the
world are however given by Mr.. Pres
ton, director OF the mint, at So 965, 900,-
600 gold and 81 055 700 900 silver at our
coinage ratio of 16 1888 to l. from
which it's apparent that there is almost
exactly sixteen ounces of silver in use
as money to one of gold. The balance
of the gold and silver mined since 1893
has, of course, either been absorbed in
the arts or lost. But as affecting the
supply OF gold and silver available for
coinage we have little occasion to spec
ulate as TO the amount Of gold and sill
yer used in the arts and still in exist
ence, for gold and silver so used is as
effectually withdrawn from the stock of
gold and silver available for use as
money as if il were lost, for the labor
expended on gold and silver used in the
arts gives ii such an enhanced value
that the melting down of such gold and
silver used as ornaments and pate for
sale as bullion is out of the question.
The total amount of silver purchased
under the act of July IA, 1890 the Sher-
man act), from August 10, 1890 the date
the act went into effect. to November /,
1898, the date of the repeal of its pur-
chasing clause aggregated 16S GA $50
$1,000 ounces fine pure silver without
alloy, costing sl55,931 ,002 .25, or an
average of .9244 cents per ounce. the
coinage value of the same in silver dol
lars being S21S,0S4 43S. OF the amount
purchased there was used mp 10 NOvem-
Der, !, 1894, in the coinage OF 80, 531 4 3
silver dollars, 30 sol ,430SS fine ounces
costing $50, 767 ,0S2.97. Thus it will be
seen that little more than one-siXth of
the silver purchased under the sherman
act has been coined. (See pages Is, 1G
and II. report of the director of the
United States Mint for 1S94D OF the
treasury notes issued to purchase this
silver, costing $155,931 O02 25. as above,
$144 .000 900 are still outstanding
Under the act of February 2S. 1878,
known as the Bland act. 291 272 01S 90
ounces Of fine silver were bought at a
cost of $30S ,279 26O71 and coined into
37S .l66793 silver dollars, against an
equal portion OF which 33S 600 900 OF
silver certificates have been issued,
1890 600 600 Of which are still outstand-
ing.-The American.