Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-10-08
GOLD THE CHEAPER PRODUCT.



Does TO Mine silver
One of the oftsrepeated statements OF
republican newspapers and orators and
of their allies, the gold democrats, il
that the abundance of silver ore and the
cheapness with which the metal can be
produced are the causes why people Of
this and other countries will not. aud
should not sanction its free-coinage, as
a redemption money, ut the ratio of six
teen to one, or even the French ratio Of
fifteen and one-half to one. II this rea-
soning be accepted the truth is il is gold
which should be demonetized, for its
production during the past so years has
been relatively much larger. in coin
value, than that of silver. and the cost
of its production is now much less. To-
day, for instance, to get out of the earth
the silver in dollar costs the Colorado
miner 55 cents, while the South African
gold in dollar costs but 35 cents TO
mine. These figures the gold-standard
men never reveal. though practically ac-
quainted with them, for this campaign
is made on falsehoods which they hope
the people viii not find out. Based on
the cost of the production of both metals
the just market price of the yellow
metal as compared with the white is
only little more than 631s cents, and
so their present bullion prices should
be exactly reversed. According to the
strictly interpreted logic of the Shyloelxs
gold is the cheap and debased metal and
silver should be the standard and inter-
national coin, being the dearest one. In
this connection the following statistics
ore instructive:
Tho Production of Gold and silver.
BY periods, from 1792 to 1902
Production of gold from l7s2 to
Production Of silver from i7Sa to '''-'s''0e
1850 ..s......................... 1690.17s000
Excess Of production Of silver
Production of gold from 1850 s-''A''Oo
(goId of California and Aus
tralia) TO 1873 81. .724 900
Production of silver from 1850 to
1S7S -. 1.1b00z5s000
Excess of production Of gold
pSoduetion asf Of gold from 1878 to 'OO'O"
Production Of silver from iS5s to
isa2 inciusive..............s - - 2.2s44is.ocO
Excess Of. production OF silver
Total hf promotion Of gold from ''''zzO~
1880 TO 1882. inclustve-...........s47 "a 7s5 10000
Total production OF silver from
1850 20 1882. inclusive. 3,l14.4440c0
Excess of production OF gold
over silver from $50 to 1892. In
Total producifioni. Of gold from lew
iIsz 70 Iss2. incinsige 80. ....ss.ssssosOoo
iiss to isss. inclusive M =. s.Ioa.ssi.OOo
Excess Of production of goId
over silver for 100 years. from
An M analysis n I1ss Of these iiErres '4'sa'o
shows that from 1882 to 1870 the
production Of silver was about
double that of gold (for part
OF this period. or prior. to the
Of gold from Russia. the pro-
ductIon of silver was more
than three times that OF
gold. yet. with coinage free,
did not change: on the other
hand. from 1S51 to 1873, the rro-
duction Of gold exceeded that
And A dsaI stlIl here was no change
in the ratio. as al OF both
age or used in tho arts.
again. the production of silver
has slightly exceeded that Of
gold from is7s 70 1sez. the ex-
cess. however. beng but. ~ s103 zoo 00o
Tut with silver demoncfized a
chanre IN the ratio has gone
on TIL II has reached about
Z. again. we take the entire ne
riod from 1870 fo1se2 the nfo-
duction Of gold has exceeded
thaf OF silver 81, 1000
Showing exclusively that IT is not
he excess Of silver production that has
aused fall in silver. but the excIu-
from free coinage. thus con-
entylting the entire demand for money
n gold. that has caused the enor-
aous rise in gold, and q corresponds
ng fail Of silver, and Of prices gener-
Iiy.
Arkansas evidently believes in tha