Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-15

duce IT,
This is a bald assumption. No one
knows what il costs to produce either
god or silver in the aggregate: but in
teiligent investigators believe that they
both cost a great deal more than they
are worth after they are produced.
Mining for the precious metals is
very largely a game of chance. Occa-
sionaliy there is a rich find, and the
lucky miner amaSSeS q fortune very
quickly. This stimulat ties others. who
waste both time and money in vain
search. Every estimate of the cost OF
production is based upon productive
mines only. No record has ever been
kept OF the countless days of labor
spent in prospecting. or the untold mil
lions of money expended upon so-calied
mines that were simply shafts aud
tunnels.
Nothing could more conclusively dem
Onstrate the recklessness of the gold
champion than the attempt 10 show
that silver has fallen in value because
of reduced cost in producing. when
there is not an authoritative record eX-
tant which pretends TO give the cost.
There is no doubt that given amount
OF mining development can now be
performed with less money than twenty
years ago: but that is owing rather 10
the general fall Of prices. than to i'm
provements in mining processes. More
over it applies to gold mining just as
mn 10 sill A In rtsn m.
ton of the gold and silver produced are
found together-in the same mine, in
the same ore, and are extracted by the
same identical process. Still they tell
us that gold is worth $50 an ounce be-
cause il costs that amount to produce it.
while silver is only worth Us cents.
because il can be produced at that
cost.
\ few years ago prominent gold adj
vocatcs We're busiiy engaged proving
% that silver could be produced for
from III TO IL cents an ounce Ac-
cording to the theory of labor cost, il
should only have been worth II to Al
cents an ounce. But il so happens
that it was worth about 90. In 1898,
the East Indian mint closed. and silver
dropped in two or three days about
one-fOurth of its entire market price.
What becomes of the labor cost the
DRY in view of that fact? The truth is
that the actual cost of mining a given
amount of silver is increasing rather
| than diminishing, for two reasons:
| First because the richest deposits are
| generally worked out, and the mines
are now operating upon ores of lower
| grades; and second, the older mines
| are all the time becoming deeper, and
more powerful machinery is required
1t is very singular that reduced cost
of production should make silver SO
much cheaper, while gold produced in
| the same way and with equal improve
ments is constantly becoming dearer.
But the claim has no foundation
| either of fact or sound economic the
DRY to rest upon.
| The labor cost does not fix the value
of anything. That is controlled 10y the
supply relative to the demand. The
cost of producing only has an inciden-
tai effect. 1t influences production, and
| production affects the price.
| If given article sells for 81 and can
be produced for 80 cents, of course the
profit is very great. Many people will
engage in that work AS result the
supply will be increased and the price
| will fall.
| When thing can be produced prac-
tically without limit, of course the sup
| ply will be increased right up to the
| full measure of the demand. and at the
lowest cost that will pay for produc-
| ton.
Hence there is, in general. some con-
nection between the cost Of production
and the price of the commodity.
But In the case of the precious metals
| the labor cost only has very remote
bearing.
4 man cannot take his pick and shov-
| el, start out and dig up gold and silver
at will. All he can do is to search for
them, and he may scratch lifetime
without success.-National Bimetallis..