The morning times., 1896-04-28
FACTS ABOUT GOLD.
The Annual Production of the World
and the Amount in Use as Money
Nom York SHp

AtU OIh oNH
One result which has followed the pros
tratiOn OF tie silver mining industry since
the summer Of 1893 has been the increase
in the product OF gold mines. more particu-
la rly in the United States.
The latest figures show the gold product
of Colorado to have been $50 900, 900 last
year. compared with S12,0o0,UO0 in 1874
and ST ,O0O, 900 in 1893. The gold product
of the United States last year was 500, ,00O,-
600 in value, the product of other countries
collectively being Sl10,00O,000 as fol-
lows: South African gold fields. $40, ,OOU,-
600; Australia. $4,000, 600: Russia, S25,-
00O. 900; and Mexico, S5,00o,O00. The an
nuaI product OF other great producing
countries shows large increase since l SS5.
Ii is said that simply by the removal or
the restrictions on hydraulic mining Cali
fornia could be made TO produce $500, ,O0O.-
900 of gold. Other parts OF the United
States are also rich, while Australia and
Russia probably possess stock equal 10
our own. But the mCst surprising, and, so
10 speak, revolutionary facts regarding
gold that have recently come TO light are
those concerning the great Witwatersrand
mines of South Africa. There gOldiS found
in enormous quantities. and in Cbeaply
workable form, in Il new geological situa-
tiOn-in strata the comp onent parts OF which
are pieces OF quartz held together by
clayey cement.
Following the gold fever on the Pacific
coast, the product OF gold ore reached its
highest point in 1S53-S65, 100000. After
that it declined, ana in 1867 touched 500
100000. Since then, except during the
squirt at the discovery OF easily mined gold
in Colorado in 1878, the total yearly
product of $50,O00,000 was not reached
until this year. With the Improvement in
machinery and methods OF working mining
properties, the volume of gold brought into
the market each year seems now to be Cn
a scale of probably permanent increase.
From the discovery of America III l492 un-
til 1900 the total gold product OF the world
was I5O tons. From 1000 to 170O it was
1000 tons. From 1TGO to 1900 it was
$500 tons. From 1SG0 TO 1880 it was
5000 tons. Onc-half of the annual geld
product OF the United states is mined in
the two States of California and Nevada
The amount OF gold coin in use in all the
countries of the world. collectively, amounts
to S3,600.00 900 in value. About one
third of the gold mined is used for coinage
purposes. The value of gold coin in the
United States is 100000 900, against
$S00,000,000 in France, $500. 900 600 in
Germany, and $3.50 900, 900 in England.
The free silver orators predicate much of
their argument upon the insufficiency Of
gold as circulating medium in the world =
business. but the recent increase i'll the
output of gold has had the effect OF reducing
to practical demonstration of their in
accuracy some OF the most popular of the
arguments heretofore used by free coinage
men. While in Africa the increase of gold
products has led to acts of isorder. in the
United States it has doomed the business of
States in which the decline of the silver
mining industry had had detrimental ef-
feet.