The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1897-06-23
GOLD AND SILVER OUTPUT.
silver state shouters Are Not So
yOciferOus.


yociferous.
The silver production in the United
| States in 1895 was 55,S00,0O0 ounces.
Last year il was 57,700,000 ounces, or
gain of three per cent. That was not
doing so badly for dull times. Al
though the free coinage Of silver is not
permitted, the production of silver in
creases, because there is money in the
business.
The gold value of the 57,700,000
ounces mined in this country last year
was about $50, 100000. On the basis of
the price of 1873, when silver was 1870
cents an ounce, the years product
would have been worth $74,000,000.
And yet, in spite of the decline in price,
the miners made money. If their bust
ness were Improbable they would
| abandon it.
For, while the, average price of sill
yer during the year was only between
CT and 60 cents, it cost the miners only
about half as much to put an ounce of
silver on the market now as il did a
quarter of "a century ago. Machinery
is cheaper and better. Wages are lower
for the living expenses of miners have
been reduced so much. The cost of
transportation is fbut trifle compared
with what it was. The steam car has
taken the place of the wagon.
So the owners of mines where the
ore contains q fair amount of silver have
nothing to complain of. The owners of
the lean mines, which cannot be worked
ut profit now, but which could be
if silver were worth 1919 cents an ounce,
are the men who do the most grum-
bling. But they have companions in
misery. The owners of poor coal mines
and poor deposits of iron ore, which
cannot be worked at profit because
of the competition of richer mines,
would like to see sharp advance in
the price of coal and iron ore. But they
do not clamor for the free coinage of
coal and iron.
Whether the silver yield of 1897 will
be equal to that of 1896 is an open ques-
ton. Since the beginning of the year
the price of silver has been falling, and
il is down now to GO cents an ounce.
That is the lowest price it has ever
touched except during the momentary
sharp fall after the closing of the India
minis. If silver continues to fall the
production may be checked, unless that
decline in price is offset by reduced
cost of production.
That process is going on slowly but
continuously. The methods of treat
ing the ores are being cheapened and
improved on, and railroad charges,
which play so much more important n
part in silver mining than in gold min
ing, are dropping gradually. So it
would not be at all strange if more sill
yer were to be mined this year than
last, in spite of the lower prices. The
output of last year was nearly equal
10 that of 1891, though the price then
was over % cents an ounce.
While the silver product increased
three per cent, the gold product in
creased - per cent. The value of the
gold mined in the United States last
year was $53.000,000, while III 1895 it
was SAC, $780, 900. In 1890 it was S33 ,O00,-
900.
The gain would have been still great
or but for the strikes which closed some
Of the Colorado mines. Utah produced
100000 more gold than in 1895, and
Arizona 100000 more. and yet both of
them are shriebing for free silver.
But they are not shrieling quite as
loudly as they were, and when the
price of silver falls still more, as it will,
the absurdity of contending that any
artificial device can make it worth 120
cents an ounce will be too palpable. The
men who want a cheap currency to
cheat creditors with will keep up their
clamor, but the silver miners will have
to admit that silver is down for good,
as the result of cheapened production.
-ChicnrO Trihnne