The Saint Paul globe., 1897-08-29
RIVER AT s A. NJ.
THE FUTURE OF GOLD.

fully by the reports that are constantly
coming in from the Klondike. So fixed
by custom and inheritance has the idea
become in the average mind that a
certain yellow metal, possessing definite
physical qualities and a chemical
constitution that places it among the
elements, is exceedingly and inherently
so desirable that it is we'll worth OBJ
tanning at any risk of life that we
cannot get rid of it at once. 1t re-
quires distinct effort to remember
that this substance is one of the least
valuable in itself in the physical world.
There are few metals which have not
more and larger uses in the life of man
than gold. Had it not caught, by it's
glitter, the eye Of the savage suggest
ing itself to him as suitable for pur-
poses of Ornamentation, and thus ac
Quired an exchange value at an early
to this day, an ounce of gold would
be worth much less than an ounce of
copper. Copper has Industrial uses in
the field Of applied electricity, for ex
ample. that gold cannot claim. It's use
In the arts is extremely limited, and
Its exchangeability fer things really
desirable, things that one can eat or
wear or otherwise apply to personal
comfort, would disappear should the
world at any time agree to substitute
for 1t some other form of money. as
they have put it in the place of silver.
That this will come about is Just as
certain as it is that the race becomes
wiser and civilization progresses. All
forms of metallic money are inheri-
tances of ruder age, and the law of
the survival Of the fittest, that has left
only gold existing today in it's primi-
tive use, will doom that also Indeed,
1t is mark Of low civilization that
whole armies Of people should be will
ing to start for Alaska as quickly as
the season will permit for the sole
purpose of gathering together some
ounces or pounds of yellow substance
that cannot be used for making
weapons or agricultural implements or
anything else whatever that ministers
to the comfort of man. These people
are not open to ridicuIe, but that SEN
timent of the whole world which has
agreed to trade back and forth for
these bits of yellow metal all the other
commodities that sustain and comfort
life.
we are just as surely going to evolve
out of this stage as we were to leave
off the breech-clout and to quit cover
ing our bodies with streaks of naint or
necklaces of bears claws. 1t is only
q question of time. The labor devoted
to the production of gold, except only
In as far as it has artistic value and
so ministers to the culture of the race
IS absolutely wasted. 1t is devoted to
the production Of a substance not in
itself useful, and one which, if the
world were to agree to get along with
out it, might just as we'll be sunk in
the depths of the ocean and no one ba
particle the worse. Dean Swift fmag-
ined a cutting satire upon his genera
ton when he represented the LilIipu
tians as struggling, at the sacrifice OF
life if need be, for possession of certain
bits of colored silk thread, the wearer
of which was supposed to have achiev-
ed the highest possible honor and
glory. He was poking fun at the read
incss of the average Briton and the
average man Of any race for that mat
ter to sacrifice everything else for the
possession of an empty title or a COW
eted office or the right to put a GER
tain patch Of colored paint upon his
equipage and note paper.
All the world is open to the same
sharp sarcasm in its agreement that
@ particular metal, whose marked char
acteristics Of great weight, yellow color
and extreme ductility and malleabilitv
give 1T no proper precedence over
others. should stand as an exponent
and representative of everything that
is valuable in this life. Humanity is
ITO more going to adhere to this illu-
sion than it Is to return to a belief in
the philosophers stone or the search
for visible, personal devil 1t will
not be long, we apprehend, before the
unfitness of gold to act as a perrna.-
nent measure and standard of value