The times., 1898-01-24
GOLD STATISTICS.


of the precious metals are very unsat-
isfactory- The best we have are pub
lished in the United States Mint re-
ports. These reports have shown that
the men preparing them are opposed TO
the bimetaIlic standard OF money, and
1t is positively certain that the investi-
cations made by the officess of the
mint are not undertaken i'm an un-
! friendly spirit TO gold mUHOmetaIIism,
ana they must be taken by the gGlG
Inonometallists as the best array OF
facts that their side Is able to present.
The stanche5t advocate Of gold mono
metalliSTn VIII not deny that gold
would be unfit for use as money il it's
supply were unlimited If so much god
was produced each year that a large
surplus was the result IL would be de-
monetized as silver has been. If this
proposition be true. its converse is true
also, and if the supply Of gold is so lin
tied as not to furnish a sufficient
amount for the uses to which il is puI
then 1t is equally unfit for use as the
sole money metal.
For years the supply Of gold has been
insufficient TO meet the demands made
upon ii for coinage and for uses in the
arts, and when to these uses il added
the demands made upon il by Russia
India. and other countries for purposes
of boarding, the supply is very short
indeed. For ten years the demand has
exceeded the supply By at least fifty
millions each year. Every year the
world must draw upon it's stores of
gold TO meet the demands for coinage,
for uses in the arts and for boarding.
If the schemes Of the gold monOmetat-
lists are to be carried out (and that
they are being carried out is too plain
for deniaD the silver that has been
coined for legal tender money in the
past VIII be no longer used for that
purpose, and gold viii have to take its
place. This must add a considerable
sum to the present deficiency Of gold.
and cause the stores of gold to be
drawn upon 10 a greater extent.
The Director of the United States
Mint reports that the worlds produt-
ton of gold in 1896 was 1922. .9J5. 900. The
total coinage Of gold is given at Sl57.-
S99.517. and the recoinages S15,255.1I2.
This would make the coinage out OF
new and old metal other than coin
$3.50 .646. .445. There was used in the arts
$59. Psi $40. making the amount Of gold
used in coinage and the arts s239. SOS os5.
a sum larger by S36,942,0SJ than the pro-
duction. Therefore the worlds store
Of gold had 10 be drawn upon for that
amount.
But this is not all There has been
boarding of gold by nations during tie
year 1896 that must be added TO the iasU
amount. The United States retained
900. .532. 752. Russia SIS. $50 543. India $40.
S52, ,546, Japan s. ,Z20, $50, Egypt $S,94l. 90
These amounts are the sums remaining
after dedUctiug items for coinage and
uses in the arts These amounts in
crease the shortage OF gold to Sz43.9e9.-
80 for the year 1896. Making all allow
ancas for defective statistics. the sup
ply Of gold is too limited for the exclu-
sive use of that metal as the only IuH
legal tender money.
The deficiency of the supply Of gold IS
also shown by adding the production
and importations Of each country to-
gether and subtracting the expOrta-
tiOns where they are smaller than the
amounts produced and exported. or vice
versa In this way IL is shown that
twenty-nine countries Increased their
stock of gold during 1895 SJ4 ,3lS,0i9,
and that nine countries decreased their
stock of gold during the same time
s37. .919. 42J, making a net increase OF the
stock of gold for the year of S509, ,99S-6zL
the production being only $2O2, Ve9-
If the figures of the mint are correct
gold was brought from sources not is
certained as the actual increase OF the
stock of gold could not be larger than
the amount produced. But these hg-
ures show that the production of gold
falls so far below the demand that Il
alone is unequal TO meet the demands
of the world for money.
To only use silver for subsidiary COIN
age. and demOnetize all silver money
except for small sums. would increase
the demand for gold. The amount Of
silver coined in 1896, deducting rec0tn-
ages. was SIPS. .4S4. f5S. The deficiency
in the supply of gold. not counting that
boarded by nations, was Sj''.st2.eso. II
no silver legal tender money had oeen
coined there would have been a -ul'-
ther demand upon gold for 9t le9st
one-haIf of the amount os silver coin
ed. deducting recoinages say $4,000
900. and this would have sweiled the
deficiency of gold for the year leaF-
ing out the amount hod~'led by nations.
to SiO0 900. 600 If we add the boards
of nations to this sum. the deficiency
would be over $500 e09,00o. an amount
impossible To be abstrac-ed from the
earth in addition TO that aldready be-
ing extracted. n. VI. SF--AL'A4i-'