New-York tribune., 1900-01-26
GOLD AND SILVER.

GOLD AND SILVER.
The gold produced from mines In the Ohlteu
States alone exceeded last year the total Eaiue
of gold and silver produced in 1913 1hls Will
not be glad news to greet Mr.. Bryan on MS ''i
rival at this city, because not even tne leaS'
sensible of his followers can be mace 10 suppo'e
that scarcity of money has resulted from dlsuse
of silver since 1873 in spite of an output Oh sou
greater than that Of gold and silver twenty-siX
1,oors 400 That clearly leaves nothing of the
sham reasoning with which his silver fanaucS
have been filled. True, there never was any
logic in the notion that prices must 1all II the
quantity of metallic money in use decreaseu' Aof
it was always a stupid assumption anu one
contrary to all experience, that decrease In the
supply Of coin lessened the entire amount VI
buying Human beings used to buy on creulI
long before Bryan's false notions came lh'o
laundering minds, and prices were affected by
such buying as much as by any other But DIT
of the vilest logic on earth is precious to men
who have no better and the increase Of gold
output takes the last leg from under the silver
fanatic even though it was but crutch.
OF gold alone, according to the annual state
ment Of Wells Fargo & Co, the output was
S72 567, ,226 in 1S99 an increase Of more than
S6OOOOOO compared with the product in 1898 as
that was nearly $13.500,000 more than the prod
uct in 1896 the greatest then ever known dur
the forty
records have approximate value. This excludes
the production in British Columbia and the
west coast of Mexico which about SIT. .623,-
600 more last year. and may rightly be con-
sidered part of the monetary supply Of this
country, as some receipts from such sources
were doubtless included In the vague early esti-
mates of production. Within three years the
American output has increased S19,5 900 in
this country and over $16,0OO0OO in the adja-
cent countries which send their products hither.
The remarkable increase is not confined to this
part of the world, for Australia and South
Africa have rIvalled it, so that the total output
of the world in 1899 is estimated at S304 900 OO0
though in 1896 it was but $202, $50, 800. I'm
provements in mining have brought into general
use within a few years cyanide and chlorination
processes by which low grade ores are rendered
profitable, but there have also been great dis
coveriss of deposits in the Cripple Creek region
and the Yukon, in Australia and South Africa,
though the latter region contributed since Sep
tember little or nothing to the estimate for last
year.
Meanwhile the output of silver last year was
only $34 594, ,49S, against $64. sos. .637 in 1889,
though the decrease has been partly IN market
value per ounce of the metal. Since 1889 that
decrease has been about a third, but the guam
tity of silver raised has also diminished
terially, and would have diminished much more
but for the appearance of silver an important
by-product in the most valuable mines worked
for other metals. The decrease in silver output
in 1894 when the price fell ceverely, was
quickly counteracted in part by the remarkable
expansion of mining which yielded silver as
by-product, and that increase still continues
although the treatment of ores is now such that
many Of the silver mines could be worked with
profit If the metal should become much cheaper
than IT is Since formal demonstration by
India and Japan, the actual use of silver in the
world has tended rather to increase than to de-
crease, because it's superior convenience as a
subsidiary representative of gold has become
more definitely realized. Were silver used
throughout the world only as token money ac-
cepted solely for the arbitrary value attached
to 1t by the laws Of different countries as a
representative of gold in small amounts. its
aggregate monetary employment would proba-
bly, increase. for there are not many countries
like this in which the mere weight of the metal
causes so extensive a popular preference for
paper.
Nobody has ever been able to state with any
accuracy the output of the precious metals
Four years ago probably man lived who ex-
pected to the annual output Of gold in
creased by one-half before 1900 nor were
there any who expected few years ago that
the yield of silver would increase rather than
diminish. Considering the worlds enormous de-
mand for other metals with which silver is
found associated. and the vast deposits OF such
metals that about to be worked or only be-
ginning to yield, it seems probable that the pro-
duction OF silver will increase to some extent
in the near future. The probable termination
OF the war in South Africa seems likely to be
followed by very extensive developments in that
region, while nothing appears to indicate
a probable decrease in the yield OF gold from
other important fields. 1t would not be surpris-
ing If the addition to the worlds supply of gold
should soon lead to important notifications in
its use by the Western financial world, especially
In the International exchanges for with larger
supplies and prospects OF future abundance the
struggle for actual possession OF the metal In
particular bank vaults may perhaps be rem
dered less urgent
The chill of Maryland's rreettn-, T.. 1,.o,, ~