The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-11-11
GRAVEYARDS OF GOLD.
Vast Quantities That Disappear in
India and China.


Gold for various reasons disappears
rapidly in all countries. but nowhere
else does it pass out of sight so rapidly
as in India and China. So rapidly does
the precious metal vanish in these two
Oriental lands that they have come to
he known as gold graveyards. Speak
ing of this curious characteristic,
Thomas Jefferson Hurley of the Amer
lean Institute of Mining Engineers, in
his recent pamphlet on the gold pro-
duction of the world, says:
"A yellow stream flows into both of
these countries year by year. There IS
no end to this stream; it is always
flowing. The money does not reappear
in the Indian banks. The soil of India
absorbs the golden food just as the
sands of the desert swallow the over
flow of the great rivers. When it is
remembered that this work Of absorp-
ton has been going on with little in
terruptiOn for ten centuries, and still
continues under our eyes, it is easy 20
form an idea of the immense treasures
that are hidden in that country.
''An this gold remains sterile. and
consequently is lost. It is absurd 10
say that it is brought into monetary
circulation or that it passes through
the hands of the native gOIdsmiths. It
. is disseminated in innumeTable places,
: from which it never energies.
1T is estimated that in the regency
| of Bombay alone there are 12,000,000
gold sOVereigns boarded. Hundreds
} upon hundreds of millions of dollars lie
( in the hiding places of the famine
/ stricken land. All classes are afflicted
/ with the incurable habit of boarding
! gold. The splendid Maharajahs have
! become shrewd enough to use banks Of
/ deposit, but there is still barbaric dis
/ play of jewelled idols in the strong
/ rooms and of golden vessels in the
/ princes apartments.
Even the gods of India remarked
1 a writer in the Courier des Etats Unis,
are very fond of gold. They whistle
! for it through the lips of their priests
! Obedient to the divine call, it comes
ripping from all points, until it
! reaches the sacred parnis. It accumU-
lates in the subterranean passages of
the temples, to which the priests alone
( have access. Thence il Overftows and
takes its place like proud conquerOT
/ uCOn the affairs, where il shares with
the gods the incense and the homage
of the men it has bewitche6.
! 1T seems curious that while half
the world is engaged in an eager
search for gold the teeminS pOpula-
lions of India and China devote most
of their energies to keeping it out OF
use and circulation.
But India and China are not the only
countries which absorb gold without
ever giving it back again, AS a matter
Of fact. in all countries there IS a ten
dency on the part of coined gold to gel
out of sight and stay hidden This is
a subject which has occupied the stu
dents of finance in all lands, and there
have been many analyses of the diff
ferent causes for the disappearance OF
gold. Yet, with the most ingenious eX
plantations. the problem always has re
mained a very interesting one. on
| own treasury officials have given it
good deal Of study
| of the vast amount Of gold that il
annually mined and put into cireula
| ton, there always remains a heav!
balance unaccounted for, even afte
| all allowance. has been made for use il
the arts. for loss by friction and fo
. what would seem a fair amount t;
charge TO loss by fire, by being SUM
| in deep waters and by boarding
Our treasury officials, according t
Mr.. Hurley, estimate that there is use,
in the arts annually, in gliding, in cleo
| troplating and similar operations whicl
| withdraw gold from possibility of othe
| use. probably not less than $40, 600 90
worth of gold.
Then there is the use of solid gold il
| ieweIrv and plate. This in reality
, not an actual withdrawal Of gold. 10
it can be remelted and coined. Stir. tn
| handling of the metal in the process o
, | manufacturing these articles and tn
handling of them after they are mad
I is a source of a very considerable los
from friction, under which gold, be
cause of its sOftness, Loses weigh
/ sometimes with startling rapidity I
is estimated that gold for these puT