The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-20

of coal, both soft and hard, in 1901 vo.
three hundred and twenty-five mil
| lions; of pig iron more than two HIM.
dred and fifty millions; of silver mors
than thirty-six millions; of crude ne.
troleum more than seventy-five mil.
lions; of corn, wheat and oats nearly
two hundred and nine millions; of but.
ter and. cheese more than three hun.
dred al eighty-four millions. Yet
the billion and a quarter of coined
gold now in the United States would
buy all these products and leave
trif1ing matter of 81, 1888 as a nest
egg around which to accumulate an
other twelve hundred millions or so
1t would build 81, 500 miles of railroad
at $4,000 mile, nearly a third of all
the railroad mileage now in the Unit.
ed States.
Thousands of Acres of Pie.
But it is when the purchasing power
of thousand and a quarter millions
of gold dollars as applied to pie is con-
sidered that the ordinary mind NAV
come nearest to graphing with the
real meaning of such a vast sum.
Good, fair pies can be bought for 10
cents apiece, and thus the coined gold
now in the country would buy twelve
billions and five hundred millions of
pies. The square surface covered by
pies varies, but fifty square inches for
each would have to be allowed for,
supposing the pies are round On this
basis the gold coin in circulation in
Uncle Sans dominions would buy pies
enough to cover at least 1000 acres
of land How many pie bakers it would
take to bake this enormous aggrega-
ton of toothsomeness in one day is
matter for conjecture only
Yet all this gold could be packed
into very small space, relatively
speaking. Made into a pile forty feet
square, it would be only a little more
than nine feet high, and it's weight OF
5000 tons would not furnish a full
cargo for any one of several of the
great ocean liners now blowing the
Atlantic ocean, though it would build
hundreds of them.
Food for Serious Thought.
All in all, good Americans may we'll
be proud of the magnificent showing
our gold coin enable us to make be-
fore the world, yet there is another
and more serious aspect of the stu
alton to be considered-an aspect, by
the way, that thoughtful men are ex-
aiming with much gravity. VIII the
presence of so much gold in the coun-
lily pAOuuCc the apparently lOBlCdl re-
suit of permanently holding up the
price of all things eatable by reason
of its own comparative cheapness?
Some economic philosophers declare
that it will beyond the shadow of
doubt. In time they say there will
also be a general uplifting of the
scale of wages, but not until it is set
tied whether the present plentitude of
the yellow metal is permanent or not.
Naturally, in the meantime, the man
who works will have increased prob
lens to meet.
On the other hand plentitude Of
gold will mean lively circulation, and
that will mean a continuance of the
present good times" for considera-
BILE period to come. And, If the proph-
cts speak wisely, the present unex-
ampled quantity of coined gold in this
country is only a forerunnner of the
future. Unless all signs fail, say they.
the day is not far distant when we
shall have two thousand millions, In
stead of a thousand and quarter mil
lions of gold coin in our land.