The Meeker herald., 1904-06-11
THE LOSS OF GOLD
, Practically None Of the Ancient
Metal in the Present Gold Stock OF
the World.

the World.
We see men every day applying gold
thousands Of dollars worth of gold 4
thus used in this city every year. Gold
leaf makes the most attractive business ISIS
In all our busy thorunghfares, even IN
broadway. wherever the shopkeeper. the
financier. the manufacturer or the pro,
fessional man advertises his name and
utility. We may find these gilt signs In
every stage of diiapidatiSn. THO storms ms
and winds are playing havoc VILE the
gold and eventually every dollar ca 1t
will be lost
Hons OF dollars of gold have been lost az
surely as though the metal had been sunk
in mid-ocean.. 1t is phase OF the dis.
on since the days before. history vas
written; for the art of gold beating Is 70,
ferred to by Homer and p Fl o t isaye OF
each four fingers square, which Is three
times the thickness of the ordinary koiu
leaf Of the present ,s,Inp d statemen, but it is
true, that economists have held the be.
lief that nearly all the gold OF ancient
there is good ground for the conclusion
that from the earliest times OF which
nay soa to the 81 Of the Roman
republic the total quantity of gold utilized
In one form or another exceeded In Vol
Anclsrt history abounds with illusions 70
gold. We read OF the abundance OF gold
In King sclomon's time. OF the Torres so ID
ornaments ard the gold utensils IT the
altar; gold s frequently fefe rssa,n " ~ ~
gold and silver By cupellation. the pre-
Cess OF separating the precious metals
from lead in q eupeillnE furnace !. WAS WAS
Poets. Beautiful ornaments and vessels
of gold brought. to light by the e assrs.-
tons or arch oilogisis snow void 1he Working
was brought by Egyptian. Etrusca ,d
Greek and many other ancient ancient d sp,u
modern museums and private collections
ancient times.
centuries In the form of ancient Eold
manufactures Is scarcely worth mention
ing In comparison with the great Vonme
Of gold that was utilized In the cary airy
days. We have proof that this is 80 and
that the quantity of ancient Goia now
available Is so inconslderabis Inat u H His
covery of the Western world fairly accu
rate statistics Of the production OF gold
have kept pf xo has addea
to the supply for three centuries. and the
present amount Of the gold stock OF the
clusively that ancient gold is not repre-
scented in the modern figures or course.
a large amount of modern gold mas peen
in comparison with the great volume or
ancient Eoid which cannot now be ac-
counted for In any manner. .
Unless the chronicles OF the anclenr
writer's are largely unworthy OF creaehee;
the total amount of gold that was utiiized
Of fft the Persian empire was not very far
behind the quantity Of gold that II now
In use. But even though we may regard
the truth, still there IL no doubt what
ever that the supply in that epoch was
enormous.
1t is gone beyond recovery. and various
Influences have contributed to its disap-
pearance Gold is a soft metal and is Pc
saliarly liable to ahrasIon II m oa
abrasion But this wearing away of the
the EFFORTS STD 10 save it. Gold is best pre-
served In the form OF utensils or art
works. which are little handled It Is
the form Of coin or of other manufactured
articles which are much used and maiup-
ulRted.
The ancients made gold leaf and gold
thread, as We do and in such forms the
loss OF the metal Is accelerated soldiers
tell US ha. the ts not Or
Gold used in manufactures Is wasted. In
spite of the almost infinite pains taken to
for example. will tell us that as they clip
with scissors the bands and other forms
of gold which they shape In their iabora.
Much Of the gold turned into the works
of art. the form in which the metal Is
again for other utilities. Though BEN
ventu Cellini was the most celebrated
a few specimens of his rarely beautiful
work are now to be found In museums
In private hands. The vicissitudes Of for
tune compelled many once wealthy fami-
lies to part with these works OF art for
the gold that was in them and they were
melted by sordid persons whn wanted only
All the hundreds of influences which to-
day are depicting the gold supply were.
Of course; operative In ancient times.
ture; 1t was reduced to dust and lost; 1t
was lost in deep waters. buried In tombs.
and. In troublOus times was hidden in the
earth and never recovered. 1t passed out
of human hands In many other ways. Not
n bit of 1t could be destroyed. but 1t was
the lost gold was 80 widely and thiniy
distributed that 1t would never pay to
hunt hunt for It. It is in fact believed that
contributed to the supply In the earliest
days Of gold seeking In America Is now
The FORCES of nature also are incessant-
ly. trying to put gold beyond our reach.
We know that q large part Of our present
particles Of gold are being daily carried
sa Sand anS o1 spSs o tbe
streams which are to make the sandstones
and states of future geological eras: but
scattered over the sea floor beyond human
reach. probably. for all time, and an enor-
the sanFs Of ESs u that
30 very thinly distributed that 1t takes all
the way from 1000 to 5000 colors to make
mining.
AS far r, as s,, we yet know. however. the
lIhRrHfa tz ipax bar,