Mohave County miner., 1904-01-23
Wealth that is Dead.

1t Is astonishing now mucn OF the
worlds wealth is locked up in dia-
monds; things which are of no earthly
use to anybody except for the mere
purpose of ornamentstion. The money
spent for diamonds every year would
build fleets of peace aud war, equip
and pay armies, almost wipe out pow
erty in city slums, endow hospitals
and schools, build railroads and create
great libraries. Every now and then
some American woman has trouble
with the customs authorities over the
duty on jewels the value of which rep
resents a sum sufficient for an ordi-
nary man to raise and educate large
family of children.
Millionaires and crowned heads pos
sess diamonds which represent idle
wealth sufficient to build whole streets
of model tenement houses for the
poor. The diamonds belonging to the
German Empress are valued at 1,25J,-
COOS The crown jewels of England,
largely made up of diamonds, exceed
in value l5,00J,0l0s. fhe imperial
crown alone contain 2,783 splendid
diamonds. Besides this, the king and
queen possess diamonds to the value
of about a million more dollars, which
are their private property. The crown
Jewels of Russia represent about 20,
OJ0,OOOS No one knows just how much
the diamonds possessed by the Sultan
of Turkey are worth, but they repre-
sent many millions. Many native
princes in India own diamonds of great
value. The gems of the Gsekwar of
Baroda, consisting largely of diamonds,
are valued at 800 ,,OOCs. Among his
treasures is a carpet made entirely of
diamonds and pearls, all matched and
blended. Many churches, too, in the
old world are rich in diamonds. The
largest diamond in the world, the Elk
celsior, found at Jsggersfontein in
1893, is so valuable that special syn
dicate has been formed to stand the
expense and risk of cutting it.
A large part of the worlds gold, too,
is locked away in royal treasure houses
in the form of dishes or ornaments.
In the Kremlin are many great gold
dishes, so heavy that a strong man can
not lift them, and many millions of
dollars worth of gold made into or
namental forms. The gold dinner
service at Windsor Castle is valued at
4,0OO,O ,OJOS, and a golden peacock with
jeweled tail there is valued at 4JO,0O0S.
In the treasure house of the Sultan at
Constantinople are tons of gold plate,
and great golden bowls filled to the
brim with rare pearls. Gold in every
form which the ingenuity of man has
been able to invent is scattered about
in splendid confusion in the palaces by
the Bosporus. The Shah of Persia has
golden ornaments and diamonds
slowed away in his palace which,
turned into money, would enable him
to build railroads and open up his
country TO CIVILIZATION.
There are millions untold hidden
away in holes in the earth, in clefts in
the rocks, in crannies under the caves,
in tin cans among rubbish heaps, in
old women's stockings and bustles and
in the thousand and one out of-the-
way places that the ingenuity of men
and women can devise. This is the
case in all countries of the world, more
or less, but especially so in India and
the East, where centuries of tyranny
has caused every man to fear his neigh
Dor, es pecially when that neighbor is
in power. Or when this wealth is not
hidden away it takes the form of nose
and ear rings for the women, ankle
bands for the children and slaves, and
a myriad other uses that remove the
precious metals as effectually from
general circulation and utility as if
they we're cast into the sea-not to
mention the untold millions that have
been engulfed in old oceans capacious
and all ll-devouring nav.
There is simply no end to it!-Min
ing and Engineering Review.