The Washington herald., 1912-01-01
OUTPUT OF GOLD
And "LIVING COST
Mint Director Roberts Bold
in His Opinion.

George z. Roberts. director Of the
United States Mint, disagrees with the
opinion expressed in many quarters that
the increased output OF gold Is the chief
factor IN the high cost Of living. Mr..
Roberts attaches much more significance
10 the fact that while the population OF
this country has Increased q per cent in
ten years. the acreage in wheat. corn.
potatoes, and rice and the number Of
cattle and swine have actually declined
The annual report Of the director gives
the value OF the production OF gold in
the world in 1910 as S454, 7oS, 800. The d.
rector makes a preliminary estimate Of
the worlds production in 1911 at $466, 100
eco, gain of sl2, coo above the world
production of the previous year.
California I'm Lead.
According to Mr. Roberts preliminary
estimate. the production of gold and
silver in the United States in 1917 varied
but slightly from the record Of 1910 The
value of the 1911 gold was 81, SIS, and
the number of ounces OF silver 57.7ss,l17,
as compared with So, es6.1 100 OF gold and
s., ,IS7, 800 ounces OF silver in 1910. The
changes by States are slight except that
South Dakota gained 5000 in gold
and Utah, s,00o. 900 ounces in silver. The
other principal producing States show
declines which Just about offset these
gains. California still leads In gold pro-
duction with S2O.SlosS7. Colorado coming
next with S1s, i53, $50. Utah produced more
silver than any other State, the record
being Il, So, $50 ounces. as compared with
li.I1s.T7S ounces produced in Montana.
The value OF the silver product, at the
average price OF the year, was so. SS4.-
500 The net amount of gold and silver
used in the Industrial arts was approx
mately S34.0O0,OO0 gold and 24.OO0 Ooo
ounces silver. The coinage Of the mints
was gold. $5sl7s. So 80; silver. IS. I57 S0. s.;
nickel and copper t3,15s,72s.F7. Total
Ss5, 80. s5o.52 The net gain in the coun-
try's stock OF gold coin, including bullion
in the Treasury during the year. was
close to S10O.OOotoo.
Although gold production continues TO
increase, II is at diminishing rate. and
the director repeats the opinion ex-
pressed a year ago, that there is moth
ing in the present outlook for the in
dustry 10 indicate a repetition Of the
phenomenal gains that were made be-
tween 1890 and 1893 and between 1901 and
1908. They were the result Of the dis
covery Of the cyanid process and Of the
development Of the wonderful Transvaal
field
Russia adopted the gold standard in
1897, and since 1890 the Imperial Bank
has increased its gold holdings about
s170o0o.0 900. Its outstanding notes in 1900
were t252. 10000. and at this time are
about sss0. .0oo, 600. showing Of all Euro
pean countries the most notable increase
Of money In circulation.
The Bank of France since 1900 has In
creased its note circulation S1e6, 900 900
and its gold reserve s1s5 0oo, ,Ooo The
Bank OF Germany has increased its gold
reserve by about 81. 900 and its aver
age note circulation by rather less than
that amount on an average The Bank
OF England has increased its reserve in
that period by about $500. 900, and the
total stock In the country Increased but
little more.