The Nenana daily news. (Nenana, Alaska) 1918-1921, 1918-08-28
normal accretion of gold.

of finance, we are informed, asserts
positively that the government must
have the gold. He does not say
the government would like to have
it,, or just plain wants it,, but
he infers, with emphasis, that it can
not get along without it. There
fore, in spite of "the immutable re-
| lation as regards a unit quantity
of the metal to the unit of ex-
change, what is the answer?
1t would appear to be that gold
will continue to be mined, but that
is profitable mining must be in
sured by some means at the COM
| mand of the government.
A bonus based on such figure as
would restore the balance between
cost of production and selling price
that existed prior to the upheaval
in costs appears to be the simpler
means. At first glance it seems
that bonus of s12 per ounce would
be larger than necessary, but it
should not be surprising if even
this figure is agreed upon. At any
rate this was the figure arrived at
when the director of the mint and
the representative from the various
! gold producing states met to dis
cuss the problem. The outstanding
fact, indisputable and immutable as
the relation referred to above, is
that gold will not be mined if the
mining is going to cost more than
can be gotten for the gold, for,
as Alaskans do not have to be told,
it will not be pay. And it must
be mined before the government can
get it.
Why should Sour Dough assume
that the "bonus is confined to
United States producers? Is it not
reasonable to suppose that every
other country where gold is mined
is faced with a similar excessive-cost-
reproduction problem and will have
to solve it in the same manner?
Why should the production in the
U. S. increase "by leaps and bounds"
when the bonus is sufficient only to
restore the conditions existing be-
fore the war and so insure the nor
NAL output?
The possibility of old gold, coins
and jewelry being melted down and
coming in for the bonus is, of course,
conceivable, but really it would not
take IAN army of policemen and de-
tectives, greater than the contend
ing forces at the front" to prevent
it taking place to any but negligi-
BILE extent For wherever there are
mines there is representative of
the government, and it should be
practicable for such representatives
to take over and certify for ship
ment to the mint, the only place
where the bonus would be paid, the
dust from placers and the bullion
from mills, the latter being checked
with reference to the sponge.
With the bonus at S12 an ounce
Sour Dough correctly estimates the
tax on the treasury at $4,000, 700,
but unless this bonus would make
mining vastly more profitable than
before the war, and it is not so in
tended, his assumption that 1--WE
can safely estimate that next year
will result in doubling the require
ment, if not quadrupling it" is en-
tirely unwarranted
AS to "our fellows over there"
coming back to assume 1.-The load
of debt we will have built for them
with our bonus" it can only be said
that the establishing of this par
ticular bonus is but one more of
the wars necessities. its elemental
feature being the making of gold
mining possible, and it is in every
essential on a par with, but less
avoidable than, the bonus which the
government is already paying to
stimulate and expedite the building
of ships and other armament with