Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-12

Prospectors are scouting around the
prehistoric mine workings in what now
Is Natal, in South Africa. At some
prehistoric age, when strange monsters
roamed the world, the men Of the day
sought gold and the mines they aban-
doned are being searched in this time
for traces Of the metal Efforts are
being made to locate the tabled mines
OF King Solomon and of Queen Cleo
patra. No matter how long ago any
mine was known, worked and aban-
doned, modern man hopes that some
scrapings may be left. Times being
what they are, any effort to find gold
Is worth while.
Annual Production Increases.
1t might be remarked that gold has
always been gold and is worth no
more today than ever it was. This, in
built up, Is not true. Gold has taken
on standard Of value and has
achieved a position in human relations
considerably different from what it
has been before. Gold is worth what
1t Will buy. There are so many things
to buy.
In the year Columbus discovered
America the worlds output of gold was
less than 100000 1t was not until
49, AS0ACA6Ao LIIdL ILLS
annual output was so much as dou-
bled. There was, during all those furi-
Gus years OF adventure and warfare
which followed, only q slight annual
increase. At the time of the discovery
Of gold in California the worlds an
nual production was only about three
times what it was in the days of CO.
lumbus.
What that meant can be realized
0Hf bat h.
ersge for the entire world jumped from
Sl3,4S4, 900 just before 1849 to three
times that amount year or so lator.
BY 1855 production was at the rate
OF Sl32,000,000 year. This colossal
production continued. dropping below
$l00, 900 year only once in the
next half century-l885, when it was
about 100000.
South African Discovery.
As though Nature were in special
sympathy with the desire of mankind
for gold, the very next year saw the
discovery, in far distant part OF the
world, the Witwatersrand of South
Africa, Of another tremendous gold de-
post. In short time annual world
output exceeded any previous period
Then came the Klondike discovery of
1897, adding fresh supplies to the world.
dA0 PlOQuOlAOII 4CdPCQ W dIl
average of more than $500, 200, 900. In
the period 1901-l905 world gold pro-
duction amounted to $1,613 900 900. In
that brief four years three times as
much gold was dug out of the ground
as in the entire century following
the discovery of America. The peak of
all-time production came in 1915, with
$470,0oo, 900. The latest figures show :
production of just over S4o0, 000,0es
Meantime, however, the worlds PIE
duction of goods increased by leaps aSd
bounds. The Machine Age, the age OF
huge capitalizations, of mass produc-
ton, of huge population increases. high
prices and high wages. had developed.
These activities, constantly producing
more and more wealth, call for credit
based on gold. Currency issues are
multiplied and Indebtedness increases.
Somewhere back Of this there must be
the gold reserve. AS the obligatio,4
mount up there must be real gold -
measure them. With the obligaiiofa
mounting and with gold production
falling of, the gold demand augments:
That is why every possibility Of gold
from China to Peru is being exploited
today. Maintenance of the mode'a
standard of exchange depends upoa
new finds. Where the next Suffers
Mill, the next Rand, the next Broken
Hill, the next Klondike Creek will he
found no man can tell-but all men
are looking for the magic spot.