| Show THE MONEY QUESTION mr john J valentine president of wells pargo fargo co 18 s institution a short time since issued a pamphlet in the nature of a metal circular for 1892 1812 this may be a regular proceeding but no matter as to that the one here referred to possesses special interest by reason of its showing of the wretched condition condit ton of our metallic currency curren tay at the present time one metal flowing out of the country in a steady stream the other debased and all but completely de mr valentine makes a calculation of the precious metals produced west of the missouri river tas including british columbia for the past year which shows in the aggregate gold silver 60 50 copper lead total gross result the commercial 9 value at which the several metals herein have been estimated is silver 87 cents per cz z copper 12 cents per ft and lead per of cou se makes the report more or less imperfect for the reason that the quotation for silver tor for instance to is very near the maximum figure obtained for the year other things contribute to imperfection such as the increasing and thereby cheaper facilities for transport ing bullion the difficulty of obtaining absolutely correct statements from mining and milling men etc but with all due allowa ce made for such causes the statement may be considered ed nearly correct to base dually actually correct conclusions upon under any circumstances as may be readily understood when the source ol of the statement and his exceptional opportunities port unities for obtaining ining such information are considered it way may be accepted as the best and closest that can be had bad the net product of the states and territories ri west of the missouri river and not including british columbia or the western part of mexico for twenty two years past is given as follows I 1 I 1 GOLD 1870 LOO 00 1871 1872 1873 1878 1874 1875 5 1876 1877 JR bof 1 1878 0 1879 1880 38 1881 i 9 iba 1881 43 1886 1885 44 1886 29 1887 f 0 1888 29 54 im 1890 1891 1892 it to is also shown that the total exportation of silver to foreign countries from this thia country and england for last year was this being about more than fur 1891 while the falling off in production by comparison was very reat another authority shows that the entire production of the world outside of this country and mexico does not amount to ounces more than Js is utilized for a circulating medium by the country that produces it As an to the production of gold the chicago tribune rankly anti all 1 ver predicted early last year that the yield would amount to but as la Is seen been by the above table this W was not reached by over this constituting the smallest output with a few exceptions that has been recorded since 1849 it is believed that the production of gold by th the entire world for 1892 can safely be esti mated at oo no more than after deducting for the art arts and for dentistry it leaves Q for coinage purposes aes scarcely enough I 1 to make good the amount lost by abrasion to may lay nothing of that which dis dia appears by hoarding boarding and which is ie con out of circulation should gold eventually dies disappear from general circulation as money either by continued continue falling failing off in the yield thus thug its possession gradually down to EL a very few or through the discovery of vast and productive fields that it would w become common rod and not sufficiently sought for to enable it to maintain its ita present royalty the question properly arises as aa to what the worlds wonlu s people would do for money some means of effecting exchanges they must have and paper will not do dunles based upon something intrinsic In trinal cally valuable and absolutely secure what then could we turn our attention to but neglected and 11 inanc 8 t now sliver silver and it if it is fit to act alone as money the very thine thin which it does now in several great na a eions of the globe as we have shown in these columns why should it not in company with the only other metal recognized as possessing intrinsic so sovereignty especially when we consider that the whole volume of the latter does not represent one half the daily transactions of mankind these axe are questions worth considering |
