Show iron n a valuable metal its importance Is far for greater than that of bath both silver and gold precious things from mother earths treasure housed house what aro are tho the precious metals gold and silver you answer that depends it by preciousness la Is meant the value of tho the product in dollars and cents our eolden golden rule of measurement then cold gold and silver aro are not the precious metals according to the recently issued report of 0 tho the united states geological survey which gives the money value of at the products wrested by man from the earths dark laboratory in 1901 the gold the precious yellow metal poured from natures crucible in thia this land last year Is valued at and it to this we add the metal value of the silver we have dut but what Is that compared with the pig iron product of the same time which Is fit valued at the iton iron produced 13 1 more preciou pre clou clour than the gold and silver combined by modest cupper indian complexioned copper can put the oriental hued koltl gold to tho the blush for last year it enriched us in the sum of more than the value of the yellow metal even the base iced lead that was mined Is one third the value of the gold when we go a little deeper and measure structural purposes gold and silver aro are again distanced for the building stone clay and cements that were launched by us into the chan nets nels of commerce in 1901 are valued at N O 0 the gold and silver produced in the same time was short of being enough to purchase thic thle output when we go a little deeper and measure the balue of coal petroleum and natural gas that we purloined from beneath the fruitful breast of at mother earth wo we find its value four times that of at all the gold and silver taken from the same treasure house in the same time gold and silver may dazzle up with their brightness und and charm us wita their nimble ned but la in measured by worth of production and real useful usefulness ress they sink by their own gravity to the bottom of tho the list of minerals |