OCR Text |
Show THE SOURCE OF PRESPERITY. A well posted student of world affairs af-fairs questioned the accuracy of the statement In the Standard a'day'laat week In which this paper said tho output of gold In South Africa would total $105,000,000. The growth of the mining Industry In the Transvaal has teen so great since tho close of tho Boer war that those who were then familiar with the statistics of gold production pro-duction are surprised to learn that the gold reef has almost doubled In productivity. pro-ductivity. The United States continues to occupy occu-py second place In the gold column, the yield of our mines for 1908 being estimated esti-mated at $96,000,000, an Increase of several million over the previous year, notwithstanding the falling off In the output of a number of mining states, including Utah and Nevada. The world'B total production of gold Is placed at $427,000,000. which Is three times the yield of tho world's mines In the early nineties. This great flow of gold from placer and lode claims has been the life of trade. The improved condition of tfade throughout tho world within the past ten years Is' attributed to this large volume of gold pouring Into the arteries of commerce. Without the increased production In gold, one cannot but conclude that the Industrial Indus-trial world would have been seriously retarded In Its development. There could have been little or no expansion, I unless some method of giving greater efficiency to the gold in use, had been devised. |