Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 May 1887 — GOLD AND SILVER. [ARTICLE]

GOLD AND SILVER.

Report of the Director of the Mint on the Production of the Precious Metals. ... , [Washington special.j The report of the Director ®f the Mint or the production qf the precious metals in the I nited States for the calendar year 18SG is in press, and will soon be ready for distribution. The Director estimates the production of the United States to have been in 1886: Gold, $35,000,000; silver, $51,000,000, The value of the silver in the above estimate is calculated at the coinage rale of silver in United States silver dollars—namely, $1,202!) per ounce fine.- The .production of silver was | 39,445,31*2 fine ounces of the commercial Value, at the average price of silver during the year (namely, about $1 per fine ounce), of $39,445,312. The production of gold shows an increase over the prior year of $3,200,000. The protection of silver is slightly less than in 1885. A tabular statement shows that the production of silver iu the United States has largely increased from 1880, when it was $39,200,000, to $51,000,000 in 1886. The year’s production of gold has approximated th# maximum of tee last seven .years, the product of 1880, which reached $36,000,000, against $35,000,(100 in 1886. Colorado maintains first rank as the largest producer of the precious metals in the United States, the value of its production of gold and silver having been over $20,000,600 during the last year. California yields second place to Montana with a production of nearly $17,000,000, against $16,000,000 by the former. The production of Nevada and New Mexico has decreased, while that of the other States has remained almost constant. Texas, for the first time* is added to the list of producing States, with a production of $200,000 in silver. The annual supply of silver from the mines of the world has largely increased in the last fourteen years, the period covered by the marked decline in the market price of silver, and has doubled since 1872; that is, from $62,000,000 in that year to $124,000,000 in 1886. During the calendar year 1886 the changes in the price of silver were very marked. Opening Jan. 2, 1886, at 46 15-16 pence per ounce, British standard, the fluctuations were slight until April, when commenced a rapid decline, which continued until July 31, when the price of silver reached 42 pence, remaining at that price until Aug. 10, when an advance took place which continued until Nov. 20, when the price reached 47 pence, but remained at that point only a short time. The closing quotation Dec. 31 was 46] pence. The average price for the year was 45.374 pence, equivalent to 99.465 cents per ounce fine. The price of silver at the present time is 43§ pence per ounce, British standard, equivalent to 95.6 cents per ounce fine. The value of the gold deposited at the mints of the United States during the calendar year 1886 was $79,057,818, of which over $21,000,000 consisted of foreign bullion and over $9,000,000 foreign coin.

The deposits and purchases of silver amounted to $39,086,070. The coinage executed at the mints during the calendar year consisted of 63,739,966 pieces, of the face value of $61,375,438. The number of silver dollars coined was 31,423,886, on which the seigniorage was $7,095,361.34. The Director estimates the stock of coin in the Dieted States Jan. 2, 1887, to have been, in round figures, gold, $560,000,000; silver, $324,000,000; total, $884,000,000. In addition to the stock of coin, the Government owned gold and silver bullion in the mint awaiting coinage of the value of gold, $81,400,000; silver, $7,000,000; total. $88,400,000; a total of metallic stock on Jan. 1, 1887, of gold, $641,400,000; silver, $331,800,000; total, $973,200,000. The Director presents official figures to show that of the stock of gold coin estimated to have been in the United States the first of the present year, there was in the Treasury of the United States and in the national and State banks and in circulation on the Pacific slope $360,000,000, leaving $200,000,000 in the hands of the people and in the banks and savings institutions of the United States east of the Sierra Nevadas (other than national banks and the 849 State banks which reported to the Controller of the Currency). The stock and ownership of gold and silver coins in the. United States, Jan. 1. 1887, are given as follows: United States Treasury, $186,901,494; national banks, $166,093,556; State and other banks and private individuals, $531,156,804; total, $885,051,854. The total stock of paper and metallic money in the United States—the paper all either redeemable in coin or secured by bonds redeemable in coin—amounted, Jan. 1, 1887, to $1,879,919,935.