Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1900 — THE GOLD STANDARD. [ARTICLE]

THE GOLD STANDARD.

ALL COUNTRIES ARE RAPIDLY ADOPTING IT. SoMtai Japan and India, with Their Population of 465,000,000 People, Have Fallen Into Line Since the Campaign of 1896. The currency question was so thoroughly discussed in 1896, and the assertions of the adherents of silver as a standard money metal have been so thoroughly dlsproven by' the events slnco that date, that a detailed discussion of the (question seems now unnecessary. It is not improper, however, to call attention to some great facts wfcich account in some degree, at least, for the coarse pf the great nations in one by one abandoning the double, fluctuating standard and adopting the single and now almost universal standard—gold. The general movement among nations for the adoption of the single gold standard began about 1870 (except in the case of England, which took this action in 1816/, and since that time all the nations of the world, excepting Mexico, China, Korea, Siam, Persia, and some of the smaller republics of Central and South America, have adopted the single gold standard. Recent statements indicate that China is pushing for the introduction of the gold standard in her customs service. This, if accomplished, will doubtless be the initial step toward similar action with reference to the currency of that country. Consular statements recently published indicate that Siam is preparing to adopt the single gold standard. Even in the short four years since the campaign of 1896 thg gold standard has been adopted in Jay an, with a population of 40,000,000; Russia, with a population of 125,000,000; India, with a population of 300,000,000. and several of the Central and Sofith American republics. Ijl the three hundred and fifty-seven-yews prior to 1850 the gold production of the world averaged less than $lO,000.000 per annum; in the fifty years slnoe 1850 the gold production of the world has averaged $135,000,000 per annum, and in the year 1899 \yas $315,000,000. In the four closing years of the nineteenth century the gold production will be greater than that of the entire first half of the century. In the single yea/ 1899 the gold production was as greoit as that of the first thirty-three year* of the century. This enormous increase in the production of gold as compared With that of previous centuries began with the discovery of gold in California In 1847, followed by similar discoveries in Austral!* in 1853, then by later discoveries In Colorado a few years later, then by the enormous discoveries in Sohth Africa, which have proved the greatest gold producing mines ever known, and within the past three years thfe great discoveries in Alaska. All these have beep supplemented, and their results multiplied meantime, by the developmeq£ of new means of extraction, through which mines formerly abandoned as worthless again became valuable. These discoveries and developmeijts account for the fact that the gold production of the world in the last fifty years has been more than twice as great as that of the preceding three hundred and fifty years. A* a consequence, the gold in existence to-day, accepting the statistics of such eminent statisticians as Tooke, Newmarch and Munhall, and adding to these the later statements of the Director of, the Mint, Is more than three as great as in time the population has increased! 50 per cent., being, according to equally eminent statisticians, 1,075,000,000 in 1850 and 1,500,000,000 at the present time. This would give twice as much gold for each person to-day as in 1850. In addition to this, however, Mulhall shows that two-thirds of the gold of the world to-day is coined and used asmoney, while in 1850 only one-third of the gold was coined. This again doubles the amount of gold money, making, therefore, more than four times as much gold currency for each individual in the world to-da.v as in 1850. Of the world’s silver, according to the same authority (Mulhall), 40 per cent, was coined in 1850 and 53 per cent. In 1890. Gold, unlike most commodities produced, Is fur the most part retained permanently—not eaten, or worn out, or destroyed—and each year’s addition from the mines thus Increases the world’s permanent stock of the money metal, excepting the small proportion whleh is used in the arts, which averages, perhaps, 15 to 20 per cent, of the world’s product. Keeping this In mind. It will be seen that the result of the last half-century of gold production in the total amount mined is more than twice as great as that in three hundred and fifty years preceding, has enorniouwly increased the world’s permanent stock of this accepted money metal, and seems of itself to offer an Important, if not a complete, explanation of the fact-that during that half century in which the product has so greatly increased, practically all the nations of the world have abandoned the double standard and adopted this rapidly increasing and generally accepted measure of value. There has been also an enormous Increase in the production of silver daring the same period, the total of the last fifty years being, in round numbers, $5,000,000,000, against $6,000,000,000 lit the three hundred and fifty years preceding. This silver has also gone largely Into use as a money metal, and the amount of silver money in circulation as a full circulating medlugp-oias greatly Increased.