46 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



000 ounces in the years 1821-'50, and only 790,000 ounces in the 

 decade ending 1880/' * 



But the most tangible and solid evidence that can be found 

 on the subject lies probably in the history of the production 

 of gold. On page 174 of the Report of the Director of the 

 Mint for 1894 is a table giving a statement of the annual 

 product of gold from the discovery of America. It may be 

 summarized as follows : 



Periods. Average annual product. 



1493 to 1520 $3,855,000 



lYOl to 1*720 8,520,000 



1801 to 1810 11,815,000 



1850 to 1855 132,613,000 



1890 1 18,849,000 



1893 157,222,000 



Prior to the Californian period the average product for three 

 hundred and fifty years was about $8,794,000. Before 1493 it was 

 still less. The value of gold therefore its standing relatively to 

 other commodities may be said to have been determined by this 

 long-continued rate of production. Then almost in the twinkling 

 of ai;i eye came the Californian and Australian discoveries. The 

 annual product of gold became nearly twenty times what it had 

 been : and this rate of production has not only been substantially 

 maintained, but is now showing a rapid increase. The extraor- 

 dinary contrast between the annual product of gold prior to and 

 after 1850 deserves a diagram : 



World's annual product of gold, 1493 to 1850. ^ 



World's annual product of gold, 1850 to 1893. ____i_si_^__ 



Total product, 1493 to 1850, $3,158,233,000. _-__ 



Total product, 1850 to 1893, $5,240,8'78,000. . 



It is therefore difficult to imagine that gold has appreciated 

 fifty per cent, or to any other extent, in the face of this wonderful 

 and continuous production.! The facts above stated its standing 

 relative to labor, land, and commodities not greatly affected by 

 modern conditions, the economy in its use effected by banks and 

 checks, and its novel rate of production lead me, on the contrary, 

 to think that since 1845 gold has suffered a slight decline, some- 



* Mulhall, History of Prices, p. 11. "Notwithstanding the gi'cat increase which has 

 taken place in the means of all classes during the interval, the average Englishman of the 

 present day consumes less gold than the Englishman of fifty years back." (J. E. Cairaes, 

 Essays, p. 134.) M. Chevalier likewise finds a decrease in the consumption of gold for 

 tableware purposes during the present century, both in England and France. 



f J. E. Cairnes (Essays, p. 115) states the gold production of the three hundred and 

 fifty-six years from 1492 to 1848 to have been, in round numbers, 400,000,000 an 

 amount nearly supplied, as he states, every decade at the present rate of production. 



