KEMP. GEOLOGY AND ECONOMICS 370 



nia, Australia and Klondike placers. The world's total of 444: millions 

 of dollars in 1908 was in excess of any previous year. The Transvaal 

 furnished the most, nearly 146 millions. The United States followed, 

 with 96 millions; Australasia yielded 73.5; Eussia, nearly 40; Mexico, 

 24.0 ; Ehodesia, 12.2, and British India, 10.4. All the rest were under 10. 

 The countries mentioned supply about 90 per cent, of the total. 



In the United States, 28 per cent, of the gold comes from gravels, and 

 these are the least permanent of the sources of the metal. With their 

 exhaustion, the output will decline. In the deep mines, there are signs 

 of waning output in some districts. In our own country, new districts 

 have come to the front from time to time to give on the whole a steady 

 increase in output for forty years past. So far as the future is con- 

 cerned, however, the ups and downs of any one or of several countries 

 make slight difference in the world at large. Gold can be readily shipped 

 from point to point, and the place of its ijroduction is a comparatively 

 small matter. 



Like silver and to an even greater degree, it resists chemical change, 

 so that the world's stock constantly augments. jN'o very important por- 

 tion is permanently lost in the arts. 



Gold and silver are so extensively employed in coinage that they have 

 received more attention at the hands of economists than have any other 

 metals. Gold in later years, with its increasing production, has led to 

 much philosophical speculation. The establishment of it as the monetary 

 standard and the elimination of silver from this position have occasioned 

 some of the most heated political controversies in the history of our coun- 

 try. Into these, a geologist is not competent to enter. We all probably 

 realize from old-tune experience how easy it is to become befogged. But 

 the geologist can say that for some years to come the gold production will 

 undoubtedly be maintained. And that while the Klondike and Alaska 

 may wane, Siberia will increase. 



We may now briefly summarize the main facts affecting the six metals 

 which have been passed in review. It will then be possible to draw some 

 general conclusions. Of iron ore, there is no lack, nor need any one be 

 apprehensive regarding the supply of this metal, Init before very many 

 years have passed, the yield of the ore will have decidedly declined. While 

 the falling off will be gradual, it will undoubtedly tend in the long run 

 toward forty per cent. This change is in itself important, because, unless 

 otherwise neutralized, it will raise the cost of production. It makes 

 necessary the melting of more barren materials in the furnace, so that the 

 consumption of fuel rises with respect to the amount of iron produced. 

 It means also the mining and freighting of an additional burden which 



