THE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK. 33 



silver by such vast numbers would not only rapidly absorb any 

 existing surplus, but possibly augment demand in excess of any 

 current supply.* The true economic policy of a country like the 

 United States, which is a large producer and seller of silver, 

 would therefore seem to be, to seek to facilitate such a result, 

 by removing all obstacles in the way of commerce between itself 

 and silver-using countries, in order that, through increased traf- 

 fic and consequent prosperity, the demand for silver on the part 

 of the latter might be promoted. 



The great reduction in the cost of transportation of commodi- 

 ties has been one of the most striking features of recent economic 

 history. Produce is now carried from Australia to England, a dis- 

 tance of eleven thousand miles, in less time and at less cost than 

 was required a hundred years ago to convey goods from one ex- 

 tremity of the British Islands to the other. The average cost of 

 transporting each ton of freight one mile on the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad during the year 1887 was yVo^ of a cent. At first thought 

 it would seem as if improvement in this sphere of human effort had 

 certainly found a limit ; but there are reasons for believing that 

 even greater reductions are possible. Apart from improvements 

 in machinery, and greater economies in operating, very few of the 

 great lines of transportation, especially the railways, have as yet 

 sufficient business to continuously exhaust their carrying ca- 

 pacity; but, when this is effected, and the present large class 

 of fixed expenditures is apportioned to a larger business, lower 

 rates for freight, from this cause alone, will be permissible ; all 

 of which, however, is simply equivalent to reaffirming the old 

 trade maxim that it costs proportionally less to do a large than 

 a small business. 



An anticipation of an immense increase in the near future, in 

 the commerce between the countries of the western and eastern 

 hemispheres, owing especially to the introduction into the latter 

 of better methods for effecting exchanges and transmitting in- 



* According to statements submitted to the Royal (English) Commission on Trade 

 Depression, " The quantity of pure silver used for coinage purposes, during the fourteen 

 years ending 1884, was about eighteen per cent greater than the total production during that 

 period ; and there are other estimates which place the consumption at a still higher figure. 

 It is to be remembered that the coinage demand is fed from other sources than the annual 

 output of the mines. It is supplied to some extent by the melting down of old coinage. 

 Allowing for this, however, the evidence of statistics goes to show that the coinage dc- 

 mawd for the metal is, and has been, sufficient to absorb the whole of the annual supply 

 that is left free after the consumption in the arts and manufactures has been supplied ; 

 and this conclusion is supported by the fact that nowhere throughout the world has there 

 been any accumulation of uncoined stocks of the metal." — London Jiconomifst. 



The situation suggests what is reported to have been contemplated, namely, the forma- 

 tion of a syndicate — like the so-called recent French syndicate in copper — for intercept- 

 ing the current market supplies of silver by speculative purchases and vast holdings, with 

 a view of compelling an immediate rise in the bullion price of this metal. 



VOL. XXXIII. — 3 



