6o4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



1792, the production of silver in this country was insignificant in 

 amount. From 1845 to 1857 inclusive, the silver output is estimated 

 to have been about $50,000 each year. As long ago as the year 1853 

 the production of gold amounted to $65,000,000, and the annual 

 output has never equaled that amount since that time. In 1860 

 the silver product amounted in value to $150,000. In 1861 it 

 jumped suddenly to $2,000,000, in the following year to $4,685,000, 

 in the next year to $8,500,000, and so on, by leaps and bounds, 



until, in 1878, we were 

 turning out about $45,- 

 000,000 worth of silver 

 (commercial value) per 

 annum. This was the real 

 reason why the Bland bill 

 for the restoration of the 

 old silver dollar, weigh- 



$10 gold piece. Clark, Gruber & Co., Denver, 1861. . a-ic\^ 



^ *^ mg 412-^ grains, was in- 



troduced into Congress and passed over the President's veto. It was 

 then supposed that a maximum output of silver had been attained, 

 but this was far from the fact. Production increased amazingly, even 

 in the face of falling prices. 



In 1878, the year the Bland bill became law, the average price 

 of pure silver was $1.15 an ounce, and the output from American 

 mines was less than 35,000,000 fine ounces. In 1896 the average 

 value of an ounce of fine (pure) silver was 67 cents, but the output of 

 silver had risen to nearly 59,000,000 fine ounces. Since that time 

 the price of silver has fallen still lower; to-day it is about 55^ cents 

 per ounce. 



In 1837, when the 412^-grain silver dollar was authorized, the 

 pure silver contained therein (371^ grains) was worth 100 cents in 

 gold. To-day the pure silver in the Bland dollar is worth 42| cents. 



The value of any raw product depends mainly upon the relation 

 between the production and consumption; when this remains con- 

 stant the price of the commodity varies but little. 



The commercial ratio of silver to gold has been carefully deter- 

 mined by Dr. A. Soetbeer, the renowned statistician, from the years 

 1687 to 1832; by Pixley and Abell from 1832 to 1878; and after 

 the latter date by the daily cablegrams from London to the Bureau 

 of the Mint. These tables show that the ratio between silver and 

 gold vibrated between the limits of a trifle below 15 to 1 and 16 

 to 1 for nearly two centuries. In 1873 the ratio was almost exactly 

 16 to 1; then the great flood of silver began to pour out from the 

 famous Comstock lode and other mines in the "West, so that pro- 

 duction soon far exceeded consumption. The Government was com- 



