Coinage. 



187 



the Calendar Year 1895," the last one out as this paper goes to press, 

 the total production of silver of the world from 1493 to 1895 is $10,- 

 345,688,700, the Mexican coinage being over one-third of the whole. 



It must be borne in mind that that statement embraces, so far as 

 Mexico is concerned, only the silver coined, and it does not take into 

 consideration the silver used in the arts, which used to be a considerable 

 .amount, as almost every well-to-do Mexican had forks, spoons, plates 

 and other table ware and household articles of solid silver. It does not 

 embrace either such silver as was smuggled in bullion, which, consider- 

 ing the large extent of the Mexican sea coast, its scanty population and 

 the general demoralization during our civil wars represents a very large 

 amount. It can, therefore, be safely stated that the production of silver 

 in Mexico, not coined, represents at least from one-fourth to one-third 

 -of the amount coined. Therefore, the production of silver by Mexico 

 may be safely estimated at from $5,000,000,000, to $6,000,000,000, which 

 is about one-half of the total product of the world. 



The following statement shows the am6unt of silver coined by the 

 several mints of Mexico from their establishment to June 30, 1895, 

 stating the years in which the coinage was made : 



COINAGE BY THE MEXICAN MINTS FROM THEIR ESTABLISHMENT IN 

 1535 TO JUNE 30, 1895. 



I give a statement of the production of gold and silver in Mexico 

 in the fiscal years 1879-1880, 1889-1890 and 1894-1895, which shows 



