MONEY : ITS ORIGIN AND VALUE. 31 9» 
United States Mint gives the total yield to the close of June 30, 1882, of all mines 
of the different States and Territories as 1,109,000,000 of gold, the half of it 
from California, and 197,000,000 silver, one-half of it from Nevada, 
from Nevada. 
The production of the year 1880 represents five ordinary car-loads of gold, 
and a train of 109 freight cars of the usual capacity to transport the silver would 
be needed. 
The question. How much of the precious metals is now in existence ? has- 
been answered by various quotations, without warranted proofs. They may be 
right or not. 
Much more confidence is to be given to the statement that on November 6, 
1882, the banks of England, France, Germany, and the United States Treasury 
alone contained $487,000,000 in gold; and it is obvious that this enormous 
amount is only a fraction — probably a large one — of the gold actually possessed 
by all the banks of the world. To this we have to add the enormous amount in 
circulation, and all the silver. But this is by no means all. In a large part of the 
world, small capitals earned by farmers, workmen and citizens are laid aside for 
emergency, often hidden somewhere, and represent by their number, doubtless- 
an enormous large sum of money; the more so as it is the custom to keep such 
small capitals in specie. It probably will not happen again, as Archenholz tells u& 
in his description of England in the last century, that a farmer presented to the 
Bank of England a ;^i 0,000 note, asking for an advance on it. Refusing to 
have the note paid, and when asked why he refused it, he answered candidly 
that he possessed for years this and a twin note of the same amount, and that he 
did not like to part with them. 
The unexpected quick payment of the enormous war indemnity by France 
to Germany has generally been explained by the unusually large number of 
small capitals which were freely offered by the patriotic and noble feeling of the 
inhabitants. The amount of gold and silver contained in objects of luxury is 
commonly much exaggerated. During the French revolution, when the delivery 
of all gold and silver was ordered, and the order rigorously executed, the whole 
amount proved to be surprisingly small. When, in Prussia, during the Napoleonic 
wars in 1809, a tax was laid upon all precious metals in private possession, the 
whole amount did not reach $100,000. This statement is far more interesting,, 
as everybody was so eager to help the country that a new order had to be issued, 
stating that it had not been intended that overconscientious citizens should tax 
their family souvenirs to an unusual value. Therefore the suspicion that the 
small amount may have been the consequence of many hidden treasures can not 
be thought of. The same tax gave similar small returns in the unlucky year of 
1848. 
The newspaper tales of the treasures of Oriental princes contain sometimes 
enormous accounts of precious metals and jewelry. Perhaps it may be there 
similar to what happens to be in the treasury of some European princes, where 
the treasures are still shown to the pubHc, but, in fact, imitations for a large parfi 
