THE GOLDEN SEMICIRCLE
493
led to the development of the Far West Rand, of the Klerksdorp region and to the discovery of the Orange Free State field.
But,
while monetary policy, as the final determinant both of the price of
gold and of the general level of costs, is the great secular force
presiding over the fate of the gold-mining industry, it is also the
case that fiscal policy, the march of technology,2 and the
position of the labour supply, have powerfully affected the position of
the industry from time to time. On all these matters Ernest Oppenheimer
had much to say. For forty years in succession, almost without
interruption, Ernest Oppenheimer surveyed the problems and progress of
the gold-mining industry, in his annual speeches and statements to the
shareholders of Anglo American Corporation, and later to the
shareholders of the West Rand Investment Trust and of the Orange Free
State Investment Trust. These in themselves constitute a unique record
and, in the aggregate, represent a very important contribution to the
literature of the subject.
♦ II ♦
At
the time when the Anglo American Corporation began its life in 1917,
the position of the gold-mining industry was dangerous, if not
critical. A great war was raging and gold was one of the sinews of war;
the Union Government
placed
restrictions on the export of gold in the same way as restrictions were
placed on the export of certain other commodities. Arrangements were
made by which the gold produced by South African mines was purchased by
the Bank of England, at par value, less an inclusive charge of 255. per
cent for insurance, freight, refining, commission, etc. This
represented an increase of 175. 6d. per cent on pre-war
charges. The local banks acted as agents for the Bank of England, and
paid out 98 f per cent of the value on receipt by them of the gold
bars, the balance being paid when the final accounts were received from
the Bank of England.3
2
While the output per man employed, in terms of fine ounces, naturally
varies with the grade of ore milled, the influence of improved
processes is shown by the progressive rise in the tonnage milled per
man employed:
