|
APPENDIX.
|
||
|
|
||
|
APPENDIX A.
San Francisco, Cal., May 26, 1884. A. J. Bowie, Jr., Esq., Present :
Dear Sir : You will find herewith a statement of the produce
of gold in the United States since its discovery in this State in
January, 1848, to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1883,
prepared by me at your request.
The
imperfect methods of collecting and preserving such data in this
country are so well known to statisticians and others as to scarcely
require any apology for the inaccuracies of these estimates or the
indulgence of your readers. I have long been satisfied that the
produce of the precious metals in this country, as well as in others,
has been considerably exaggerated, and that the tendency to
over-estimation is inherent in the methods adopted. My long connection
with the mining industries of this coast, however, through
metallurgical operations of great magnitude, enables me to eliminate
some of the inaccuracies which have crept into published statements,
and which have been adopted and repeated by subsequent statisticians.
Undoubtedly
the most reliable method of determining the produce of this country in
the aggregate is that based upon the deposits of " domestic " gold made
at the several mints, as stated in the directors' reports, and the
exports of uncoined domestic bullion, as shown by those
281
|
||
|
|
||