DIAMOND CUTTING 37
States
and Europe, while slightly different from those of Mr. Schenck, show
conclusively that Mr. Schenck's statement regarding the difference in
cost of American and European cut goods, after the duty has been paid
in the United States, is correct.
Diamonds
have, since 1898, steadily advanced in price and are still advancing.
This is due, we believe, first to the difficulty in actually mining the
world's supply of diamonds, and second to the fact that through the
methods of business of the two great companies, the DeBeers
Consolidated Mines, Ltd., and the London Syndicate, — which combined
form virtually a monopoly,—they have been able to control the entire
diamond market and to regulate prices. For many years these two
companies have made the diamond market secure and undoubtedly will
continue to hold it so. The extent of the rise in prices has,
meanwhile, been very great, and in a rough way it is safe to say that
diamonds are today worth more than double the value of the same goods
in 1898, and in many cases more than three times what they were worth
at that time.
Perhaps the greatest advance in this general rise in value has been on fine crystal or Wessel-ton two grainers, or half-carat diamonds, which
