indeed,
the influence exerted by fluctuations in the market value of silver may
be held to affect the production of that metal. With all other natural
products the amount produced is necessarily limited by the amount
consumed, whether in this or in foreign countries; notable examples of
which effect may be seen in the case of quicksilver, which, at a
certain demand and consequent market value, may be mined profitably,
while if the price declines only a few cents per pound a number of
mines are at once thrown out of operation, and the production .falls
off until an equilibrium is reached at which resumption of work is
profitable. In the case of the great iron industry, in which, as is so
often seen, overproduction brings its own remedy, aud as' is found to
be true in other almost innumerable instances which might be cited, it
would require very violent changes in the purchasing power of the
precious metals to materially affect the rate of their production. It
might even be said that the latter is apt to increase in cumulative
ratio, for unusual success in any locality at once attracts attention
and stimulates prospecting for new deposits and their exploitation,
the ultimate result being a sympathetic increase throughout the mining
region. But while natural causes are thus seen to influence the rate of
production only slightly, artificial restraints, such as the crusade
against hydraulic mining in California or the adoption of unwise laws,
certainly make their influence felt, though for the country at large
the effect is relatively small. In like manner the reaction from undue
speculation has a slight depressing result, which shows itself in
apparently returning cycles. Sudden changes in the normal supply of
either of the precious metals bring about from time to time
corresponding changes in the coinage laws of nations; the reflex action
upon production, however, is hardly more than perceptible.
The
production of gold and silver, like that of other commodities, is of
course not one of clear profit. Indeed, a saying that it costs one
dollar in coin to produce one dollar in bullion has gained more or less
credit; and though this opinion has been abundantly shown to be
unfounded, and while also any attempt to estimate the profit gained to
the country by the mining of the precious metals is mere guesswork, it
is still quite probable that $500,000,000 of the gross total has been
net profit.
One
third of all the gold and one-half of all the silver annually produced
in the world are supplied by the mines of the United States.
