Ch. 1: Gold and Silver in 1919

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	676	MINERAL RESOURCES, 1919----PART I.

	in detail, and the output is classified by methods of production and by kinds of ore, as well as by mining districts. The resulting figures form the basis of the mines reports. Of the two plans for ascertaining the gold and silver production of the United States one is a measure of the mining industry and the other a measure of the metallurgic industry; one reports the mine output and its recoverable content and the other the metal actually recovered in marketable form. The two methods will not produce exactly corresponding results, nor should they be expected to do so, but the figures for a period of years sufficiently long to compensate for overlap or lag should agree within allowable limits of error due to the complexity of the problem involved. For the last 15 years in which complete statistics have been gathered by both methods the final figures have been as follows:



	These figures show, according to the reports of the Mint, a total excess of gold for the 15 yearsof $11,455,285, or a difference of less than 1 percent, and a total excess of silver of only 673,795 ounces, or a difference of about 0.07 per cent. The figures for Alaska placers are not considered to be so closely approximate as the total figures for gold, hence the differences for the United States proper are probably even lower. It is thought that those small differences are fully accounted for in the detailed discussions of the subject in previous reports of this series. For any one year an excess of mining over smelting and refining is indicated by larger returns in the mines reports for gold or silver, or both, and an excess of smelting and refining and drawing upon stocks are indicated by larger returns in the report of the Mint. UNITS OF MEASUREMENT. In the measurement of ores and concentrates the short ton of 2,000 pounds is used throughout. The price of gold is fixed by law at $20.67 + per fine ounce. The annual average prices for silver from 1865 to 1915, based on the equivalent New York value of a fine ounce with exchange at par, are given elsewhere in this report. (See p. 667.)

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