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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1880)
28 THE WEST SHORE. January, 1880. THE AGE OF GOLD. From a lecture before the " Bullion Club," of New York, delivered by Prof. Benjamin Nil liman, the New York Exchange makes the fol lowing synopsis lie began by rclerring to the fact that nature holila the original aourcei of wealth, and that labor only creatoa valuoa, all effort to croato them orohange them permanently by human law-making being a direct violation of a great natural law. "What ia money?" aaid Prof. Hilliman. " There ia a aubatantial agreement that money ia a oommon medium of oxchango among civilized nationa. The choioe of the world from the earlicat time haa been oither ailver or gold aa money, beoauae theae metals demand value : (1) from the labor which it ooata to obtain them; (2) they are little liable to injury or duatruction by uae or aooidont; (3) they are readily divided intoooina of convenient aize; (4) their tranaportation coata only a email portion of their value, and (5) their quantity, although limited, may always be increaaed by mining to replaoe the loaa ariaing from consump tion and to meet the wanta of the growing popu lation of the world. No other known substances poaaeaa thia collective group of attrihutea fitting them to Iki uaed aa money, Platinum waa tried by the Kuaaian government aomo time ainco without success. The preference for gold aa a medium of exohango waa because gold poaaoaaod the power to resist the ravages of time and the admit of chemical aiihstanoes which doatroy ailver. The value of bank notes, ohecka, hills of lading, notoa of hand and other aubatitutua fur coin ia preoiaely in protxirtion to the credit of thoir maker. Coin sinks into tho character of bullion when ita purity or atnndard ia tampered with. I'rof. Hilliman referred in aevere terma to the experiment of the government of coining debaeod ailver dollar, and aaid : " Ix'gisla tion ia imiioU-nt to create valuea or make 'land 2 equal S. Iliatory provea that all experimenta to discover anil put in uae any deaoriptinn of circulating medium, except auch aa haa been and ia immediately convertible into gold or ailver, are diaaatroua failures." At the time of the discovery of America the total value of tho gold and ailver known to ex iat in the world waa eatimated at 170,000,000. Tho total gold product of America in the 53 yearn from Mil'.' to 1545 waa 8118,400,000. In lAOO the ailver minea of Potosi, Mexico, were discovered, which were deatined to pro duce more than 8 1, 000, (KM), 000 in ailver between lfllW ami I su:t 'I lie atock of gold and ailver in commerce aliout the yoar 1(100 waa: Hold (17 Jf) 800.000,000 8llar(j't) M0,ooo,ouo ToUl 60,000,000 Hatwoeu 1000 and 180O the atock of metala WMlwollen by: Oold (0tt 410,000,000 (Ulvar (TOS) IWO,000.000 Total 1,410,000,000 Add slock III 100 640,000,000 Total l,U6fl,O00,000 Ad J product (rem ISOO toIMtl: Oold 1MI,000,(IOO BUrtr. 460,000,000 On the authority of Humboldt and Cheval lier, oontiuued the Professor, the ailver produc tion of Mexico and Smith America waa aa fol low!: From 1545 to IMS about - nniwuuid Para ,mo,ooo,ooo ""leu t,TOI.noo,uw Colls ,IM7.8, Total ,stl7,Mt Froin 1845 to 1880- mIoo IWo.noo.ooo Bolivia m ram 146,000,000 ToUl m,is7.iw7,s Thai " age of sold " waa inaugurated by the diaoovery of cold in California in 1847. Iu the 900 yean following the discovery of America the influx of silver tod gold into oommaroe from America alone increaaed the volume of the preciouj meUlf previoualy exiating nearly forty- fold in nominal value. The coin in existence at the cloae of 1809 waa 380,000,000. Let us now see how the enormoua discrepancy between thia aum and the output of ailver from America alone previous to 1847 can be accounted for: Amarus?! 11vr and rnld Tirodu'-Hnrt 1V ir nm nnn nnft Coin ill oiliUmce In 1809 11,843,000,000 Atnorbed by Ada. 1,700,000,000 Consuniod in the arta 1,700,000,000 Woar and tear 100,000,000 Lost or hoarded 051,000.000 10,000,000,000 The Asiatic absorption of Bilver, Prof. Silli man said, was the most remarkable of financial problems. This phenomenon, acting with the great increase of gold during the 20 years fol lowing the diacoverv of California's cold, dis turbed the long-established ratio between the two metals, and for a time advanced the silver to a premium in France and other European countries. Dividing the history of the precioua metala into four periods, the fluctuation of ratios wasasfollowa: First period,. C. lGOOtoA.l). 312 The ancient relation between silver and gold in the Orient was 1 to 13.33, falling as low as 1 to 8 and 8.!)3 about B. C. 100, consequent on tho increase of gold brought by Ciesar out of Caul. Second period, A. D. 864 to 1500 The market ratio waa 1 to 12. Third period, from 1402 to tho opening of the gold mines of Cali fornia and Australia. Early in the 17th cen tury the rstio rose to 1-15.40; after 1087, down to 1771, it was 1 14.80. In 1550 the produc tion of silver was several times greater than that of gold, and tho ratio was 1-11 to about 1-15, but before tho close of the 17th century it had reached 1-15.5 tho ratio which is still the French staudard. Fourth period, 1851 to date Tho prediction of mauy who anticipated a marked fall in the price of gold, consequent upon the enormous increase in the output from 1847 to 1853 were not sustained by the result. In 1851 the ratio was 15 40; in 1852, 15-57; in 1853-51, 15 33; and in 185.), 15-36. After 1864 it begau to rise, lieing in that year 15-40; from 1808 to 1870, 15 60; in 1873, 15 90; and in October, 1874, 16 38. Tho Professor submitted tho following tahlo showing the relative produc tion of gold and silver in the last period: Tears. Gold. Sllvur. MM-tf ir,,000,000 .10,000,000 IW-M 80,000,000 60,000,000 Mi 267,000,000 82,000,000 ""-'a a'w.ooo.ooo ioo.ooo.ooo J8;3 !1,000,000 14,000.000 1871 lK.onoono in i 80,000,000 leiooojoox) III 1600 the value of silver to gold was about aa 12 to 1; in 1800, about 15J to 1, while the atock of ailver had been inoreased only about 6. Prof. Silliman thought that America waa destined to lie the largest producer of gold and ailver in the world. In conclusion, he aaid that both gold and silver from the earliest times have been adopted by mankind as the most convenient materials for money; that gold properly is recognized as tho chiof medium of value, but that the principal cause of the de preciation of silver was its demonetization by (lormany; and that upon the precioua metala alone ia it profitable to maintain a bank-note circulation, and it mado no matter whether the entire maaa of the reserve gold and silver was in ooin or in tine bars. "We believo that with a wise ooume of national legislation, the re moval from the United Stales notes of their legal-tender quality, and the retention ol ample reserves of gold and silver, will perma nently maintain and renew the financial credit of the nation, and give us, in the best sense of the term, the age of gold. " - Peneiiiative Power, or tue Kiu-rm,- l.mu. A ornctal teat of the great penetrating power of the electric light ia furnished by the experi ments of the officers of the French-Algerian 1 naugulation Service, who a few daya aco saw the electric light at theSpanish station of Zotica from a diaUto. J il ...... . w . . " miles. This ol-erv.t.on is proof, .f proof were wanted, of the great value of the light for maritime pur fo whan it u exhibited from sufficiently eleratod positions. v.wiuy FORMATION OF COAL. The Director of the Museum of the Parisian Academic des Sciences, M. Fremy, recently read a paper under the title "Chemical Researches respecting the Formation of Coal," which is of great interest, it is known that coal is pro duced by the decomposition of vegetable matter, which for many ages covered the surface of the earth. The learned chemist has made a scries of analyses, of which he givea an account in his paper, and which have enabled him to estab lish the laws of this decomposition, and to ex plain the transformation of the tissues of the vegetable matter into coal by the loss of their organic form. With reference to peat, the hypothesis has been put forth generally up to the present time of a possible relation between their formation and that of coal. M. Fremy has been led by the same investigations to the conclusion that the peaty formation is, so to speak, the first stage reached by the ligneous tissues before arriving at their complete transformation into coal. The rmner divas t.lie rAaiilt of inva.atlr.aa.'...... - - ... vo.ijja.iuuD on the vegetable tissues whioh Mr. Fremy has :J : in- a ... . can urn ou since louu. uur space win not per mit lis to five anvthino hnf llw. I, ,;.,..,, B J O - - wuuiuhuiib drawn from the experiments, whioh are aa fol lows: 1. Coal ia a anhakancA whieh r,rraaAa fHnM r.vmmi. 1IUUI the transformation of vegetable matter, but ..nun no .uugoi pioocavcB ibo organic iorm. 2. The vegetable marks which the oool pre sents are lirodilenrl hv if. as in oMiiot ... ...1,.,.. 1 J - wvu.HV ' U.UQl mineral substances, and do not prove its organ- i. moil, luisiueiisa ouuminous and plastic matter, on which the evti.nml vegetation are molded. When a piece of ooal iim.nnl. nn ita an.n. ...111,:., la Bull I . w (va n..n,..., oi nibUUl IIS lllLCriOr, marks of vei'etat ion it is not. to ha tkaniu 1 fern id that the adjacent parts are necessarilv .1, li f al -u i- ,i .. . . r uie resuiii 01 we ai.orauon or ino tissues which were covered by tho membranes whose form has been preserved. 3. The principal bodies contained in the veg etable culls. Slllnnittprl tn thn ,1..mU., II .......... - - ' -- uuuv.o uiuuaiuu of heat and pressure, produce substances which presoiit the properties and composition of coal. A 'l i,,, ,.,.t. -- AiiiL n. "-' """5" ooiuub niiu latty mavLers contained in the leaves are changed, by the ao tion of heat and pressure, into substances whioh approach very nearly to natural bitu men. 5. With regard to the ligneous tissues at the base of the cellulose and the vatculote, they are not tranformed direotly into ooaL Before being ao changed they pass through a process of peaty fermentation, whioh produces ulmic aoid. It is only in the second place that this ulmio acid ia transformed into coal mingling with all the coal-forming substances produced by the contents of the cells. Fmh Killed by Electricity. A correspond ent of ianrf and Water says: A curious inoident "f the whole of the occupants of a small fish pond being destroyed by a flash of lightning, is reported from Seok, Grand Duchy of Nassau. The Nattauer Bote states that dnrin,, . ,u heavy thunder and hail storm at night time, a i n oi ngntning struck a amall pond, well stocked With various kin,). ,.f e.i. il.. - i - v. uaii, uia property 1 LLu0 ,.th; iW .W .... B , ine ngI1 were (jjojj dea.1 upon the surface of the water. They had all thlt KtlOnnran.... ..f I ! 1. rr-,i oaring oeen nait Dolled, and crumbled to pieces at the least touoh, just aa ia t n rim cl . . . , VT ... "u suter oeing Doiled. Neither any external nor internal injury oould be obwrved the scales being intact and the a.MgMf "ed wl well prewrved. the morning aft,r the tiom M y thughtning had only then struck it 8""6
