Yale Review (Volume 15) (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1907. Excerpt: ... THE DEPRECIATION OF GOLD. WHEN William Jennings Bryan was defeated in the year 1896, the world believed that the advocates of the gold standard had won a signal victory by the decisive overthrow of the hosts of inflation, whether by bimetallic or by single standard; but in the strange unravelling of the tangled skeins, financial and political, it is slowly becoming apparent that, by a chance of nature or by an act of God (according to the Democratic platform of 1904), Mr. Bryan, although defeated, has gained the victory for inflation, but without the honor, and that the advocates of a stable standard gold have gained the honor of a victory, not only empty, but with a sting. Appreciation or depreciation of the standard gold may be logically studied from two points of view: (a) industrial conditions of the gold industry; (b) commercial conditions of the gold industry. (a) Industrial conditions of the gold industry may be grouped under two heads, conditions of nature and conditions created by man. Under the former the following questions may be asked: Are there more mines producing gold to-day proportionately than during the years of the last decade? Under what cost of production is the product mined? So also, under the conditions created by mankind, from the standpoint of the supply, it may be asked, what improvements have taken place in the arts during the last decade tending to reduce the static cost of production? If such reductions have occurred, how much has the cost of production been decreased? On the demand side, the principal question is whether the demand for gold has grown more rapidly than the supply. (b) The commercial conditions of the gold industry may be said to register the constantly changing statistics of gold production as to the quantity by place, and also to cove...