WHERE THE GOLD GOES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 544, 20 September 1872, Page 3

WHERE THE GOLD GOES.

In the reign of Darius, gold was thirteen times more valuable, weight for weight, than silver. In the time of Plato, it was twelve times more valuable. In the time of Julius Cmsar, gold was only nine times more valuable, owing, perhaps, to the enormous quantity of gold eeizsd by him in his wars. It ia a natural question to ask—what became of the gold and silver ? A paper read before the Polytechnic Association by Dr. Stevens, recently, is calculated to m -ot this enquiry. He says, of our annua l gold product, fully fifteen per cent., is melted down for manufacture; thirty five per cent, goes to Europe, twenty-five per cent, goes to Cuba, the West Indies and Brazil, fully fifty per cent finds its way to Europe, where, deducting a large peicentage used in manufacturing, four-fifths of the remainder is exported to India. Here the transit'of the precious metal is at an end. Here the supply, however vast, is absorbed, and never returns to the civilised world. The Orientals consume but little, while their pro laotions are ever in demand among the Western nations whe have acquired the desire of accumulation and hoarding, a fashion common alike to all classes among the Egyptians, Chinese, and Persians. A French economist says, in his opinion, the firmer nation alone can hide away twenty million dollars of gold and silver annually, and the present Emperor of Morocco is reported as so addicted to this avaricious mania, that he has filled seventeen large chambers with the precious metals. The pas ion of princes, it is not surprising that the same spirit is shared by their subjects and it is in this predilection ihat we discover the prob’em as to the ultimate disposition of the precious metals. This absorbtion bathe Eastern nations has been uninterruptedly going on since the most rrmote historical period. According to Pliny, as much as one hundred million dollars in gold was, in his day, annually exported to the East. The balance of trade in favor of those nations is now given at eight million dollars.