Kitabı oku: «Remarks on the production of the precious metals», sayfa 3

At the time this notice was published, it appeared that the exchange of gold for bank-notes would take place under the most favourable auspices. Gold was at a tolerably high premium in the market of Amsterdam, bills of exchange on foreign countries were scarce, and consequently the payments of international commerce could very advantageously be made in the precious metals. Moreover, the government treasury was full, and the Netherlands bank declared itself ready to assist efficiently in the operation. But all these chances of success were destroyed by the precipitancy of the government. A complete panic was occasioned by the short period granted to the holders of gold coin: the people hastened to pour their gold into the state treasury, (which could not receive it all) or else to send it abroad. The government had imagined that the sum likely to be exchanged, would no exceed ⁴⁰30,000,000 florins: they had miscalculated by two-fifths; for the sum amounted to ⁴¹50,000,000 florins. The 30,000,000 of paper money that they had been authorized to issue, together with the money in the treasury at their disposal, not being sufficient to pay for the amount of gold presented, they were obliged to have recourse to the bank of the Netherlands, and to borrow a sum of ⁴²6,500,000 florins, at an interest, moderate it must be admitted, of 2½ per cent. per annum.

The exchange being effected, it was necessary for the government to find a means of disposing of the gold withdrawn from circulation. It could be sold only in foreign markets; and there, private industry had forestalled the government, and the price of gold had fallen in consequence of the number of Guillaumes brought for sale. At first the Dutch government suffered only a small loss, owing to a momentary reaction in favour of gold coin; but the first sales having increased the depreciation, they were obliged, for fear of greatly adding to their loss, to stop after having disposed of ⁴³21,836,000 florins: the loss then amounted to ⁴⁴244,446 florins, being about 1¹²⁄₁₀₀ per cent. By the middle of October, gold had fallen in value 2½ per cent. below the legal price, and by the middle of December, 4 per cent. At this period, the pieces of five and ten florins, banished from Holland, were scattered about in the different markets of Europe: London had received them to the amount of £600,000; Paris to the amount of ⁴⁵63,000,000 francs; Germany had absorbed the rest: excepting from ⁴⁶28,000,000 to ⁴⁷29,000,000 florins, still lying unsold in the treasury of the Netherlands.

The Guillaumes have continued to be melted and coined, in Paris, into 20 and 40 franc pieces; for I find in an official record furnished me by the President of the Mint, that Dutch coin was exchanged at Paris in the last six months of 1850, to the amount of ⁴⁸40,934,053 francs; and in the first six months of 1851, to the amount of ⁴⁹70,901,597 francs, – altogether ⁵⁰111,835,650 francs.

The gold coinage of Holland, from 1816 to 1847, was 172,583,955 florins, equal to ⁵¹362,000,000 francs. Supposing that of this only two-thirds was in existence in this shape of coin in 1850, there would be 115,000,000 florins, or ⁵²236,000,000 francs, all at once withdrawn from circulation, and thrown upon the gold market: is it possible that the price of gold could be otherwise than affected? The gold thus suddenly demonetized equalled at least twice the annual produce of the world, previous to the discovery of California. The Mint of Paris alone, which had not struck above ⁵³27,000,000 francs in gold during the year 1849, coined ⁵⁴85,000,000 in 1850, and ⁵⁵269,000,000 in 1851.

Fortunately, the crisis was of short duration; the gold coined in Paris rapidly flowed either towards Piedmont, to pay the first instalment of their loan, or to Milan to pay for silks bought by Lyons and St. Etienne. Credit is at a low ebb in Italy, there is little paper circulation, tending to simplify accounts, and taking the place of specie in the adjustment of debts; gold is therefore always in demand, and the supply was speedily absorbed. Certainly, the apprehensions of the Dutch Government have proved hitherto groundless, and the desired object has been but partially attained: silver, having become the sole standard, has found its way (somewhat in excess) throughout the country, but the loss of gold coin has given rise to a small note paper-circulation: there is now a paper money of 10 and 5 florins (21 francs and 10½), which, although at first but provisionally issued, will probably become permanent circulation. Holland is following the steps of Prussia and Austria. The Dutch Government supposed that, notwithstanding the demonetization of gold, the coinage might remain in circulation, and be voluntarily accepted for its intrinsic value. This was a misconception of the nature of money, which is accepted as a circulating medium only on account of its positive value. As might have been anticipated, gold has ceased to circulate in Holland, and paper has taken its place. It is doubtful whether the nation has gained by the change.

We think we have sufficiently considered the subject of the fall in price of gold in 1850. During the last eighteen months the production of this metal has made immense progress. The crisis, which was then imaginary, may have taken a more serious turn, and may become hereafter a reality. This we will now examine.

IV

The three great gold districts, which have lately grown into importance, are, the chain of the Oural and Altai Mountains, California, and its extensions to Sonora and Oregon, and the eastern and southern districts of Australia; let us consider each in its order.

The washings of the Russian streams first aroused public attention from the languor into which the question of gold-working had fallen. The deposits of the Oural, where the first discoveries were made, never gave any extraordinary results; the workings appeared almost impracticable above the 60th degree of latitude, and although begun on a great scale above half a century ago, they have remained almost stationary for the last fifteen years; the annual returns, divided about equally between the government and private individuals, scarcely exceeded ⁵⁶5,000 kilogrammes.

The Altai gold district was in a very different position; in spite of the rigour of an inhospitable climate, and the difficulties experienced from any work of labour with a scanty population, the development of produce was extremely rapid. Begun in 1828, the result, after the first eight years, was ⁵⁷1,722 kilogrammes, but from that time it increased in a geometrical proportion; it rose to ⁵⁸4,000 kilogrammes in 1840, to ⁵⁹10,000 in 1842, and exceeded ⁶⁰20,000 in 1847.

The year 1847 appears to have been the culminating point of the position of gold in Russia. The “Administration des Mines” report a produce of ⁶¹1744 pouds, or ⁶²28,521 kilogrammes, as the combined working of the Oural and Altai; admitting that one-fifth of the produce escaped the government tax, the result of the gold produce of 1847, would be at least ⁶³110,000,000 francs. From that time the decrease has been continuous. The official reports of 1848, give the figures at 1,726 pouds, or ⁶⁴28,252 kilogrammes; 1592 pouds, or ⁶⁵26,077 kilogrammes in 1849; 1485 pouds, or ⁶⁶124,324 kilogrammes in 1850; and 1,432 pouds, or ⁶⁷78,000,000 francs in 1851. It is to be observed that the reduction refers exclusively to Siberia, east and west; not only has the activity of the workings in the Oural been undiminished, but it has slightly increased: the produce of 1849 was 342 pouds, being ⁶⁸244 kilogrammes more than in 1845.

The decrease of production appears to have been principally caused by excessive taxation. The working of the Siberian gold districts is divided between the Government and private owners, and in the division, the eastern side of the mountains has been retained by the former, whilst the latter have worked the western. The result has been an immense loss to the public treasury, for whilst two-fifths of the washings of the Oural are from the government reserves, the Altai districts do not yield above 5 to 6 per cent. of this produce. The Russian government has endeavoured to collect by taxation what is lost either by abstraction or the washings. The tax was at first one-tenth of the net produce; it was then raised to 15 per cent., and has since been further increased. The new tax, however, only applies to Siberia, east and west. It is a progressive rate, divided amongst ten classes, the rate varying from 5 per cent. on the raw produce, when the working was from one to two pouds, up to 32 per cent. when the working amounted to 50 pouds per annum. The whole tax, however, was, in addition to another tax called “minier,” also progressive, and varying, according to class, from four to ⁶⁹ten roubles per pound of gold.

These exorbitant taxes may have acted in two ways, either as an encouragement to fraud, or as a discouragement to production. At the distance at which we live from Siberia, a country where the light of public opinion has penetrated even less than the rays of the sun, it is difficult to decide between these two consequences, both perhaps equally probable. But the fact of the decrease remains undoubted, and this decrease has been to the extent of one-seventh in three years, or about ⁷⁰4,000 kilogrammes.

The working of the gold regions of Siberia has not been of the democratic character which it has assumed in California and Australia. There the first comer, provided he were furnished with a pickaxe, a bowl, a cradle, and a small store of provisions, might, without further capital, pitch his tent over some square yards of land, and dig until he has made his fortune. With a license costing 60s. in Australia, and with a tax of 20 dollars a year in California, he may go where he pleases. It is not the government which fixes his boundary, but the regulations of the republic of miners, forming a community along the banks of a river, or at the foot of a hill, forbidding one man to usurp a greater space than he can work with his own hands; the miner himself possessing nothing, and therefore, risking nothing, may dispense with all calculations of profit and loss. If the spot he has selected does not answer his expectations, he shifts his ground, or his occupation. Under any circumstances, the tax, not bearing upon capital, and being moderate in amount, is easily paid; a few days work is sufficient for it; the remainder of his time during the year with his bad or good luck, is at his own free disposal. Such is not the case, in the Altai, where the aristocratic forms attaching to all industry, either at the will of the state, or from the force of circumstances, have exerted their influence over the first commencement of working the mineral districts. By the terms of the imperial decrees, concessions are only obtained on special application, and for a term of twelve years, and the portion assigned to each person never exceeds 100 sagenes (about ⁷¹250 metres) by five wersts, (about 5335 metres); the same person may, however, take several lots, provided they are separated by a distance of five wersts. These contractors engage a certain number of workmen, whom they provide with utensils and machinery, besides feeding them and paying them high wages. Everything connected with the arrangements entails considerable advance of capital, and when the chance of a small return, or sometimes of no return at all, is added to the heavy deduction to be paid to the state, out of the raw material, is it surprizing that members of this community are frequently unwilling to extend their operations, and almost always anxious to conceal the magnitude of their working?

It is said, that in keeping up the amount of the tax, the Russian Government has had less in view the advantage of a larger participation of interests than a desire to check a kind of industry very demoralizing in its nature. If such is really the motive, it might be less critically censured. Whatever the reason, so long as the Russian Government considers it advisable to keep up the present taxation, it is not likely that the increase of production of gold will be considerable; it appears to be limited for the present to an amount probably not exceeding ⁷²90,000,000 to ⁷³100,000,000 francs per annum.

The Spaniards – those indefatigable treasure-seekers – who discovered the hidden riches of the Cordilleras, had been in possession of California for above two centuries. From the year 1602, Sebastian Viscaino, the founder of Monterey, had learnt from the Indians, dispersed throughout that country, that it abounded in gold and silver. Nevertheless, instead of planting a colony of miners to examine the soil, the Spaniards sent thither a body of missionaries, who proclaimed the gospel, and at the same time instructed the natives in the rudiments of civilization and of agriculture.

In 1846 there was scarcely 10,000 of the original Spanish creoles, when a body of some hundreds of adventurers from the United States, under General Taylor, invaded and took possession of the country. The Government of the Union, in demanding its cession from Mexico, thought chiefly of an aggrandisement of territory; they wanted ports on the Pacific and a rival colony to Oregon. Little was it expected that in the valleys which descended from the Sierra Nevada would be found mines of gold likely to become the principal attractions to colonization, and a district whose exuberant products would be shortly disseminated throughout the markets of Europe, as well as of America.

The extension of the population of California which so speedily occurred, is greatly due to the truly fabulous success of the first washings; the miners naturally first planted themselves on the richest “placers,” they rather culled the produce, than exhausted it; they frequently discovered “pépites” weighing several ounces, if not pounds of gold; a clever workman made his fortune in a few days.

In June, 1848, Mr. Larkin, Consul of the United States at Monterey, valued the day’s work of a gold seeker at an average of 15 to 25 dollars (⁷⁴133 to 267 francs). Colonel Mason, in his report of August, considered the produce of a day’s work of 4,000 European or Indian miners at ⁷⁵30,000 to 40,000 dollars, giving an average of about 10 dollars ⁷⁶(53 francs) to each workman. Captain Folson writes about a month later, “I do not think that there can exist richer deposits in the world. I have myself ascertained that an active workman can collect from ⁷⁷25 to 40 dollars per day, valuing the gold at 16 dollars the ounce.” Mr. Butler King, whose report is of still later date, places the average day’s work per man at about 16 dollars, or one ounce of gold.

During the second period of working, when the miners flocked to the “placers,” and disputed every inch of the golden soil, the yield began to diminish in a very marked degree. A local mining journal, the “Placer Times,” of 26th October, 1850, giving a resumé of the proceedings of the season, including the encampment from the River de la Plume to the River Consumnes, covering an extent of about 100 miles, and occupied by 60,000 gold-seekers, estimated the mean result of a day’s work at from six dollars on the River de la Plume, to four dollars on the l’Yuba and Ours, and five dollars on the American Fork. The information collected by our consuls at the beginning of 1850, gives a result of one to two ounces per day in the Valley of the Sacramento, and from one to four in the newer regions of St. Joaquim. The diminishing produce, comparing one year with the other, was not without some compensation. If the miner gained less, he did not spend as much. The extravagant rise on all sorts of provisions, clothes, and tools, had been brought down to a more reasonable limit: – they no longer paid ⁷⁸one dollar for a pound of bread; ⁷⁹eighty dollars for an outer covering; ⁸⁰fifty dollars a-day for the use of a cart with two oxen, or ⁸¹5000 dollars for a cask of brandy. An artizan could no longer command sixteen dollars for a day’s work. Europe, the United States, and other nations, shipped to California cargoes of provisions and of manufactured goods; competition soon lowered the prices. Roads were made from the “placers” to San Francisco; bridges were thrown over the rivers; they established stores of provisions and merchandize at every canteen. Towns sprung up like mushrooms, and in 1850 San Francisco numbered 50,000 inhabitants. The production of gold in California appears to have now arrived at its third period. The miners have acquired a certain experience, their modes of working are less primitive, and they are more settled. The want of order is diminishing, and the average produce is increasing. The accounts from San Francisco in April, 1852, mentioned “placers” in the valley of the Sacramento, where a day’s working yielded from ⁸²fifteen to twenty dollars, and others on the frontier of Oregon, where the average was from ⁸³five to ten. On the frontier of Sonora the washings of the auriferous clay yielded ⁸⁴seven to eight dollars a day with the roughest description of work; all agreed that eight hours hard work should produce everywhere from six to ⁸⁵eight dollars, if the plain be rich; and as the miner could live on from ⁸⁶two to three dollars a day, he might reckon on a gain of from ⁸⁷400 to 500 dollars during the season. However, by the latest accounts, it would appear that the “placers” are beginning to be exhausted. 100,000 miners turning over continuously for three years the alluvial sands, (already successfully explored by the first comers in 1848 and 1849,) could hardly fail to extract everything of value. It remains now to explore the auriferous quartz veins which may extend to the centre of the Sierra Nevada. This new work, however, requires large capital, and extensive combinations. The success of such operations has hitherto been but moderate.

The auriferous richness of the quartz rocks in California appears sufficient to remunerate the speculator; and foreign capital is not deficient at St. Francisco. Whence is it, then, that the quartz mines have hitherto been but slightly attractive? It has arisen from the want of the requisite and essential conditions for the progress of such undertakings.

Property in “placers” or in mines is not yet sufficiently secure; it is neither yet placed fully under the safeguard of law, nor is it protected by police regulations. Anarchy still reigns in this new country; – not only have the miners to defend their persons and their acquisitions against the incursions from Indian tribes; not only are crimes and offences common (lynch law maintaining a permitted existence instead of laws and police); but every one appears to hold his property by right of first comer: a miner chooses the spot he likes best; a strong arm and a carbine, with a steady eye, are his title deeds. To seize upon a rich “placer” from a miner too weak to resist, is called in the slang of the district, to “jump a claim.” The President of the United States himself, stated in his last message, that “The mineral lands should remain free to every citizen;” and the Secretary of State has added, “that the right of occupancy should be submitted only to such laws as the miners themselves thought fit to make.”

The continuous flow of emigration, and the continuous working of the gold districts, appear to indicate, that in spite of many reverses and sufferings, the mass of emigrants consider the result as likely to be profitable. Without approaching to the fabulous accounts of the early adventurers, these results have certainly largely exceeded in magnificence those of any former period in history; let us endeavour to particularize some of them.

Mr. Butler King, in his report to the Secretary of State, in 1850, after a careful examination of California, values the washings and gold working of the two years, 1848 and 1849, at ⁸⁸40,000,000 dollars. The basis of this calculation, the first officially presented, was a produce of 1000 dollars (⁸⁹5350 francs) per miner, per annum.

According to Mr. Butler King, American emigration hardly began to flow towards California until September, 1849; up to that period, foreigners, principally from Mexico and Oregon, had reaped all the profit of the washings. The San Francisco Herald estimated, that at the end of 1850, the gold produce of California, for the twenty-one months between 1 April, 1849, and 31 December, 1850, at the sum of 68,587,591 dollars (nearly ⁹⁰367,000,000 francs). According to the documents published in France by the Minister of Commerce, which appear to have been derived from local statistics, the produce was rather less than the above. From 1 April, 1849, to 31 March, 1851, in two years, it was raised to ⁹¹329,000,000 francs.

Monsieur Emilie Chevalier, who has just returned from a government mission to Panama, in a report to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, considers the result as having been much larger. The gold brought as freight by steamers in 1850, he estimates at ⁹²50,306,525 dollars. The author of the report adds, on the testimony of a person whom he considers as competent to give a sound opinion, that the sums carried by passengers are not less than three fourths of the amounts brought as merchandize; and thus he arrives at the extraordinary figures of 88,000,000 dollars (more than ⁹³470,000,000 francs) for a single year. At St. Francisco, where they are able to form probably a more correct estimate on a subject so difficult to trace accurately, they do not value the amount of gold carried by passengers at above one-fourth the amount taken in freight. Even on this supposition there will be a sum of 25,000,000 dollars, or above ⁹⁴133,000,000 francs to be deducted; but it appears to me very doubtful, if the produce of 1850 exceeded this figure of ⁹⁵329,000,000 francs, according to the French documents already referred to. We have more valuable documents of another kind to rely upon, in the quantities of gold coined at the United States’ Mint; the following are the official figures: —

All the gold sent to the Mint did not, however, come from California. A part consisted of specie sent from Europe, in exchange for American stocks or merchandize. The treasure found in 1848 in the Valley of the Sacramento, belonged, as it has been stated, principally to foreigners. Up to the month of March, 1850, the United States’ Mints had not received above 11,000,000 or ⁹⁶12,000,000 dollars of Californian gold. At the end of August in that year the amounts paid in did not exceed ⁹⁷24,500,000 dollars. A year later, the mints had received in gold from that source ⁹⁸80,000,000 dollars.

The United States have naturally sent the larger number of the emigrants to California. It is with the United States principally that the trade is carried on. It would appear, then, to be natural that the principal flow of gold from the Sierra Nevada should take that direction. Doubtless a portion of the gold found annually in California will remain there, and form the circulating medium. Considerable amounts also will have been spread throughout South America, and amongst the various commercial countries of Europe, either in payment of goods shipped, or as the free capital arising from the accumulations of labor. I shall not be exaggerating, however, in supposing, that seven-tenths of the gold annually produced is coined in the United States, and that one-tenth of the produce only is shipped directly to Europe. Thus, then, the United States having received from California ⁹⁹100,000,000 dollars up to the end of 1850, the total produce of the four years, including 1848, (during which year there did not appear to have been any coinage from Californian gold), ought to have been from ¹⁰⁰750,000,000 to ¹⁰¹800,000,000 francs.

The gold exported from California in 1851 is estimated by the Custom House returns at ¹⁰²56,000,000 dollars. According to the calculations of the St. Francisco Herald, for the first three months of 1852, the total produce amounted to ¹⁰³14,656,142 dollars; at this rate the produce of the year 1852 would not be less than ¹⁰⁴62,000,000 dollars. The export of April is estimated at St. Francisco, at ¹⁰⁵3,422,000 dollars, rather more than ¹⁰⁶18,000,000 francs. The produce of the “placers,” according to the latest reports, although still abundant, is decreasing; nevertheless, if Australia does not attract the most experienced and the most greedy of the work-people, the mines of California appear likely to yield this year not less than about ¹⁰⁷300,000,000 of our money; that is six times the amount of the production of gold at the beginning of the century, throughout the civilized world. It is twice the amount of the production of gold in 1847. It is hardly needful to exaggerate these figures, as many writers on both sides of the Atlantic have already done, in order to prove that a change is occurring in our monetary values, and that the status quo which has lasted for above half a century, is not necessarily to continue for ever.