I think, have a value relatively with other property not much different from what they have had as the world's money."
COST OF PRODUCING SILVER.
Mr. M. L. Scudder, Jr., asked this question:
"Is it not a fact that silver can be mined for fifty cents an ounce, and does not the cost of production regulate its value?"
Coin replied as follows:
"It is not a fact that silver can be mined for fifty cents an ounce. In some particular mine, for a time, it may be mined for fifty cents an ounce, or less; just as gold has been mined for a time in Australia and California for ten per cent of its value."
"You must not judge of the cost of mining precious metals by any one mine; or by mining coal, iron, or other metals and minerals that lay in even veins. The latter class is demonstrated by geological formation and experience to be reliable in quality and quantity; works are erected, and conservative management and business judgment are safely applied to its production.
"Not so with silver and gold mines. They are most unreliable in both quality and quantity. Costly buildings and machinery are often erected to economize the mining of the ore, only to find no mine to operate by the time the buildings are completed and the machinery is working.
"Silver and gold are found in uneven and broken veins and pockets. Sometimes the 'pay streak' is a foot wide, to narrow down to an inch a few feet farther on. A single blast has been known to 'blow out' a mine—and with it the hopes of those who before the shot was fired thought they were millionaires.
