aspects of the production of gold and silver. The first point to which attention may be directed is the field over which production extends. At one time or other these two metals have been found in every continent. Asia Minor in early times possessed its goldfields, or rather auriferous sands. Ceylon also undoubtedly contained gold-mines. China and India both produced silver to a considerable extent. Egyptian remains show that gold was commonly known in that country, probably procured from Nubia and Abyssinia. On the opposite side of Africa, too, the name of Gold Coast shows that that metal was thence exported. The mines of Laurium in Attica were a source of supply to the Athenians, and were worked as a state monopoly. At an earlier date the Babylonian and Assyrian empires had each accumulated large stores of gold. The Phoenician importations of gold from the Red Sea coasts (Ophir) are known from Scripture. The Persian kings from the time of Darius levied tribute on all their provinces—in gold from India, in silver from the remaining districts, the larger part of which was stored up in the royal treasuries. This tendency of despotic rulers to accumulate treasure had all through ancient history important effects on the economic structure of society. At present it is quite natural to assume that the materials of money are distributed by means of international trade, and tend to keep at an equal level all the world over—an assumption which is in general well grounded, though an important exception exists. Ancient history presents a widely different set of forces in operation. Gold and silver were produced by slaves under the pressure of fear, and were drawn towards the ruling parts of the great empires; in a word, war, not commerce, was the distributing agency. From this condition of affairs it is easy to see that, whatever may be the reasons for assigning to cost of production a potent influence over the value of money in modern times (and grounds have been already advanced for the belief that its influence has been exaggerated), no such reasons then existed. The production of the precious metals was carried on in similar manner to the great buildings and other works of those periods, on non-economic grounds, and therefore produced quite different effects. The whole history of the Persian monarchy to its overthrow by Alexander (330 B.C.) shows that the hoarded mass of the precious metals continued constantly to increase. On the capture of Persepolis by the Grecian army an enormous treasure was found there, some estimates placing it as high as 120,000 talents of gold and silver (£27,600,000). All the temples, too, were receptacles for the precious metals, so that the stock accumulated at about 300 B.C. must have been very great. The only causes which tended to diminish the store were the losses arising from wars, when the various treasuries were liable to be plundered and their contents dispersed. There was therefore a more unequal distribution of the material of money than at present. The growth of the Roman dominion led to important results, since under their rule the Spanish mines were developed and became a leading source of supply. The great masses of treasure set towards Rome, so that it became the monetary centre of the world. The overthrow of the republican government and the peace which followed also affected the conditions of production. The inefficiency of the Roman administration made it advantageous to let out the mines to farmers, who worked them in a wasteful and improvident manner, while the supply of slaves was reduced, thus depriving the lessees of their principal agency for carrying on production. The result was a continuous decline in the store of money. W. Jacob has made an attempt to estimate the amount at the death of Augustus (A.D. 14), and arrives at the conclusion that it was £358,000,000. (Precious Metals, i. 225.) Without placing much value on this necessarily conjectural estimate, it is safe to assume that this period marked the highest point of accumulation.
The succeeding centuries exhibit a steady decline, though it is of course impossible to attach any value to even the most carefully guarded numerical estimates. The phenomenon which has since so often attracted notice—the drain of the precious metals to the East—began at this time, and was a subject of complaint by the Roman writers, while the stock of gold and silver being thrown into general circulation suffered from abrasion, and was more likely to be lost than when stored up in the royal treasure-houses and temples. These causes tended to depress the scale of prices, while the barbarian invasions produced a strong effect on the supply by drawing off the mining population and damaging the various erections used for working the mines. The conjectural estimate is that about A.D. 800 the total supply had been reduced to £33,000,000 (or about one-eleventh of what it had been at the death of Augustus). A new period in the history of gold and silver production may be fixed at this date. The Moors, now firmly established in Spain, began to reopen the mines in that country which had been allowed to fall into disuse. Other European mines also were opened, notably those of Saxony and the Harz Mountains, as well as the Austrian mines—the chief medieval sources of supply. The international system of currency, based on the pound of silver as a unit, which was introduced by Charlemagne, must have tended to economize the wear of the metals. We may therefore conclude that from this date (A.D. 800) the supply was sufficient to counteract the loss by wear and exportation, and accordingly regard the metallic supply as fixed in amount until the next change in the conditions of production, which was the result of the discovery of America. Though 1492 is the date of the first landing, yet for some time no important additions were made to the supply of money. The conquest of Mexico (1519) gave opportunities of working the silver-mines of that country, while the first mines of Chile and Peru were almost simultaneously discovered, and in 1545 those of Potosi were laid open. From this latter date we may regard the American supply as an influential factor in causing a continuous increase in the stock of money. The annual addition to the store of money has been estimated as £2,100,000 for the period from 1545 to 1600. At this date the Brazilian supply began. The course of distribution of these fresh masses of the precious metals deserves some notice. The flow of the new supplies was first towards Spain and Portugal, whence they passed to the larger commercial centres of the other European countries, the effect being that prices were raised in and about the chief towns, while the value of money in the country districts remained unaltered. The additions to the supply of both gold and silver during the two centuries 1600–1800 continued to be very considerable; but, if Adam Smith’s view be correct, the full effect on prices was produced by 1640, and the increased amount of money was from that time counterbalanced by the wider extension of trade. At the commencement of the 19th century the annual production of gold had been estimated as being from £2,500,000 to £3,000,000. The year 1809 seems to mark an epoch in the production of these metals, since the outbreak of the revolts of the various Spanish dependencies in South America tended to check the usual supply from those countries, and a marked increase in the value of money was the consequence. During the period 1809–1849 the value of gold and silver rose to about two and a half times its former level, notwithstanding fresh discoveries in Asiatic Russia, which became considerable from 1823. The annual yield in 1849 was estimated at £8,000,000. The next important date for our present purpose is the year 1848, when the Californian mines were opened, while in 1851 the Australian discoveries took place. By these events an enormous mass of gold was added to the world’s supply. The most careful estimates fix the addition during the years 1851–1871 at £500,000,000, or an amount nearly equal to the former stock in existence. The problems raised by this phenomenon have received careful study. The main features of interest may be briefly summed up. (1) The additional supply was almost entirely of gold, thus tending to produce a distinction between the two principal monetary metals and an alteration in the currency of bimetallic countries. Under this influence France, from being a silver-using, became a gold-using country. (2) The contemporaneous development of the continental railway systems, and the partial adoption of free trade, with the consequent facilities for freer circulation of commodities, led to the course of distribution
