The Bay State Monthly. Volume 2, No. 6, March, 1885

Gold was discovered in Russia in 1743, near Nertschinsk, alluvial deposits having been observed in that year in the Ural mountains. The mines extend over that parallelogram of the earth's surface, comprised between the parallels of 50° and 60° of north latitude, between the Volga and Amoor rivers. They were not generally explored until 1810. In 1816 their product was but $80,000; at the close of 1823 there was a large development. In 1830 the annual product was $4,000,000. About that time the deposits of Siberia were discovered, and at the close of 1840 they yielded a greater production than those of the Ural. In 1843 the total annual product of both regions was $18,000,000. In 1853 it attained to $36,000,000, but since that date it has gradually declined to $22,000,000. The total product of the Russian goldmines has amounted to $805,000,000. The annual product of gold in Europe is $24,000,000. The total product of gold in Europe, from the earliest times to the present day, has amounted to $4,145,000,000.

Gold was discovered in Australia by Edward Hammand Hargreaves, on the twelfth day of February, 1851, in the Bathurst and Wellington districts, and the mines extend from 18° to 38° of South latitude. Their annual product has decreased from $75,000,000 in 1853 to $26,000,000 at the present time. Their total product has amounted to $1,453,000,000. The finest gold was obtained at Ballarat, and the largest nugget was dug up at Donolly, and weighed 2,448 ounces, valued at $46,000. The New Zealand gold mines were discovered by Messrs. Hartly and Reilly, on the twentieth of August, 1861, in the Otago district, on the Molineux river, on the 45° of South latitude. Their annual product has decreased from $10,000,000 in 1863 to $4,000,000 at the present time. Their total product has amounted to $176,000,000. The annual product of gold in Asia (including Australia, New Zealand and Oceanica) is $32.000,000. The total product of gold in Asia, from the earliest times to the present day, has amounted $2,065,000,000.

Gold was considered bullion in Palestine for a long time after silver was current as money. The first mention of gold as money, in the Bible, is in David's reign (B.C. 1056) when that king purchased the threshing-floor of Oman for six hundred shekels of gold by weight ($4,500.) The Lydians were the first people who coined money. The word "money" is derived from the temple of Jupiter Moneta, where the Roman mint was established. Croesus (B.C. 560) coined the golden stater, which contained one hundred and thirty-three grains of pure metal. Darius, son of Hystaspes, (B.C. 538) coined the daric, which contained one hundred and twenty-one grains of pure metal; it was preferred for its fineness, for several ages, throughout the East. It is supposed to be mentioned in the Old Testament under the name of dram. Very few specimens have come down to us. Their scarcity may be accounted for by the fact that they were melted down under the type of Alexander. Next were some coins of the tyrants of Sicily; of Gelo (B.C. 491), of Helo (B.C. 478), and of Dionysius (B.C. 404). Specimens of the former two are still preserved in modern cabinets. Gold coin was by no means plenty in Greece, until Philip of Macedon put the mines of Thrace into full operation, about B.C. 300. There are only about a dozen Greek coins in existence, three of which are in the British Museum; and of the latter, two are staters, of the weight of one hundred and twenty-nine grains each. About B.C. 207, a gold coin was struck off at Rome called "aureus," four specimens of which are in the institution before alluded to. Its weight was one hundred and twenty-four grains.

Gold coins were issued in France by Clovis, A.D. 489. About the same time, they were issued in Spain by Amalric, the Gothic king; in both countries they were called "trientes." The "mouton," worth about nine dollars, was issued in 1156. Gold coins were first issued in England in 1257, in the shape of a "penny," of the value of twenty pence; only two specimens have come down to us. "Florins" were next issued in 1334, of the value of six shillings. The "noble" followed next of the value of six shillings and eight pence; being stamped with a rose, it was called the "rose noble." "Angels" appeared in 1465, of the same value as the latter. The "royal" followed next in 1466, of the value of ten shillings. Then come for the first time the "sovereign," in 1489, of the value of twenty shillings. The "crown" followed in 1527, of the value of ten shillings. "Units" and "lions," were issued in 1603; the "laurel" 1633, and "exurgats," in 1642; all of the value of twenty shillings. The "guinea," of the value of twenty-one shillings, was issued in 1663, of Guinea gold. In 1773 all gold coins, except the guinea, were called in and forbidden to be circulated. The present sovereign was issued in 1817. The United States "half eagle" was issued in 1793.

Gold, to the amount of $2,171,000,000, was obtained from the surface and mines of the earth from the earliest times to the commencement of the Christian era; from the date of the latter event, to the discovery of America, $3,842,374,000 was obtained; from the date of the latter event to the close of 1847 an addition of $3,056,000,000 was obtained; the triple discovery of the California mines in 1848, the Australian in 1851, and the New Zealand in 1861, has added, to the close of 1884, $5,558,626,000; making a grand total of $14,628,000,000, of which $5,818,626,000 has been obtained since 1843. The average loss by abrasion of coin is estimated by Professor Bowen at one-twentieth of one per cent. per annum, and the loss by consumption in the arts, and by fire and shipwreck, at $4,000,000 per annum. A cubic inch of gold is worth, at 3£ 17s. 10 1-2d., or $18.96 per ounce., $193; a cubic foot, $333,504; and a cubic yard, $9,004,608.

Gold to the amount of $1,081,000,000, is estimated to have been in existence at the commencement of the Christian era. At the period of the discovery of America it had diminished to $135,000,000; after that event, it gradually increased, and in 1600 it attained to $154,000,000, in 1700 it reached $398,000,000, in 1800 it amounted to $1,156,000,000, in 1853 it attained to $3,332,000,000, and at the present time the amount of gold in existence is estimated to be $8,166,000,000; which, if melted into one mass, could be contained in the basement of Bunker Hill Monument, which is a cube of thirty feet. Of the amount of gold in existence $6,000,000,000 is estimated to be in coin and bullion, $1,000,000,000 in watches, and the remainder in plate, jewelry, and ornaments. Of the amount of gold in existence $2,374,000,000 is estimated to have been obtained from North America, $1,739,000,000 from South America; $1,858,000,000 from Asia (including Australia, New Zealand, and Oceanica), $945,000,000 from Europe, and $1,250,000,000 from Africa. The amount of the precious metals now in existence is estimated to be $13,670,000,000.

Gold, as compared with former periods, in regard to its annual product, has attained, within the last forty-two years, to enormous proportions. At the date of the discovery of America it was but $100,000; after the occurrence of that event it gradually increased, and in 1800 it was $17,000,000, and in 1853 it reached its acme, when it was $236,000,000; it soon afterwards gradually decreased, and now it is but $98,000,000.

Gold has changed places with silver as regards coinage. Since 1726 the gold coinage of the French mint has amounted to 11,400,000,000 francs, of which 8,200,000,000 francs have been issued since 1850. Since 1603 the gold coinage of the British mint has amounted to £409,000,000, of which £253,000,000 have been issued since 1850. Since 1792 the gold coinage of the United States mint has amounted to $1,357,000,000, of which $1,257,000,000 have been issued since 1850. Since 1664 the gold coinage of the Russian mint has amounted to 900,000,000 roubles, of which 630,000,000 have been issued since 1850. The twenty-five-franc piece of France contains 112 grains of pure metal; the sovereign of England, 113 grains; the new doubloon of Spain, and the half-eagle of the United States, 116 grains each; and the gold lion of the Netherlands, and double-ounce of Sicily, 117 grains each. It was proposed, a few years since, to adopt a uniform system of coinage throughout the world, so that the coins of one nation may circulate in any other without the expense of re-coinage, "a consummation devoutly to be wished." The gold coinage of the principal countries of the world has increased from $77,000,000 in 1848 to $300,000,000 in 1854; in 1876 it declined to $250,000,000, since which it has continued to decrease, and is now but $90,000,000. The gold coinage of the United States mint, since 1849, has amounted to $1,281,420,038. In proportion as the wealth of a country increases it requires a currency of higher value. Gold, owing to its greater supply, and more convenient portability, is steadily gaining in the channels of commercial exchange upon silver.

Gold, in view of the large amount which has been thrown into the monetary circulation of the world since 1843, and the little influence it has exercised upon the money market and prices generally, has falsified the predictions of financial writers, a generation ago, upon both sides of the Atlantic. The following statement will exhibit the wholesale cash prices in the New York market, on the first day of January, in the respective years, of six of the principal articals of commerce:

War is the great enhancer of prices. During the Civil War in the United States (1861-1865), the prices of the above articles were more than doubled.

Gold, in the midst of its sudden plethora, was a perplexing problem to the financial prophets of a third of a century ago. M. Michel Chevalier (Revue des Deux Mondes, November, 1857) predicted,—"that a decline would occur in the price of gold, equal to one-half of its former value; that a period of peril was impending, full of inquietude, instability and damage to a great variety of interests; that the value of gold would be diminished, and that consequently wages and prices would be doubled; that the duties on imports, and the interest on the debts of the principal nations of the world, must necessarilly follow the same course; that it would inevitably involve a re-coinage of all the existing gold coins of the world, from time to time, in order to conform to the price of the metal; that the value of the twenty-franc piece would be reduced to 19 1-2, 19, 18 francs, as the depreciation descended; and he, therefore, recommended a cessation of the gold coinage until the lowest point of depreciation is reached; that the new gold fields were likely to prove as productive as at first for several generations; in no direction could new outlets be seen sufficiently large to absorb the extra production in such a manner as to prevent a fall in its value. It might fall until nineteen francs would correspond only to the amount of well being which could then be obtained for five francs." Poor man! He lived to see the utter failure of all his predictions; to behold France become the largest coiner of gold in the world; an exporter of the precious metals to the amount of $43,000,000 annually during a decade; the rise of the standard of gold from 15 1-2 to 18, as compared with silver, and involving a decline from 62 3-4d. to 52d. per ounce; great fear of a gold famine come upon the Directors of the Bank of France, and also of the Bank of England; the annual product of gold to attain its acme, four years before his predictions; its gradual decline, until it had descended to one-half; a new gold-field opened in New Zealand; and silver demonetized by his own country, Germany, and the other principal countries of Europe. M. Emile de Lavelaye (Ninteenth Century Review, September, 1881), states, "that the present annual supply of gold is no more than sufficient to meet the requirements of the expanding commerce of the world. The scarcity of gold has induced so great a fall in prices that they are now lower than in 1850. It is estimated that North America has contributed £14,000,000 of the stock of gold in the world." We have already shown that the annual product of gold has increased, at one period, thirteen fold, and is now, notwithstanding its rapid decrease, five fold greater than at the commencement of the present century; that prices have not been in the least degree affected by the increased supply of gold; and that North America has contributed $2,374,000,000 of the stock of gold in the world.

Gold has faithfully performed for the last forty-two years, and, in view of its abundance and prospective increase, will continue to support its role of a fixed standard of value, and a firm basis for the bank-note circulation of the principal countries of the civilized world, which is evidently growing gradually metallic, as a comparative statement of the amount of bank-note circulation issued, and the amount of specie held by the Bank of England, the joint stock banks, and the private banks of Great Britain the Bank of France, the State banks, and the National banks of the United States, at different periods, will exhibit:

Gold has robbed silver of the prestige claimed for it two centuries ago by Locke,—"that it is the instrument and measure of commerce in all the civilized and trading parts of the world, and its normal currency." Gold has maintained its present price for one hundred and sixty years, while silver has declined twenty-two per cent. within thirteen. When, owing to scarcity, gold advances in price, then we may fear, that, what the late Mr. Bagehot use to call the "apprehension point," is close at our heels. The amount of gold in existence has increased from $1,975,000,000 in 1843 to $8,166,000,000 at the present time; while silver, owing to the great attrition of coin (estimated by Bowen at one per cent. per annum), has increased from $5,040,000,000 to but $5,504,000,000, during the same period. Of the two hundred and twelve millions of dollars of the precious metals annually produced, ninety-eight millions are furnished by gold.

My Mountain Home

By William C. Sturoc

Down in the valleys, where the grasses grow,
And waves the gold-rod and the meadow queen;
Where peaceful streamlets, with a languid flow,
Are calmly shimmering in the noonday sheen—
There may be peace, and plenty too, I ween;
But on the mountain's elephantine height,
Where thunder-drums are beat on bassy key,
And lightning-flashes glisten through the night;
And forests groan with storm-chang'd melody,
There let my home, 'mid lofty nature be—
That, near the stars, and near the sun and moon,
My eyes may gaze upon the book of space,
And learn the lyrics that are sung in tune
As rolling orbs their constant journeys trace.

General Knefler to General Wallace:

INDIANAPOLIS, February 19, 1868.

GENERAL. Upon reading the "Life of Grant," by Colonel Badeau, I was much surprised to see his version of your conduct on the first day of the battle of Shiloh. As I was present with your command on that day, as Assistant Adjutant General of Division, I desire to make the following statement of facts, as I can remember them at this time:

The position of your division, on the morning of the sixth of April, 1862, was as follows: Headquarters of the division and camp of the First Brigade at Crump's Landing; Second Brigade, two and a half miles from Crump's Landing, on the Purdy road, at a place, if I remember right, called Stony Lonesome; Third Brigade, two and a half miles from the camp of the Second Brigade, at Adamsville, on the Purdy road, and five miles from Headquarters of division at Crump's Landing.

When the cannonading was first heard on Sunday morning 'you issued orders' at once, for the concentration of the division at camp of the Second Brigade, at Stony Lonesome. The baggage, camp and garrison equipage was ordered to Crump's Landing, and detachments were made for its protection. "These orders were given before you heard from Headquarters."

About 9 o'clock General Grant passed up on the Tigris and in passing the boat upon which were your Headquarters, had a conversation with you. I did not hear what was said, but you immediately mounted, and accompanied by your staff rode rapidly to the camp of the Second Brigade. It was, perhaps, two hours before any order arrived. I know you were anxiously looking for orders, and finally despatched one of your aids to ride to the landing to ascertain if any one had arrived with orders, and conduct him to you. Shortly after that,—it must have been 12 o'clock, M., Captain Baxter, A.Q.M., arrived with orders, and brought the very cheering intelligence that our army was successful. I cannot tell at this time what the particular language was. The order was placed in my hands as Assistant Adjutant General, but where it is now, or what became of it, I am unable to say; very likely, having been written on a scrap of paper, it was lost after coming into my hands; a matter which I much regret, as I feel confident that its production now would conclusively demonstrate that you obeyed the command contained in it. I remember, however, distinctly, that it was a written order to march and form a junction with the right of the army, which was understood to be the right of the army as it rested on the morning when the battle began. Suffice it to say, that the division marched at once, and took the road which had been previously ascertained as leading to the right of the army, in the position it occupied on the morning of the sixth, and previous to that time. The road was then patrolled and picketted by cavalry detachments of your command. By your permission, I was marching with the advance guard, comprised of several companies of the Twenty-fourth Indiana Volunteers, Lieutenant Colonel Berber, commanding. We marched very rapidly, and to judge from the sound of the battle, we were approaching it fast. The advanced guard had reached the crossing of Snake Creek, near a mill, or some large building, where a bridge had been constructed, and from that point we could see the smoke overhanging the battle-field and distinctly hear the musketry, when an order was received, to retrace our steps, and work our way to the head of the column. We marched back at once, almost to our starting place, where we found the column was marching through the woods where there was no road (not even a trail appeared) to save time and distance. The troops were marching very fast, and I did not come up with you for perhaps two hours after the advance guard received orders to countermarch.

When the column was put in motion on the river road, which must have been after 4 o'clock, we were met by some staff officers of General Grant, Major Rawlins and Colonel McPherson, and another officer whom I did not know. They had some conversation with you, and then, for the first time I learned that our troops had been repulsed, and that we were then marching to join the right of the army, in its new position, at Pittsburg Landing. After some hard marching over execrable roads we reached our position about dusk.

The road the division first marched on led directly to the right of the army in its position as stated above, and we would have joined it, had it not been repulsed, before 3 o'clock P.M.

Having conversed with many of the division who were present on that day, it is the general impression that we marched between fifteen and eighteen miles. Now, considering that we had troops not inured to hard marching, some of them on their first march, the condition of the roads, almost impassible, and part of that distance through woods, without any road, at all, it certainly ought not to be intimated that you did not do your whole duty in endeavoring to reach the field.

    I am General, very respectfully, Your obedient servant,
    FRED KNEFLER.
    Late Colonel Seventy-ninth Regiment Indiana Volunteers.

Reuben Tracy's Vacation Trips

By Elizabeth Porter Gould

II

"O mamma, did'nt we have a good time at the Isles of Shoals last summer?" said Reuben Tracy to his mother one evening last July as they sat together on their piazza. "Did'nt the boys stare though when I told them all about it in our geography class. Ned Bolton said that I knew more about it than the geography did; and afterwards he asked me if I had ever seen a mountain. How I wish I could see one and climb to the very top of it. Oh my, would'nt I look!"

And the boy's eyes looked as though they would look to the satisfaction of the most devoted teacher.

"Well," my boy, replied Mrs. Tracy as she drew him nearer to her in loving admiration of such enthusiasm, "only yesterday I received a letter from your uncle in Northampton urging me to take you and come to make him a visit, and I thought then what a good opportunity it would be for you to see your first mountain. Now do you know what one I mean?"

"Oh yes," answered Reuben; "but you mean two, do'nt you? Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke. I learned that in my geography. I can see it now in my book where it says that Mount Tom is twelve hundred feet high, and Mount Holyoke one thousand feet high." But Bob Phelps said that there were lots of Rattlesnakes on Mount Tom, so I should not dare to go there—but then—"

"Visitors don't go on Mount Tom proper, as there is no accomodation for them," interrupted Mrs. Tracy, "but on Mount Holyoke there is the Prospect House, which your uncle said last summer was a very well-kept house. Why, it is thirty-five years ago that I was on top of that mountain, when, as a young girl, just a little older than you, I went with my father and mother. A Mr. French had just taken the house. I wonder if he is there now. He seemed determined then to do what he could for the place. I can hear him now telling my father that a spot which had been such a favorite one for over two hundred years must have some superior claim upon the people of his day. I really would love to go there again. It is one of those places which once seen is never forgotten, and then I could'nt choose a better spot for your introduction to a lovely mountain view. But, my child, it is getting late and time for you to go to bed. Run along and I will write to your uncle to-night and accept his cordial invitation."

"And tell him" added Reuben, "that I wish every boy in this world had such a boss mother as I have. Ned Bolton says so, too;" with which unique expression of love and gratitude he kissed his mother "Good night" and went off to bed to dream of, well, what do you think? Of rattle-snakes, of mountains, or even of geography? Oh, no! only nothing, for he was a healthy boy who said he couldn't spare the time to dream.

After he had gone Mrs. Tracy sat alone for a while, thinking over this early visit of hers, with all the precious memories which it suggested of her own father and mother, now dead and gone. Then she thought over the past year's intimate life which she had enjoyed with her boy, and became more and more thankful that she had been enabled thus to get up out of her selfish grief of the summer before—when death took her other children from her—and empty her own life into the larger channel of life around her. She was pleased to think of the good fruits that had arisen from her plans for her boy's vacation trips, not only upon him but upon other mothers who had been led to follow her example. She thought of the Christmas week she had spent with him in Boston, where they had enjoyed so many interesting historical sights. And in the few weeks of the vacation which was now passing, it pleased her to recall the delightful days which they had spent at Concord and at Plymouth. And now, in this evening reverie, she smiled as she thought of her boy's telling his geography class all about the Isles of Shoals. How she would loved to have heard him—her fair-haired, blue-eyed boy, talking with all the intensity of his nature of what he had seen. Ah! life had left much to her yet; and she determined anew that Reuben should never want for any of her sympathetic help, either in his sports or in his growing student life. With this renewed determination she went into the house to write her letter to her brother at Northampton.

She was just finishing it when her husband came in from his weekly meeting with the city fathers. She told him all her plan, which he heartily endorsed, and practically helped by taking out his purse and giving her a generous sum of money for the trip, saying, "I wish, my dear, that I could go too, but I cannot leave my business this season of the year. But I am only too glad that I can make money enough for you and Reuben to go. I know of no better way to invest it for the future of our boy, God bless him!

"Ah!" replied Mrs. Tracy, her face all aglow with the joy of having her own thought so fully met, "would that more fathers thought so! but while some think only of a bank account, and the great majority think nothing of any account at all, only the few know the need of a child's mind digesting money, so to speak, as it goes along."

In a few days the arrangements were completed and Mrs. Tracy and her son left their home in Salem for Northampton. Reuben quietly enjoyed the scenery all the way from Boston to Springfield. In the forty minutes' ride from Springfield to Northampton Mrs. Tracy had a delightful opportunity, which she well used, to show her boy the winding course of a river,—the beautiful Connecticut—as they followed it first on one side and then on the other. When Reuben spied the house on Mount Holyoke he realized then that he saw his first mountain. On making inquiries about the mountain with a house on it, on the other side of the river, the conductor told him that that was Mount Nonotuck, a peak of the Mount Tom range, which was nine hundred and fifty feet high. He also told him that Nonotuck was the old Indian name for Northampton, which was just then coming in sight.

On arriving at the station uncle Edward met them with his carriage to convey them to his home on Round Hill. On their way there they passed the fine building of Smith College, which particularly pleased Mrs. Tracy and caused her to say, partly to herself, "Happy, happy girls to have such privileges of college life." "What," said Reuben, "girls go to college like boys? how funny!" When, after a moment or two of seeming abstraction, he said: "That is what papa meant the other day when he said that girls were as good as boys and could learn just as well as they could, is'nt it?" But before Mrs. Tracy could answer him they had arrived at their destination.

The next day they took a drive around the town, or rather the city, since a short time before it had become such. Its wealth of trees was a source of joy to them.

When they were crossing Mill River, on the old covered bridge on South street, uncle Edward stopped and told them that this was the only bridge on the river which was saved from the awful catastrophe of the bursting of the reservoir at Williamsburg, ten miles from there. When they drove off the bridge he told Reuben to notice the river as it flowed so peacefully along, in apparent forgetfulness of its dreadful havoc of ten years ago when about one hundred and fifty lives were lost, and factories, houses, and churches were swept along, as so many leaves, by the rushing torrent. He told, among other facts, how a cousin of his was seated at the breakfast-table with his whole family—a wife, two sons, and a daughter—when they were swept up by the waters, house and all, and all drowned. And while he was telling these incidents, which were so much to him, he made them more effective by driving up some little distance through the district which had been devastated. Thus Reuben learned of a peculiar tragedy, in a manner which no reading in itself could so well have taught him.