The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The public place the blame for the increased cost of living at the door ol the retailer; the retailer. indig- nant at the imputation. charges the wholesaler; the latter, protesting his innocence. arraigns the farmer; the farmer attacks the consumer; and the “vicious" circle is complete. All are jointly responsible. and by com- mon consent gold is made the scape- goat. One day, we are told that the in- creased production of the yellow metal will probably necessitate a change in our monetary standard lrom gold to radium. or some other rare commodity. The next, that Western finance is in imminent dan- ger of being overwhelmed by the drain 0! gold to India. on few subjects. either from the plate form or in print. has such a Chaotic and indigentihle mass of nonsense been handed out to an unsuspecting public by financial ignornmuses or by ambitious demagogues, who by startling statements hope to attract popular attention. GOLD PRODUCTION EFFECT ON COST OF LIVING In these days we hear much of the increased production of gold as the prime factor in refining the cost of living. The relationship. though real, has been greatly exaggerated: Indeed But what ia the true situation. and the actual relationship between in- creased output of gold and commod- ity prices 7 Has Some Bearing on High Prices, But Extent is Very Much Exaggerated Prices are merely expressions of the ratious between the values of other commodities and that of gold. An article worth live times as much as 23.22 grains of gold. as determined by actual exchanges. is said to have a price of $6. since'Sl is defined as the value of 23.22 grains of pure gold. The value of gold. like thht of any other commodity, is regulated by the forces of supply and demand. The Actual Relationship. www-uw W‘w Let us consider briefly the world supply of gold. Since the discovery '0! America in 1492 the production oi gold is estimated at shout 814.000,- 000.000. From this amount. losses must be deducted. In 1908 the total world stock was placed at not over 90.500.000.000. In the currencies of the World at the present time is gold tn the Value of $7.000.000.000. The arts and industries have absorbed probably 33.000.000.000. To these amounts must be added private holdings, combosed for the most. part ol bullion held by large primte financial institutions. like the Rothschilds. which do not report to any government. These holdings may he set down at 31.500.000.000. bring- ing the total present world supply of gold to between ll and 1‘: billion dollars. The annual production of gold. which has increased very much in recent years. now stands at some- thing'in excess of $450.000.000.000. and. considering the present mining situation. is not likely to rise much above the hall billion mark. Vast though this amount is. it represents but a small annual increment to the total world supply. In other words. prophets of evil are predicting "blue ruin.” when. as a matter of fact. our gold supply is on- ly increasing at the modest rate, of .l per cent. per annum. If the world demand. monetary and industrial. for gold increases in like rates. which may surely be expected. there is ab- solutely no danger of either a finan- cial millenium or a radium regime in the monetary systems of the world. But since 1895, the monetary de- mand alone has taken up the total annual production. Whenever there has been an arrival of gold in Eng- land. it has been the object of inter- Pr 0d u c f ‘0 n o n l n c r c a s p national grabbing in which nearly all nations have had a part. But Absorhs Large Quantity. Eastern countries. which with the exception of Japan have still a silver standard. haVe been absorhing large amounts of gold. The imposition of an import duty of 8 cents an ounce on silver by the Government of India in 1910 is having the desired eflect ih preparing India for a gradual change from a silver to a gold standard for internal circulation, as well as the "gold exchange standard" at present need in foreign trade, by shifting the demand of India for hoarding pur- poses from silver to gold. The South American States. (00. have required and will continue to demand large amounts of gold m changing over from a silver to a gold standard. The importation of gold into India. which prior to the ennctment oi the import duty on silver was only 320,- 000,000 per annum, last. year ammnt- ed to $100,000,000, and for the first eleven weeks of this year avenged nearly $5,000,000 3 month. lndin has an almost limitless capacity for ah- .«aorhing the pn‘t‘iuus metals. but a vhnnge from n silver to :1 Bold «tami- 3rd must of necessity he a proc‘ess of many years’ duration. The. world's ronsumption of gold in the arts and industries is rapidly increasing. and now amounts to ap- proximately $l50.000.000 per annum. There can be little doubt that the world demand has more than kept. pace with the supply. A factor of greater significance and potentialities is the growing use of paper. instruments. notes. cheques. drafts. ete., in place of the actual transfer of coin. In l'nited States and Canada comparatively little cold is in circulation outside of the re- serves of the banks. European countries still have large amounts of the yellow metal in their hand-to- hand circulation. and although the metal currency will he. preferred by the t'ommon people for many years to come. the use of gold is being in- creasingly eeonomized by the use of paper instruments. A calm eonsideration of the facts would seem to show that. the increas- ed output of gold has been but a minor factor in the increase of com- modity prices. and that the gold standard is in no immediate danger of being deposed. Growing Use of Paper. I‘HE PORCUPINE ADVANCE 'I‘IIE MINING INDUSTRY AND T. N. O. RAILWAY As a Government enterprise the Temiskaming and Northern hmario Railway has played a mmt import- ant part in the development f the country that it serves. .luat Lom- im- portant that part is, eannnt he. bet- ter realized than by a permal ml the annual report of the T. a )7. 6|. Il.°a mining engineer. Mr. Arthur A Pole. Mr. Cole has long been the philosno pher. guide. friend. statistician. and general information bureau of Co. halt. “in activities often take a wider range. comprising Porcupine and the outlying districts. The. present report. for the calen- dar year 1911. is notmorthy lor its fund of statistics and information. and. incidentally. for sowral n-lcr- cnces to thé rnlation of farming m minimr. To these we shall refer lat- or. Meanwhile. lot. us glance aver some nthcr salient points. In the Cobalt district. and this in-er Hm. To "hired States smokers eludes flnwgnnda M1,} South Lorrain. { the charges are correspondingly high- silver to the. \‘aal of $16,500,000 was ' er. From (‘uhalt to Hamburg. Ger- produced in the year 19]], The total i many. the seasonal rates range from production to date is valued at about i about $13.50 per ton to about $15 $05,000,000. Thus in eight, x'eartz'l’i‘r ‘0“- Panada. through the mines of (‘0‘ The smeltimr situation is practical- bait. has assumed third place in the ly nut-haunted. (‘anadian sinelters list of the world’s producers. treated 34.02 per cent. of the ore. The largest yearly tonnage oi ore shipped was reaebed in the year llllfl. when. roughly. 34,000 tons were transported from the camp. The corresponding figure for 1911 was 24,921.71 tons. The eurrent year will probably witness a further dimi- nution of tonnage. The explanation .is. of eourse. obvious. The operation of more and more concentrators. and the im'reasimz tendency to reduce rieh ore to refined bullion. are the factors in the ease. Whereas in 1010 only $501,815.33 was shipped~as bul- lion lrom the district. during: 1911 the bullion shipments amounted to $2,012.429.95. Formerly. too. low- zrade ore was shipped in quantities about twice as great as the ship- ments of high-grade. Last year the opposite was the case, 288 cars of high-grade ore (ore containing more than 500 ounces) be- ing shipped as against 1-40 cars of low-grade. During the year. 38].- RTOJN’ tons of ore were milled, the concentration ratios ranging from 18.1, to 108.1. Fifteen nills were in operation. and two are under con- struction. In Mr. Cole's opinion. and he is well qualified to judge. Cobalt is on the crest (ii a wave that will not subside for some years to come. The subsidence. when it begins. will he gradual. Much depends. naturally, upon the condition of the silver market. which market has been inv- orahle for some time. What a good price. for silver means to Cobalt may he judged from the fact that a nine of one cent in the market-quotation adds to thc camp's income at the rate mi about $325,000 ppr annum. Dividends paid since the birth of ('ohalt rrarh the grand total of S31.- fiflfll‘l. to which amount the mines oontrilmtvd SRJH’iRflIT in 1911. Froight rates: tn Canadian smcltcrs work out at from $4 per ton to $10 per ton. To I'nitod States xmclters the charges arr mrrospundingly high- The smelting situation is practical- ly unchanized. (‘anadian 81110.“ch treated 34.02 per cent. of the ore. all of which was high-grade: l'nited States «meltera purchased 66.13 per cent. nl the ore. which proportion in- eluded the remaining high-grade and all the low-grade. Only a small quantity was shipped to Germany. and nnne at all to Great Britain. The ndvantagns of cheap hydraulic and electric power arr 801'" when it is nntod that, thr coal cunsumption in (‘ohalt has been cut. from105,416 tons in 1909. to 44.216 tons in 1911. Mr. Cole makes brief references to Porcupine. in which he points out the debt owed by that camp to Co- balt. He adds a paragraph on the healthy progress being made. in Swastika, Munro. and Larder Lake. In his concluding remarks Mr. Cole alludes to the fact that Cobalt was opened up by a railroad intended to exploit the farming lands of the north. “If the railroad." he contin- ues. "had been entirely dependent for its tonnage on the agricultural re-: sources of the country. it is quite probable that the train service would consist of a mixed train every nlternnte dny, instead ol. as at present. two through pueenger trains daily. with sleepers nnd cale. fears and local‘trnins where required. g‘The reason for the diflerence lies in the lortunnte discowry of productive mining camps in the vicinity of the railway." The prospector "is the true pion- eer. . . . his word not- like magic in calling to his side a host of eager followers. Along with these, or closely lollowimr. comes the miner- All these men toxether form an Rrfl‘ that is absolutely dependent on out- side souroes of supply. An such. it lorms a strong magnet lor 3 [arm- inq population. it only the right. kind of land can he found in the vicinity. , What. greater inducement. could he oflered to a farmer than rich land in the vicinity of a large cash market. where good prices are paid for a good article supplied. These are the conditions that rule in tho (‘ulmll (listrii‘t.” Further to illustrate this point. Mr. (‘ole adduees figures showing that food supplies to the Value of $433,593 were used at the mines ol ('ohalt alone during 1911. Since there were 3.020 employees. this implies that the Cost per man per day was 44 cents. In addition. the sum spent on the horses used by the mines wa‘ $17,391. It is to he noted that in,4 miners form but a relatively small part of the population. and that there are many other towns and mining camps to be supplied. In the statements quoted. Mr. Cole is making no special plea; he is merely presenting facts. It i8 beâ€" yond question that Northern Ontario owes its prosperity to the prospect- ur and the mine. Mining is the in- (lustrial skeleton of the region. Farming will clothe that skeleton with flesh. Mining has rendered ne- cessary the construction of well- equipped railroads. The farmer will reap the full benefit when. in years to come. his markets expand. The obvious moral is that the Government can best assist the whole community by making easy the way'for the prospeetor and the min- er. Mr. Cole's report is timely. It should be g-chn wide publicity.â€"Can- adian Mining Journal. W. H. Lewis, of llaileybury, so well known thronghout the North Country. was a guest at the King George hotel last week.