few prominent Colorado mines yield gold only or chiefly. Colorado contributes about 15 per cent. of the United States output of gold, of which at least one-half depends at present upon the continuance of silver mining. In time, of course, this will change somewhat. Already many miners hitherto engaged in extracting silver are turning their attention to placer gold mines. They will produce but little this year, as the season is too far advanced for the necessary water to be available; and the amount from this source can never be great since most of these placers are already worked out.

SILVER NOT A BY-PRODUCT.

48

Much has been loosely said about silver as a byproduct. As just seen, gold is not infrequently a byproduct of silver, but silver hardly ever, if ever, a byproduct of gold. There is a mine in Summit County, Col., so rich in both gold and silver that it would probably pay to work it for either if it produced none of the other. One day in July, 1893, this mine sent to the smelter 53,130 pounds of "concentrates "—viz.: Concentrated ore, each ton containing 18.2 ounces of silver and ounces, nearly $10 worth of gold, this proportion being not far from the usual one in the ore from this mine. At present this would be called a silver mine with gold as a by-product, but the gold price of silver may so fall that it will be thought of as a gold mine with silver for a by-product. This comes nearer than any other known to the writer to being a case of silver as a by-product of gold. I ignore as too insignificant to take into account the trifle of silver alloy often found in native gold.

Among the copper mines the Anaconda alone yields any silver of consequence. Its main profit is from copper, and it will remain in work whatever occurs to silver. There are, however, several mines near Durango, Col., with ores of copper and silver, which were obliged to close owing to the fall in silver, so important a part of their "pay" was the silver contained.

Nor is any of our silver a by-product of lead, as has been so often alleged. There is not a mine in the United States where silver and lead are taken out together which could be worked for the sake of the lead alone. If their silver will not pay them such mines are of no value whatever. Instead of silver being ancillary in any way to the production of lead, the relation, so far as our own country is concerned, is precisely the reverse, lead being almost entirely dependent on the working of silver mines. At this writing, September 29, certain high-grade silver mines are opening again, induced partly by the high price, $10 and $12 per ton, attained by lead. The total lead product of the United States last year was 222,000 tons, of which 178,000 tons were extracted incidentally to the mining of silver; and if the silver mines remain closed, our demand for lead cannot be supplied at home, save at a cost which will render it more profitable to import the metal, heavy as it is, from South America and Spain.

SILVER PROSPECTS IN OTHER LANDS.

Of course, the question whether a further great output of silver is in store does not turn upon silver prospects in the United States alone, because Mexico and South America have mines destined to be very productive. But there is no prospect that they can under any circumstances much increase their quota at any proximate time, and it is as good as certain that they cannot do this in the next ten or fifteen years. The great output of Mexico for the last few years is explained in considerable part by the same causes as our own, and, like our own, cannot continue. The Mexicans still mine and smelt by antique methods, and have little of the energy or the capital necessary to improve them. The difficulty of exchange between Mexico and the richer nations, induced by the demonetization of silver, renders it nearly impossible for her to borrow, and is at the same time turning Mexican industry away from silver mining into many new channels. In respect to silver production Mexico still stands nearly where we stood a quarter century ago, with the important difference that she has no means of securing the unlimited capital which has been so readily, even recklessly, loaned to our West for the development of mines and of approaches

to them.

The above has a close bearing upon a proposed solution of the silver question to which many are now turning. I mean free coinage at some ratio lower than 16:1 Despairing of international action for free coinage at 16:1, and thinking free coinage by us alone at that ratio unsafe, not a few are considering the advisability of United States free coinage at, say, 18:1 or 20:1. Upon the general, many-sided and difficult question whether such a course would be wise, I do not here enter; but that a ratio of 20:1 would be safe, in the sense that it would not result in the expulsion of our gold, I believe to be certain.

The ratio of 20:1 values silver at $1.03 (exactly $1.032) an ounce, a trifle under its average price for the year 1890 (exactly $1.04633 per ounce). Moreover, for the years since, about twenty-four and a half times as many kilograms of silver as of gold have been taken from the world's mines. Now, if the receipt of over $1.03 per ounce for silver, with the promise of much more held out by the early operation of the Sherman law, and not relinquished until lately, has, under the exceptionally favorable conditions of those years, called from the earth only twenty-four and a half times as many kilos of silver as have been produced of gold, such a price, understood to be permanent and so without hope of increase, would, amid the vastly less favorable circumstances now existing and destined to exist, bring to light much less than twenty-four and a half times the weight of silver which will be produced of gold, and probably not over twenty times. I conclude that at the ratio 20:1 the production of silver could not be expected to surpass that of gold. In fact, it would, I believe, be much more likely to fall below this, sending silver to a premium as before 1873.

traffic, employed several who had been innkeepers or bartenders. They were obliged ultimately to dismiss all of these, for, although a fixed salary was paid the managers, old habits were so strong that they could not refrain from encouraging customers to drink. Licenses are transferred for a money consideration and on condition that all spirits are bought through the company, which charges prices covering expense of excise and cost of hauling. This rule, however, is not uniform in Swedish towns. In Stockholm, for instance, licenses are conceded upon the payment of a sum covering the cost of the brandy tax which is to be paid to the local authorities. The Gothenburg practice allows no loophole for fraud or competition, but its adoption was the means of directing against the company the everlasting enmity of private dealers, as they did not care to have their books examined and the secrets of their trade so fully known.

REFORM FEATURES.

One of the most interesting provisions of the by-laws is that the manager of a bar saloon must always keep on hand both cold and hot prepared food. He conducts the sale of viands as well as coffee, tea, cocoa, mineral waters and cigars on his own account, receiving whatever profits may be made from his transactions. It is expressly forbidden to sell intoxicating drinks to a person already under the influence of liquor, or to a minor.

The idea of the reform at the outset was to take care of the working people especially, so everything that has been done by the company has had this end principally in view. Four eating houses, where drams were sold only with food, were established. These places are well equipped with steam cooking apparatus, and aim to offset the attractions of drink by the presentation of cheap and well cooked food. An attempt was made by the company to compel on Friday evenings, when wages are always paid in Sweden, the purchase of a portion of food with every glass of liquor asked for. The workingmen, however, thought this to be too great an interference with their individual liberty, and the attempt was soon abandoned as a failure. The Gothenburg Company has also shown its regard for reform by the establishment of five reading rooms in which no intoxicating drinks are allowed to be sold. The annual cost of maintaining these institutions is something over three thousand dollars, and it is interesting to know that a record of attendance showed 217,207 visits to its reading rooms during the year ending September 20, 1892.

The general practice is to allow saloons to be open from 7.30 A.M. to 8 P.M. in winter and 9 P.M. in summer, and on Sundays and holidays from 1.30 to 3 P.M. and from 6.30 to 8 P.M. Eating saloons remain open longer than bars. Liquors are not to be sold after 6 P.M. on evenings preceding Sundays or holidays.

Statistics are presented in Dr. Gould's report showing that since 1874, when the retail trade was accorded to the Gothenburg Brandy Company, the consumption of liquor has steadily declined in its district. In 1875 the consumption per inhabitant at bar trade

places was 11 quarts per annum. In 1882 it was 5% quarts. In like manner the brandy bought at retail places fell from 15% quarts in 1875 to 8 quarts in 1892. The higher grade spirits also show a diminution. In 1875 the consumption was 2 quarts, in 1892, 1. The quarts per inhabitant was 29 in 1875; seventeen years later it reached low water mark at 14 quarts. During this period the prices of liquor advanced from 14 cents for a glass of brandy containing 47 per cent. alcohol to 24 cents for a glass containing 44 per cent. alcohol. These statistics do not include the amount disposed of by sub-licensees.

GENERAL POLICY OF THE GOTHENBURG COMPANY.

The general policy of the Gothenburg Company seems to have been, says Dr. Gould: "First, strict control. Care was taken that the saloons should be opened in the quarters of the cities where there is a great deal of light and movement, rather than in the dark and low neighborhoods, so that they might be directly under the public eye and everybody know what was going on. Second, the purpose was to reduce to the lowest limit of public necessity the number of licenses used in proportion to the population. In the third place, the policy of the company has been to raise the price of spirits concurrently with lowering the amount of alcohol they contain."

THE COMPANY SYSTEM IN STOCKHOLM.

About the same time that the Gothenburg Company commenced its operations, the authorities of Stockholm, moved by the increase of drunkenness in their midst, commenced to consider the question of how a similar system might be inaugurated with them. A commission was appointed to consider the legality of the rights by which a number of the permanent licenses were held. They reported in favor of a plan allowing life pensions annually to holders of licenses held by burgess rights who would surrender the privilege. The report, however, did not meet with much success at first, as the compensation offered was not adequate, but by making private arrangements with each individual holder the commission were soon enabled to announce that they had in their hands agreements of 133 licenses to renounce their privileges in consideration of life annuities varying from $135 to $535. When the company began operations, in 1877, it seemed to be handicapped with the large annual charges upon it for compensation to the expropriated license holders, and many people at the time predicted financial disaster, but the results of the first year showed that, after paying all expenses and 6 per cent. dividend to the stockholders, the company had sufficient surplus to provide for the compensation fund for a period of three or four years in advance.

RESTRICTIONS ENFORCED BY THE STOCKHOĽM

COMPANY.

Restrictions are enforced in the saloons and the retail shops of Stockholm with the view of discouraging drunkenness. A man may drink as many glasses of liquor as he likes, provided he does not get tipsy. Drinking over the bar at the dinner hour is not al

lowed. Since it is the habit of many of the Swedish workingmen in the city to eat the midday meal at a saloon, and in the case of unmarried men breakfast and supper also, it became an important factor, if the drinking habits of the people were to be discouraged, to offer some compensation in the shape of proper food. Accordingly, the managers of a saloon are under contract with the company to provide well cooked and wholesome food on demand and this provision has been admirably carried out. The prices charged are exceedingly small; the average cost of a breakfast to a workingman is from 5% to 6%1⁄2 cents, and a good dinner will not cost more than double this amount. The service is provided by the manager, the company allowing him $6.70 per month per person and binding him to pay at least three-fifths of the sum to the servant and furnish him with food and lodging. In every eating house there is a room for clerks and others of the better class. Here higher prices prevail, although exactly the same food is given. The justification for the increased charge is that the service is better and such accessories as tablecloths, napkins and better china are provided.

A DECLINE IN THE SALE OF LIQUOR.

A steady decline in the sale of liquor has also resulted from this company's management of the traffic. For the year 1892 the company possessed 170 licenses to sell over the bar, but made use of but 63 on its own account for the sale of native spirits, transferred 80 to other dealers to be utilized in traffic in higher grade liquors, and 27 they did not utilize at all. As regards retail licenses, possessing 90, they made use of 27, transferred 51 and made no use at all of 12. The sale of liquor over the bar in 1887, when the company first came into existence, was 14.61 quarts per inhabitant. Successive years mark an almost uniform decline until the last fiscal year reached low water mark at 6.49. In the same way the retail sales have declined from 13.46 quarts in 1877 to 7.91 quarts at the time the last annual report was prepared. The net profits for the fiscal year 1892 amounted to $402,743.26. The average annual profits since the establishment of the company have been $325,370.91. These figures represent an average profit of over nine cents for every quart of spirits sold by the company.

HOW IT WORKS IN BERGEN.

The Bergen Brandy Company, like all others of the kind in Norway, came into existence as the result of the act amending the license law passed on May 3, 1871, which enabled companies to compete as applicants for licenses, and to hold any number as the licensing authority. In 1876 the company obtained the entire monopoly of the Bergen liquor licenses, to operate from January 1, 1877. The result of seventeen years' experience is said to be in the highest degree encouraging. The consumption of liquors has been immensely reduced, while great financial results have been obtained, to the benefit of many institutions and other objects of public charity, which but for the life given them could not have existed. In 1877 the sales of spirituous liquors amounted to 282,128

quarts; in 1891, 331,342. In the meantime, however, the population had augmented one-third, so that notwithstanding the absolute increase, the consumption per inhabitant had been decreased from 7.1 quarts in 1881 to 6.1 in 1891.

OPERATIONS OF THE CHRISTIANIA BRANDY CO.

The by-laws of the Christiania Brandy Company were sanctioned in 1884 and permission given to dispose of spirits over the bar and at wholesale and retail, as well as to sell beer, wine, mead and cider by the glass, for the period of five years beginning with July, 1885. The bar trade licenses now held by the company number 27, and the annual charges on account of compensation to holders of life licenses is now about $3,500. The company possesses to-day a complete monopoly of the bar trade of the city. It uses 15 licenses on its own account and transfers 12 to private hotels and restaurants. There is an important difference between the Norwegian and Swedish system. In Sweden, as we have seen, sub-licenses are conceded upon the payment of the estimated tax, a contract being made with the sub-licensee to confine the business to the higher grade of spirituous liquors, he receiving whatever surplus profits may result from the trade. In Norway, however, the owner of the hotel or restaurant to whom a sub-license is conceded becomes an employee of the company, turning over to it all profits resulting from his business, so far as such profits have accrued from the sale of spirits. In contacts made with the managers of hotels it is stated that the company has been expressly formed in order to regulate the traffic in spirituous beverages in the least objectionable manner possible. Stockholders are entitled to receive 5 per cent. on their shares, but they have no further profit whatever from the business, the surplus of which is to be expended for objects of public utility. It is, therefore, the duty of the manager not to encourage the traffic, but to do what he can to prevent intoxication. The restrictions placed upon the managers of saloons are very severe.

RESTRICTIONS IN FORCE IN CHRISTIANA.

The number of quarts of spirits sold by the Christiania Company in 1891 at bar trade and retail places was 418,843. The total profits of the company resulting therefrom were $72,079. The consumption per inhabitant has increased from 2 quarts in 1886 to 2 quarts in 1891. This increase has been due to the extra indulgence in spirits sold at retail. The bar trade has not perceptibly changed during these

years.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESULTS OF THE COMPANY

SYSTEM.

In Chapter IV of this report, Dr. Gould sets forth the economic and social results of the company system. He says: "It bids fair to prevail wholly in Sweden and Norway. In the former country at the present time the number of brandy companies in operation in the towns is 77. Thirteen towns, most of them small ones, still dispose of licenses at auction. In two villages no spirits are sold either at retail or over the bar. In the country districts

prohibition practically prevails. In Norway almost all the towns have given to brandy companies the monopoly of conducting the sale of spirits. Fiftyone of such companies were in existence in the entire country districts of Norway. Only twenty-seven licenses to sell spirits prevail. Of this number 14 are found among the great fishing stations."

Whatever else this system may or may not have accomplished it has, says Dr. Gould, diminished the temptation to drink. Statistics are furnished which show an absolute diminution of nearly one-fifth in the proportion of bar trade licenses used, while the retail licenses have diminished relatively, in proportion to the population. In the country districts a still more gratifying exhibit appears. In the ten years under consideration the bar trade licenses declined absolutely almost 30 per cent., while the total number of retail privileges was brought down from 83 to 39.

Dr. Gould sums up as follows the business transactions of the 88 brandy companies in Sweden during the year 1890, the latest year for which statistics could be obtained: "The total amount of spirits sold by them was 20,222,500 quarts. This is equal to about 57 per cent. of the total consumption of the country. The value of their goods was $4,270,365.14; the expenses, $779.617.29; and the profits $1,592,008.86. The fees received for licenses transferred to third parties reached the total of $154,078.39. The expenses averaged about 3 cents for every quart sold, while the profit amounted to about 7 cents. The excise tax paid in lieu of license fees, and the profits of the companies from 1881 to 1890, appear in Table I. Both of these items are reckoned together."

In Table III, showing the total consumption of alcohol in Norway from 1876 to 1890, the growth of the operations of the companies may be traced from the earliest dates, when the sales absorbed but 8.3 per cent. of the whole consumption, until 1890, when they had attained nearly 50 per cent. Concurrently with the growth of the companies' business there has been brought about a notable diminution in the per capita consumption of spirits. When the companies had a twelfth of all the business the average individual drank seven quarts of spirits, reckoned at 50 per cent. alcohol, per annum. When the companies did a half of the entire business, the same individual consumed but 3.3 quarts. This would seem to furnish strong ground for the assertion that the companies' operations have caused a notable diminution in the consumption of alcoholic drinks.

TABLE III, SHOWING THE TOTAL CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL IN NORWAY FROM 1876 To 1890.

Commenting upon the statistics of consumption presented in these tables, Dr. Gould says: "They are not sufficient to show the true state of the abuse of liquor, since one cannot measure the particular part which has been the means of producing intoxication. Each customer is not necessarily a drunkard. Then, too, we cannot divorce consumption of spirits from economic conditions. The rise and fall in general prosperity are always accompanied by changes in the drinking habits of people. Furthermore, it is not known just how much alcohol is consumed in the industrial arts."

As to the distribution of the surplus of the Norway Brandy Company (all the profits above six per cent., it will be remembered, are by the laws of Norway and Sweden distributed for the good of the community), which amounted in 1889 to $296,341, about 19 per cent. was used for educational purposes; orphans' homes and theatres received 7 per cent., streets and highways were awarded 61⁄2 per cent. The most notable expenditure was that in the interest of the temperance cause, $4,928 of the total having been expended for this purpose.

DRUNKENNESS.

Statistics are given showing the number of cases of drunkenness as well as of delirium tremens for the