Within the past few months the question has been frequently raised, is not the enormous production of gold throughout the world responsible in some degree for the present extraordinary rise in prices of commodities, especially the necessities of life? This increase in the cost of living is apparently not confined to any one country, but is universal, at least in Europe and North America. The feeling seems to be pretty general that gold is being produced in such large quantities as to become cheap, in other words, the ratio between gold and food production has changed. It is possible to obtain approximately accurate figures relating to 'tbe gold element of the problem, but reliable statistics of the civilized world's food production do not seem to be available. We can safely assume, however, it is steadily increasing, and on the whole in perhaps no less degree than the growth of population.
It will be necessary for us to further assume the ratiobetween the food supply and population a constant one, that is, one has not substantially gained upon the other during the past decade, although, of course, both have steadily increased.
Within the period from 1896 to I9oo, the gold production'of the world is given by the German statistician Soetbeer as $I,286,5o5,ooo, and in the five years between I9OI and 19o5 was $t,61i,i55,ooo.
Taking the individual years we find the yield in 1896 was $2o2,251,6oo; in I897, $236,073,700, and in 1898, $286,879,7oo, showing a ratio of increase of approximately I61 per cent. between 1896 and I897, and 21 per cent. between 1897 and 1898. The world's production of I9O4 was $347,o87,3oo,