(industrial) cost of production of the precious metals in a less degree than the cost of other goods ; at least, such seems to have been the case recently. But beyond this, and of graver consequence, is a peculiarity affecting the value of the money metals. The annual product of the money metals is not annually consumed, nor nearly. The use of them as money does not consume them except incidentally and very slowly. The mass of these metals in hand at any given time is very considerable and is relatively imperishable, so that the annual accretion is but a small fraction of the I aggregate supply. The lowered cost of the annual supply has therefore but a relatively alight effect upon the aggregate value of the available supply.
The case is different as regards the annual output of vendible products, whether for industrial or consumptive use. In this case, and particularly as regards this matter of new investments and extensions of industrial equipment, the annual output counts for by far the greater factor in making the current value of the available supply, if indeed it