The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-03-10
THE NEW SILVER COINAGE.
Previous Legislation ectifying an Old
Blupdea-Wncircc Our Silver Goes To
The Greedy Heather Chine
New Trade Dollar-PreDarinS
to Rule the Pacinc-In-
ternational Coinage
A New Office.

,sx-
While the concentrated attention Of the whole
country has beec directed to the startling ex-
posures recently made in and out OF Congress but
httie NOVICE mas been taken OF q bil now become
law, which quietly passed through all the stages
and received the Presidents signature within
few weeks, and which will probably be Of more i'm
portance to the "plain peoplen than all the polit
cal Investigations and buncombe upon which the
high-priced peoples servants have spent their
valuable time. We refer to the
rl MINT AND COINAGE BILL,
which directly affects every one OF the numerous
class OF our citizens who are at all interested In the
great gold and silver productions of the United
States from the sharp bullion dealer OF Wall street
to the brusque and honest miner who handles the
pick in the wild Sierra Nevadas The law is de-
signed to give an impetus to silver production In
the far West. Some idea Of its Importance may
be obtained by glance at statistics which show
that about
THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS
in silver is annually produced in the United States
and exported to foreign countries. In 1850 1t was
only about three hundred thousand dollars. So
our silver production has increased hundredfold
In twenty-five years, with still brighter prospects
for the future when the West will have the capital
she needs for her development.
The new law completely - -..- l
CHANGES THE SILVER COINAGE
OF the United States from and after the LIST of April
next, and its provisions are not yet generally
known even to brokers and dealers in the ''pre-
ciOus.n
From the time the first United States Mint was
authorized, in 1892, there have been eight acts of
Congress affecting the coinage. The standard
value Of the silver dollar has been changed once,
OF the three cent piece and OF all other silver
coins twice. while the whole gold coinage has been
changed twice.
BY law each coin Of the United States must be of
certain weight and fineness, from which, how
ever, as our machinery for coming is not abso-
lutey perfect, slight deviation is allowed, viz:
The weight has been always calculated In English
troy grains. The fneness was ut first computed
by carats, according to the English method, but
recently in thOusandths. which is the modern
French system. BY the English method pure gold
Is supposed to be twenty-four carats fine; and the
proportion OF pure gold to alloy Is eleven to one.
John Bulls coinage, therefore, Is slightly finer
than the modern coinage OF France and America,
which contains but nine parts OF gold to one Of
alloy, and Is said to be 800 parts fine.
BY the act OF 1872 the frst gold coin ofthe United
states sS was TO oe ven c ar. or s fine
eagle IN proportion. At this time but little gold
was being mined and 1t began to grow scarce in
Mexico ct the rate OF twenty millions o year. To
prevent the expectation Of our gold coin Congress
is t9 me- " Weight d to
a reduction in value of about ten per cent. Again,
In 1887, Congress raised the standard slightly,
most Civilized countries. Since that time the
double eagle, the One-dOar and the three-dollar
and the latter in 1853 But the gold standard stili
continues at twenty-seven grains troy to the dol.
lar, Of which nine parts are gold and one alloy.
r. NO FURTHER CHANGE
in the gold coinage Will be needed for an indefinite
The act Of 1902 also made provision for CON-
plete silver coinage, except the three-cent piece,
which was not coined till 1853. The silver dollar
was to be OF 416 grains, Of nneness OF 892 25 the
smaller coins OF the same fneness and proper
tiOnate weight In the report on the coinage made
it is stated that the adoption Of this standard
for silver coinage was the result OF
4 CURIOUS MISTAKE.
American silver dollar the equal Of the Spanish
dollar, which contained OF pure silver, not incIud-
Ing the weight Of the United States dollar as
given above by Its nneness-thus, 416Xs92. OO04-
ss e 5asH Of trains IN ;ne
ton. DR.. Rittenhouse the then Mint Director,
discovered the error, and for short time silver
tended; but his successors did nOt dare to violate
the letter OF the law, ana three-Quarters OF
correct its blunder. The consequence has been
that the silver dollar has completely failed OF the
purpose for which 1t was intended, VITO replace
the Spanish dollar as an article Of commerce. The
Mexican dollar, which il worth couple cents more
is in great demand in Europe and Asia at high
Consigned ANONYMOUSLY to the melting pct almost
The silver Coinage Of the United States was un-
raised to 800 for the sake Of uniformity; but the
weight being reduced from 4l6 to 4121l grains left
In ISls came the wild excitement OF the Cali.
fornia diggings, and three years later gold was
found in Australia. The precious metal came
pouring In upon US like Hood. In 1847 the total
production In the mines Of the world was only
about fifty thousand pounds, troy. In 1863 that OF
million dollars, while that OF the whole world was
about five hundred and hfty thousand pounds
SO Ty s nj yr
dicted that they would eventually change places,
and silver become more precious than gold.
the silver coinage, to preserve 1t from the crucible
The proportion OF alloy was left at one-tenth, but
reSea az nearly 'na s
dollar was placed at 1872 grains and the smaller
coins IN proportion. And thus the coinage has
remained to this day. The silver dollar was left
at the old standard that 1t might come into compe
tihon with the Mexican dollar ~ an article OF
grains, about eight cents more than two half
dollars, It has never circulated Probably
ha our sys4 t nave mos. seen an
the world. Brokers sell them at about four cents
more than gold, and they are much sought for BY
the manufacturers OF jewelry. Thousands OF them
daily coined, merely to be melted by the ruth
less jeweller before the die is cold. They are sell
dom exported, because the Mexican dollar, which
Is worth about one cent more, Is everywhere the
favorite, especially In China. ~.
The Chinese have an absurd prejudice against
everything but the Mexican eagle dollar. Conse-
queny while other silver Of equal fneness sells at
Is. l0d. sterling per ounce in London the Mexican
eagle dollar sells at S. to S. Id per ounce. Mexico
has, therefore, received for silver exported to the
East via London premium OF about five per cent
over and above other nations. When we consider
that In 1857 800 OF silver were sent to Asia
by the rest Of the world and that 1t Is still flowing
there at the rate OF $4,000 900 per annum the i'm
portance OF the matter will be readily conceived.
Recently Mexico has altered the stamp OF her |
dollar, to the disgust of the Chinese, who refuse
the new die, as they hate all new tangled notions.
Congress has wisely seized the opportunity to |
Introduce to their notice our new dollar or trade
dollar q q To ha oil II Ia To- hax CON