The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-09-21
HAVING THE GOLD AM
SILVER STANDARD.
COUNTRIES HAVING THE GOLD STAND.
ARD ALONE

MES in North America and the
West Indies. s....-.-......-.- 1.uCO,OOO
hill ...... 1000, ,OO0
)pnmar!, 2.000,0O0
2gvpt II co., ,0l0
Great Britain. 81 5000
Germany. ......42, zoe, 600
Iawaiia1 Islands. ....- 100000 /
IaDan 81. .000, ,0C0 |
iberia 200 900 |
Norway ... 1,S00. GOO
Portugal (. .300, 600 !
Sweden ............ 1 100, ,000 /
Turkey ..........-.-.2S,uU ,uUV.OuU
nlted States. -..-.---.. -1c,JVo,"Ou
Total. -. .........-....22 .223 100 ,nOJ /
Here, as will be seen. are twenty six !
still using silver rs a legal I
tender, and sixteen countries in which /
silver has been demoue,iZed.
Although it appears by this table /
that gold forms the the currency of
some nations, and silver OF some, and !
some countries have the double stand /
ard, yet. in a cosmopolitan sense, we
may still regard them as universal
The two supply the world with money.
Tn withdrawal of any great CONNER
cial country like the United States from
the use of either metal affects its value.
But the entire value of tie total OF
both metals remains constant. The
price OF the world have, ia fact, been
based upon the quantities Of both.
No man can say how much the value
of gold or silver would be reduced if it
were demonetized throughout the
world, 5ut as both are used mainly as
money, it is reasonable to suppose that
it would lose more than half its vaIne.
Il Is said that silver has lost its vslue
as currency, and that it has been
produced il So large quantities that It
is no longer proper mateJia! foT con.
The suggestion is wholly unfcundad.
The recent fall in the price of silver
has not been caused by any ever pro-
duction of that metal. 1t is to lie re
membered that in 1871, when the
legislation was enacted IN Congress
which demonetized silver. it was worth
more than gold By three per cent. ac
corGiDg to the legal relation OF sixteen
TO one existing here between gold and
silver. Since that time there has been
a loss in the price of silver. It has not
been by the over-production of silver,
FOR the plain reason that the statistics
Of the mining OF these metals show
that during each year since silver was
demone tiZzd, the product OF gold has
been greater in value than that ct sii-
yer: and, III the second place, this very
act OF the characterization of silver on
the part Of the United States, together
with tie change of tue German En-
pire from the silver TO the gold stand
I'd, with the pressure on the paIt of
England to proselyte other nations to
its policy of the single standard of gold
account in the most satisfactory man
ner for the depreciation of silver. II
the whole civilized world should de
monetize one half of its precious met
ais, the effect would be TO leave us in
the same condition as if the entire
currency of the world we're contracted
to that extent. The demonstration of
silver. or of gold, would have substan-
TALLY the same effect England, Ger
many, and the United States are not
the whole world, and cannot drive Ill
yer from France or the Asiatic nations.
yet, by driving it out of their own
realms, they can depreciate it. 1t
could remain money in other parts of
the world, but by Withdrawing the
markets of England, Germany, and
the United States, the demand fer il
would be greatly reduced; at tie same
time the demand for gold would be
~. :o-oD-OI 2 %
oversight that the United States should
ever have followed England and Ger
many into the characterization of sill
yer! 1t Was plain contraction Of the
basis of our currency, and, as we had
immense debts to pay to England and
to Germany, we wanted all our legiii-
mate currency TO pay them with. Eu-
gland and Germany, as we have sen,
he'd enormous amounts of our bonds,
and bonds of other natio s, aud were
interested 10 have the interest and
principal paid in a medium as val
uaUIe as possible. If, by the de-
monet!zation of silver, gold shall be
made more valuable as compared to
property, their bonds will be Just so
much more valuable to them, and will
be Just so much harder for the United
States to pay, il they shall submit to
the contraction of their own currency
by excluding silver. The amount they
will gain by the decline which has been
already brought about thrr ugh t de-
mouetiZation of silver is more than
seven per cent. on the whole amount.
and will 90 on increasing unless it shall
be resisted and checked The United
States was, aud is, under no obligation
to join III the crusade against silver.
Ia 1868. it is true, when the silver dol
lar was three per cent. more valuable
than the gold, Congress ceased to coin
the silve., and in 1874, by the Revised
Statutes. it limited its use as legal
render to S5. As our currency con-
sisted, and still consists Cf paper, the
fleet has been less in the past than it
will be i'll the future, If this state of
things continues OF the power of
Congress to restore silver to its old
pace in the currency have no doubt
This American silver dollar, as adopt
ed in 1872. was the successor to the
Spanish milled dollar, which had been
made legal tender by act of Congress.
AMI vas in general circulation, II con
tanned the same quantity, viz, 81 IA
grains of pure silver, it has remained
Che same TO this day, notwithstandin-
the change made in the gold dollar
when, in 1884, the ratio of sixteen 10
one was adopted in the place of fifteen
70 one. The Funding Act of
july 18th 1870, provides for the
issue OF bonds bearing interest
at five, four and a half, and
four per cent. the aggregate amount
of 81, 500, 900. coo, for the purpose of
retiring the five twenty six per cent.
bonds, and were made ''redeemable in
coin at the present standard ralue
bearing interest payable in such coin.
In the resumption act of 1875 the Sec
retary of the Treasury was authorized
''to issue sell. and dispose of, at not
less than par in coin, either of the d.s
cription of bonds of the United States
described in the act of Congress ap
proved July 14th 1870" All the bonds
of the United States, therefore, whether
under any o. the acts of Congress prior
to the funding act of 1870, or under
that act. are redeemabie in coin of tue
standard value of July 14th, 1870, of
which the ancient silver dollar was one.
fild nothing iu our legislaI ion to pre-
vent provision, by act of Congress,
for coming the silver dollar, to legal