The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-09-10


From 1898 to 1905 .......... 1,439,517
From 1905 to 1885. ........... none
From 1885 to 1899 ,,, 1900
From 1910 to 1S49 ......... 1,0O5.973
From 1850 to 1859 ......... 949.150
From 1860 to 1878 ........... 4,625, ,008
From 1873 to 1877 ........... none
Olnce 1910 .................. 4Oo,oo9,Soo
60. LEECH, Director of the Mint.
Thus it appears that the total number of
silver dollars coined by the
United States previous to 1850 was only
8, 1896 $40, and the total number coined
previous to the act of suspension in 1873
only s,O20,94s.
1t is increasingly asserted by Democratic
orators that the most prosperous decade in
the history of the country was from 1850 to
1859. Yet during that period only $40, 100
standard silver dollars were coined
The quantity of fine silver in a standard
dollar is 371.25 grains. Assuming this to
be worth 100 CENTS which it must be when
at par with gold, the par value of one
ounce of fine silver is $1.29. But the
Director of the Mint furnishes the state
ment that the market value of an ounce of
fine silver was, in 1871, $1.326; in 1872,
81. 322; in 1878, $1.29S. Thus at the time the
coinage of the silver dollar was suspended
the silver bullion it contained was worth
an average in the market of $1.03, or 8 per
cent. more than its value as money. The
result was that SO soon as coined into
standard dollars it was more profitable
for the jeweler and silversmith to purchase
it in exchange for like number of gold
dollars than it was to purchase silver bull
lion at its market value. The consequence
was that the coined dollars were SO bought
up and reconverted into bullion or melted
down in the arts almost as rapidly as they
were coined. So that when their coinage
was suspended in 1873 not 1000 standard
silver dollars were in existence.
This fact is affirmed. by the minority Of
the Committee on Coinage, in their report
to the House of Representatives favoring
free coinage, in February, 1891. If, there
fore, it be true as asserted in said minority
report, that the act of suspension discred-
tied and deprecated the value of silver,
the actual loss to the then holders of
standard silver dollars could not have ex-
ceeded 500 to $500, assuming the deprecia-
tion to have been immediate. But the
bullion value of the silver in the dollar was
then greater than its money value, so that
the suspension neither could nor did entail
any loss.
Demonstration.
It ia continuously asserted that silver
was demonetized by the act suspending
the coinage of the old silver dollar in 1873
This is widely believed, yet wide of the
truth. Fractional silver coins, in amount
moro than five times the quantity of all
the silver dollars previously coined, con-
tinued in existence as money; and the
same act which suspended the coinage OF
the standard dollar substituted the trade
nv1u ho fy1n
ton of these coins to amounts of IS.
Against the act dropping the coinage OF
the standard dollars no clamor was raised
until after the discovery of the great silver
deposits of the Northwest. On the con
trary, the act of July, 1876, passed unde,
the lead of S. s. Cox, of New York,
and s. ]. Randall, of Pennsylvania, by 8
House containing Democratic majority
of 40, deprived the trade of its legal
tender quality, without restoring or pro
posing to restore the ancient dollar. /
was not until after the trade dollar wa!
thus demonetized, and silver bullion ha(
become deprecated, that the cry of fraut
was raised against the legislation of 1873
and the restoration of the old dollar dc
manded.
Free Coinage.
Previous to 1878 the coinage of the stand
ard dollar was free. Yet none was Offered
to the mints for coinage, and none coinet
except at an expense of nearly per cent
premium, paid for silver by the Govern
ment, in its vain effort to keep the silve
dollar afloat. The tax on the Treasur,
and the loss to the people were too grea
to justify the continuance of an effor
which was without other result than tn,
disappearance of the coinage as rapidly a.
issued. For this reason it's coinage wal
dropped.
When the great silver deposits were dis
| covered, and the market value of bullior
deprecated, so that the quantity of fin,
silver in the dollar fell below 100 cents il
market value, the producers of silver bull
| lion became interested in free coinage, moi
on their own account, of course, but fol
| the welfare of the farmer and other classes
of the dear people. In the open market
they could procure only eighty cents fol
the quantity of silver in standard dollar
1t would greatly enhance their profit i
they could be permitted to take this bull
| lion to the mint, and for eighty cents
worth receive in return coined dollar
clothed with legal tender power to pay 1Ot
cents Of debt. Hence their tears.
The Farmer.
But how can this benefit the farmer OF
other person not engaged in mining OF
dealing in silver bullionf Under free coin
age every ounce brought to the mint must
be returned to the owner, coined into
standard legal tender dollars. 1t is not
handed out to the farmer by the Govern
ment; nor does or can the Government put
1t in circulation. 1t is the money of, and
belongs to, the miner or silver dealer, to bt
by him boarded or put in circulation in hif
discretion. The farmer cannot obtain B
Of it any more than he can obtain golt
| dollar. unless he give in exchange therefor
other property worth a hundred cents il
value; OF borrow it at the current rate o;