New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-04-07
MONEY AND ITS COINAGE.
SOME INTERESTING FACTS IN TIE hislo'' ~
AMERICAN CURRENCY.


and Its coinage TO be found In the "o'erh"'"' ..
n,hsbed nj Washington that the people OF TINS co""
fry should be made familiar with. AS 90 ho' "''o"
n better medium for getting them beiore '"' -. 80
thon the columns OF your paper venture " ~
a few herewith in the belief that they VIII De "p
preciated ty you. and the hope that they VIII w
corefuI,v considered by all who are Interested III
economic questions ,.
rh Constitution Of the United states has given
n Conrress the power TO coin money. regulate 'hc
yalue thereof and Of foreign coins IL also uo'
that no state shall coin money, emit DIS VI '''
make anything but gold and silver ieg"i .ehuci y"
debt. or pass an law lmpalrng the ophea''o' u
contracts 49,. co,
In order to carry out these provisions Of the con,
,.,,o, In thc wear 1892 Congress passed an act
defining what the money OF the country shouiu W.
and providnG fcr the construction OF Cnlten '''e'
mints to coin such money. under ihi' "o' o"''
gold and silver coin made legal tehuer' III"
weight and Gnencss OF the coins was pre- scr"eu '
coinage made unlimited The gold coins 10 DC i9sueu
we're the eagle half eagle and quarter eagle i"e
oliver coins were the dollar, half dollar, quarter
dollar dime ard half dime. The minor coins OF
COPPER we're the cent and ha-i cent. AT the ume
this act passed 1 ounce OF gold hid the s''''
value In the markets as Is ounces OF sliver' anu
the basis OF coinage Of gold and silver was OF '"'
account placed at l OF gold to 10 "f siNer'
The weight OF the eagle or $40 gold piece was
pure gold and the rest alloy. making II parts CT
purc gold to / OF ALLOW. The half eagle ana quar-
ter eagle contained Cnekalf and one-Guarter. rcspcc
lively. of the weight and nneness OF the eagle.
The standard silver dollar was to contain 41o
grains troy. 37l Ia grains hcing pure silver ana
the balance alloy. The halfdollar quarter u i"r'
dime etc, were In the same ratio.
This lass Of courage continued un'h the year
1884 although II found soon after the passage
Of this act when they began to coin on this ratio,
that there was difficulty In keeping gold com III CIR
culniion. for the reason that gold had pee u''u'r
valued In tho ratio Of cOinag" between the TWO
metals, md therefore the owners OF gold coin OF
bullion could &c, for them to sell as oh'ioh
than they were worth to BE- ooired or used as money
on the other hand the manufacturers. VINO were
nsIng gold in their business found that it was cheaper
for them TO Use the gold coin Of the country than u
was to buy bullion In the markcts: hence arose the
difficulty In keeping gold coin In circulation.
During the years 1916 and Iol7 here was no gold
coined. From 1903 TO 1853 there were no eagles
coined and from 1,0S to 1e23 only 1Ol2o quarter
eagles and not as many half Eagles a mr." now
coined I'm month. To ohvatc the dihcnity OF
keeping gold coin In circulation Congress IN 1881
nossed an act TO diminish tie amount Of pure gold
in the coins. II reduced the weight 81 the eagle
by twelve grains. and the amount OF pure goa COLI
tnned by - IL grains, or about l.: grams To
each dollar. other coins were reduced III the same
ratio
In 1897 another slight change was made in the
Ancncss OF the coins. making them parts fine TO
OF nlloy. Instead OF IL TO The weight OF
| tho silver dollar was reduced the same wear. from
al6 10 sIo IL grains by reducing the amount OF
alloy in the coin. These reductions In weight ana
Hneness OF tho gold coin changed the ratio OF COIN
age from that of Of gold TO Is OF silver 10
about ! OF gold 10 Ii Of silver.
Tho total coinage OF both metals during the forty
D IL
ibis amount $50 300 900 silver and S1l 3d.
aso gold the silver exceeding the gold by S.1,-
a773ll II will be by these figures that the
country at that time practically on SILVER OASIS
So far ms United states coin was concerned, although
OF the silver coined only 1,f3o,ol1 were standard
silver dollars while the balance we're frac'onni cons'
During the period OF forty-o years this country
nroduccd only Sal 900 900 Of gold, while the silver
produced was insignificant that no report VI 'ie
omount was made The reason large an amount
OF foreign sivnr was coined was Owing 10 the '"ct
that gold had been undervalued. ana therefore WIS
worth more as bullion than II WIS a. coii congress
had also authorized foreign COINS to Dc received Us
legal tender and there a large amount oil spanish
and Mexican dcars and OF English money III eircu'a
ton I'm this country rs money
=, conscnuence OF tnc changes made in the weight
and dnencss OF the gold coins In 1874 the relative
coinage OF gold and silver underwent iemarKnoie
change Between the years -'f ana lo4o, the year
| ouer cold was discovered In California; n period OF
fifteen years. our mints coined S6f.ol:'4o IN goio'
and 800 45I o2s OF silver excess OF gold over Sill
yer Of 500 o01 ,51o. The relative conagc OF these
,wo metals was therefore changed from an excess OF
so7 a4731 OF silver during IN" fcrtyon" years pre-
,.,ous "a 1894 TO an excess Of gold amounting 10
s3a 5l2 during period Of fifteen years from 1854
to 1s40.
The reductions made in the amount Of gold In the
rold coin together with the very great increase In
,hc production Of gold In this country. resulted In
,,acinr silver mt premium gold in the market,
| Of this country found soon after the act OF
1891 that II difficult 10 keep silver coin In circua-
tion silver being at premium the owners OF silver
hulion found that they could get more for II by selling
n I'm the market than they could IL coin hence the
coinage was greatly diminished. The premium on
silver and the difficulty Of keeping fractional coin in
circulation great that In ls03-which, By inc
way was the year of the largest production OF gold
| I'm the history OF this country-Congress passed an
act reducing the weight Of silver In the fractional
coin about IL per cent As the standard dollar
was not coined TO any extent, no change was made
in its weight hneness by that act.
The total production OF gold in this country from
1909 70 ls4s. the year Of California discoveries,
amounted 70 $24. $50 $50, while the production Of sill
YER amounted TO only 200 900. the excess OF the
god production being S2il36I6o. After the dis
covcry Of gold in California the production Of gold in
this country increased very rapidly. In iS4s the
production was Sl00OO,O0 In isio II ran mp to
40. 600 900: I'm 1850 to S5O.0O0000 in 1851 TO
go 900 900; In 1852 TO SEQ, 100000 and In 1853 to
So 900 OOO which. stated above. was the year OF
the largest production Of gold in this country. From
that year the production Of gold began gradually to
decline until now II is only about So. 100000
year. Owing to this large production OF gold and
small production OF silver previous to 1860 and for
many years thereafter, the silver dollar at n
premium over the gold dollar In the markets OF this
country hence silver not coined 10 any extent.
After the discovery OF silver In Nevada and Colorado
the production OF that metal began rapidly TO Increase
Its production In 1880 was only $l5O.0OO; In 1862,
$500 900 In 1868. $s 800 900: in 1860. $i2.OOo0Oo
and in 1879 It was $685. OOO and 1t has gradually
increased. with slight fluctuations until 1902. when
Il amounted to $40 1900.
The total production OF gold In this country from
the Organization OF the mints In 1903 TO 1873 was
81 800 $50. 100. the total production OF silver was
S15Al 0.0OO. the cAcess Of gold produced over si
yer being 9, O15,13c .160.
while In 1860 the production OF silver in the
United States was only 100000. that Of gold was