The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-08-10

age our silver dollar is legal tender to
any amount In Short the gold mon
ometalic nations of Europe use silver
only for subsidiary coinage.
J Subsidiary coinage may need few
words of explanation. To supply the
needs of the people for small change the
government issues subsidiary coins, OF
limited legal tender quality. We have
the copper cent, legal tender to the am
! legal tender to the amount of sixty cents;
the nickel ive-cent piece, with its limit
at one dollar; and our silver halves,
quarters, dimes and = half dimes, which
are legal tender up to ten dollars. This
| is our subsidiary coinage The gold
monometalic nations use silver for
subsidiary coinage alone. The.silver coin
age of England is legal tender to the ex-
| tent of forty shillings only. In the Scan
| dinavian States the limit is forty
crowns; in Germany twenty marks; etc.
| The United States and the States of the
Latin Union, besides using silver for
subsidiary coinage, have it also in larger
GULL, WalCl dlO lCSdl uOhNiCI lOl eluJ
amount. But the United States is the
only great nation that is still adding to
it's stock of silver money. The States of
the Latin Union ceased coming as long
ago as 1878, when it became apparent
that a great change was going on in the
long established ratio of gold and silver.
The term ratio" is very frequently
used in discussions of the currency ques-
ton, and, while the idea expressed by
the word is very simple, it needs to be
understood thoroughly. Weight has
always been the great factor in deter
mining the value of gold andssilver, al
| though f1neness is also an essential con-
dition. Itwas quite natural that, as soon
as men began to deal in gold and silver,
| they should arrive at some understand
ing as to how heavy a portion of one
metal should be considered equivalent
to given weight of the other. The
| relative abundance of the metals has
been the governing consideration in de-
| termining this ratio, which has conse-
quently varied through the ages In an
Gent Persia, according to Herodotus, one
| part of gold (measured by weight) was
priced as much as eleven and two-thirds
parts of silver. That is, the ratio was
/ to II 2-3 In Greece during the same
period, the ratio was to 49, That is
| in Greece at that time either gold was
valued higher or silver lower than in
Persia. Later in Greece the ratio fell to
1 to 10, the fall being occasioned. accord
ing to Menander, by the plumber of gold
from the temple Of Apollo. In Rome
in the days of Pliny the Elder, one part
of gold was esteemed equal to IA 1-2
parts of silver; but after tribute of
| gold had been exacted from the Etolians,
| gold became more abundant, and there
| fore less desirable as compared with
silver, SO that only ten parts of silver
were required to purchase one of gold.
Years later julius Caesar, in his famous
campaigns in Gaul, seized and sent to
| Rome such quantities of gold that the
| ratio fell to 1 to z 1-2. 1t is probable
that at no other period of historic time
has gold been so cheap and silver SO dear.
From that time gold rose in value, and
during the fall of the Roman Empire the
ratio even reached to IA 2-5. But this
was an exceptional figure, and for the
next thousand years of the history of
| the world the ratio was about to 10
| or 12 1t was in the great awakening of
| the sixteenth century that the supplies
to fall. In 1915 were discovered the
wonderful mines of Potosi, and in 1857
the method of cold amalgamation for
separating silver from the ore was intro
duced. By the beginning of the seven
tenth century the ratio had become to
IS; by the beginning of the eighteenth
century, 1 to 1921; and by the be-
| ginning of the present century to
about Is 10. Indeed, in 1855, De-
| Calonne, Louis XVI's minister of finance,
established the ratio of 1 to Is 10, and
such it remains to this day in France
and in that group of states which clus-
ter about France in the Latin Union.
| The establishment of this ratio by law
was probablYthe recognition of the exist
| ing economic fact But in the London
market, which is the silver market of the
world, the ratio has, during this CEN
fury, been higher than the legal ratio
of France. From 1901 to 1910 the average
was to 1850. From 1s41 to 1850 it aver
aged to 1888. But in 1s48 occurred an
event which was ssdestined to check this
rise in the value of gold. The rich mines
of California were discovered, and a
little later those of ssAustralia Gold
became cheaper, and in ten years the
ratio had dropped to about Ito. 1921.
But the production of silver was soon
to increase. After our Civil War the
mines of Colorado, Nevada, Arizona.
and California began to turn out great
| quantities of silver under the manage
ment of the Bonanza kings. In 1867 the
ratio averaged to 1857; and in 1872 it
had become 1 to 1853 in the London
market.
| The story of the fluctuations .ssof the
ratio since 1872 involve important events,
which will be described in another arti-
| Gle.