The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1894-09-07
BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF OUR SILVER
LEGISLATION.

ssS sss ne constitution OF the United States
sprovldes that congress shall have power
ITO coin money, regulate the value
Sthereof, and of foreign coin" Under
Sthis authority the United States Mint
was established April 2, 1892. 1t pro-
sVided then that the ratio OF silver and
gold should be IS to l, and that anv
sperson might bring either gold or sill
''sVer bullion to the mint to BIZ coined
and that it should be coined free of
sexpense, and that money so coined
should be lawful money for the payment
lot all obligations. At this time the
established ratio in Europe was l54 toll,
sand those European countries also had
free coinage. Thus, it will be seen
that our ratio Of Is to l made silver
more valuable, in the United States,
Etthan in Europe where it took more
silver to buy a dollar in gold. AS
result of this. silver came to the United
sStates and gold gravitated to Europe.
June 2s, 1884, the United States ratio
was changed, by reducing the amount
Sof pure gold in the gold coins, making
Tour ratio between silver and gold
almost 16 to l, but not quite. The
$Seffect of this was to make silver more
valuable in Europe than in the United
States, because the European ratio
still remained l5l to l. 1t was conse-
squently seen that silver and gold obey
Jed the law of supply and.demand, silver
going to Europe from the United States
2and gold going from Europe to the
sUnited States.
& January is, 1887, the alloy in the sill
#ver dollar was changed, and also that
in gold coins, which had the effect of
modifying the ratio, making 1898 in
weight of silver equivalent in value to
zone OF gold. Thus our ratio remains
today, though we popularity call it 16
to |.
Under the same act, Jan. Is. 1897, it
was provided that gold and silver bul.
gliop, brought to the mint for coinage,
should be received and coined for the
benefit of the depositor. Under the
operations of this ratio our silver coins
were constantly exported, and in order
\ to make conditions conducive to their
staying at home, an act was pa sed Feb.
81, 1853, limiting the legal tender power
of subsidiary coins to SIS and reducing
the quantity of silver in the half dollar,
quarter, and dime. But the quantity
of silver in the dollar was not changed.
No other change in our coinage laws
occurred until 1873.
Feb. II, 1873. the mintage laws were
revised in such a way as to leave gold
the only metal to which free coinage
attached, though for time the trade
dollar was coined for purposes of trade
with China and Japan. BY this act the
legal tender quality of all silver coins
up to that time issued was limited to S..
Thus, silver coinage was stopped and
silver practically demonetized.
In 1876 the issuance of the trade dol
lar ceased.
February 2S, 1878, the Bland Act was
passed. by which the standard silver
dollar was restored to it's legal tender
status, but no provision was made for
free coinage. 1t did provide though
for the purchase of silver bullion at the
market price and that purchased should
be coined to an amount not less than
$2,OOO,000 nor more than 1000, 900
worth of silver per month. The hold
ers of this coin could deposit it with
the treasury and receive silver certi
ticates in exchange. The coin was
held in the treasury to redeem those
certificates, and the latter are releem
able only in silver coin.
Then came the Sherman law, onsJuly
IA, 1890, by which the Bland Act "; $
modified. 1t left the silver dollar ID
legal tender for the payment of debts
and provided for the purchase OF
4,5OO, 900 ounces of silver per month,
at the market price, not to exceed ST
for each 37l4 grains of pure silver.
Here comes in the difference between
the Bland Act and the Sherman Act:
The silver so purchased was to be paid
for by the issuance of treasury notes,
which were redeemable In gold or sill
YER coin, at the discretion of the Sec
retary of the Treasury. The practical
operations of the law we're to force the
Secretary of the Treasury TO redeem
them chiefly in gold coin, for had he
refused so to do the operations OF money
speculators would soon have driven
gold to premium. Most OF the silver
purchased under the Sherman law since
July, 1891, has not been coined. but has
been kept in the United States treasury
in the form of bullion.
This law was repealed. it will be re-
membered, in 1898, thus cutting OF
this method of increasing the circulat
ing medium. 1t was one OF those
makeshifts which was the result OF the
non-ability to agree between the golo