Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1894-01-05
EDITORIAL NOTES.
And Other Matters of Interest
to the Readers Of the
Courier.
A GOLD AND SILVER
DIFFICULTY.

~ GOLD AND SILVER
DIFFICULTY.
As pointed out in the previous ar
hcle gold and silver money clashed
undsr the law OF 1892. They would
not pull together; they would not
Keep step in the monetary race. One
was more highly valued than the
other Notwithstanding Uncle Sam
stamped them the same. AS DR.. S.
T. Spear puts it: 'tThe mint value
or the silver coins, being above
their bullion value, made them the
cheaper money; and the mint value
Of the gold coins, being below their
bullion value, made them the dearer
money" On this account they
would not circulate unitedly. The
cheap money came into use and the
Other went out Of use. 1t was di-
verted TO other uses. TO remedy
this state of things legislation was
Sesorted to. 1t was assumed that
the difficulty could be removed in
one Of two ways. Either increase
the amount of silver in the silver
coins, or lessen the quantity Of gold
IN the gold coins so that their real
Value would be the same in the mar
kets Of the world. The latter plan
was adopted, and less quantity OF
the metal was put into the gold coins.
Congress exacted that the gold coins
OF 1892, and those of this new law,
should harmonic with each other in
their power to pay debts. By this
new law the value of gold coins was
brought down to the level of the
value of the silver coins. No lnjus-
tice was done as silver was the
money standard.
In 1887 there was still further
monetary legislation to preserve the
psrity of gold and silver coins. The
law Of 1872 assumed that the true
ratio of value between gold and sill
YER was as one to fifteen; but the
Acts of 1884 and 1887 assumed it to
be one to sixteen. Now, whereas,
the former law under valued gold
and over valued silver to the expul
sion Of gold from the country, these
latter Acts over valued gold and un-
der valued silver to the expulsion Of
silver from circulation as money.
Thus,a again. the cheaper money,
this time, gold coins, drove out the
more valuable silver money. Thus,
too, the attempt to maintain dou-
bic standard,-or bi-metalism failed,
and the silver dollar, as a standard
of value, was displaced by gold. For
= period of twenty-three years fol-
lowing 1884 we had free coinage of
silver, and at the beginning the sill
yer dollar was the standard. The
laws Of 1884 and 1887 were in the
Interest Of silver as much as of gold;
but now, at the end Of the period
the aggregate of the entire coinage
Of silver dollars was but s1,329,623
viii the free silver coinage men of
today please make a note of this.
VIII the double standard advocates
learn nothing from this history.
Why was there not more silver
coined? The owners of silver bull
lion did not care to have it minted
and for these two reasons. First,
there was no popular demand
fer 50 bulky coin; and, again, sill
ver was more valuable in bullion to
be melted up to go into other coun-
tries, or to be used in other ways.
This Is the simple natural way to ac-
count tor the i'll favor of silver as
money among the people. Gold,
and gold advocates, stood not in its
way. AS before with the gold coins,
10, now, with the silver coins the
government stamp added nothing to
their value as the money Of the
world.