The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-10-17
The Silver Dollar.

The purchasing power OF the silver
dollar, which is now equal to that OF the
gold dollar, would be reduced If the
present policy of the Treasury were aban-
doned, Silver dollars would remain
legal tender, but that would not preserve
their purchasing power They would
have the same debt paying power as gold,
but no dc BITS would then be paid in gold.
Silver or its equivalent would be exclu-
sively used to pay debts, and would have
for that purpose the same power as at
present; but when used to purchase
commodities its value would be reduced,
because the prices of goods, in silver.
would be raised. The purchasing power
of 1922 grains of fine gold, whether in
bullion or gold coin. There arc 37l4
grains of fine silver in dollar, but it re-
ouires about twice that amount of silver
bullion to purchase 1922 grains of gold
bullion. This simply means that we are
using the gold standard. If we had the
silver standard, the purchasing power of
the dollar would be that of 37l4 grains OF
silver bullion, which at present is about
fifty cents.
The ratio of 1G to / of gold to silver
simply means that 16 ounces of silver sre
of equal value with one ounce of gold.
Recently an ounce of gold has been SELL
ing for as much as 80 or 33 ounces of sill
yer; as the exact ratio varies from day to
day, we will call it 80 ounces. Now it is
obvious that the dollar cannot be worth
at the same time the value of the gold
bullion which it contains and the value
of the silver bullion, since these are in
the ratio of 2 to l. It may be either, but
it cannot be both. At present it has the
purchasing power of the gold bullion,
and the different kinds OF dollars are
chasing power, by the policy of the
Treasury department, which gives to the
citizen the sort of dollar which he desires.
A note which calls for coin is paid in
either gold or silver at the option of the
holder. This prevents gold coin from
going to a premium.
Free coinage means that the govern
ment shall take 371l grains of silver,
worth about fifty cen ts, and give dollar
for it. Whenever that happens it will be
i'm possible for the Treasury to pay out
gold and silver without distinction. Gold
will then only be obtalnable from private
individuals, and will 60 to premium,
while silver dollars will have the same
purchasing power as 37li grains OF silver
bullion. Free coinage advocates say the
prlC6 Oh DulllOu WILL IlSes oSoAUAy
It might rise 10 per cent; if so, the
purchasing power Of the dollar would be
SIS per cent. of what it is now. If it rose
20 per cent. Its purchasing power would
be GO per cent. of what it is now. In
order for the dollar to retain ita present
purchasing power, it would be necessary
for silver bullion to rise 100 per cent. and
this is extremely improbable. It is quite
probable that the adoption of the silver
standard would put up the price of silver
bullion for time. The passage of the
Sherman act in 1890 put up the price of
silver to SI.21 an ounce in about q month.
Then it began to recede, and it is now
from 81 TO 65 cents. Probably something
of the same sort would follow free COIN
age but in the end the purchasing power
Of the dollar would probably not be ma.
terially higher than the present price of
3713 grains of silver bullion. Our adop-
ton of the silver standard would slightly
increase the demand for silver, but it
would not be equal to the demand which
existed prior to 1873. Hence the need of
an international agreement as to the use
of silver and its ratio to gold.-Louisuille
Courier JOIr7,GI.