The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-07-05
SEATTLE. FRIDAY. JULY D.
BEFORE THE CRIME.

On. would suppose. 10 listen to the ora
sions of the free silverites, that the eo"'i-
srv has been gradually getting worse ana
.vo-~a since 1873; that silver has been
badly abused. and that money mas De-
come scarcer. Confining ourselves siriei-
~ to some facts and figures ana 70 sorhe
authorities upon the effect OF ihhatioh
vpon wages, we leave the reaaer 10
draw his own conclusions. Whetner they
lead him to free silver. TO gold mono
metallism or 10 bi-netaliism, Is MS Dusi-
ness; we win give him the facts.
vha average amount of gold coin IN
circulation in this country from b3z until
january l. 1879. the date OF resamption'
was 2s.oGo.Ooc In 1894 II had Increased TO
sis5. g7o. 100. In 1873 silver was represented
nv s3i.730eo. In 1894 the amount In cir
culation was 81. 0s5sls in coin: ssS7. lis,0d
In certificates upon bullion stored In the
treasury, and So. 900 In silver certifi-
Gates of is52.
On July /. 1894 there was stacked up In
the treasury in silver dollars and bullion
the enormous amount of si9o. $500. be-
4Assb
or course the bullion Is represented by
the silver certificates already referred to
and In not In addition TO the amount al
ready given as in circulation.
On the other hand. national bank notes
were less In 1891 than In 1873 by $40. 4l2.27L
In 1873. the year of 1.-THE crime" the to-
tai amount OF money in the country was
sT74.fis. sio; per capita. slS.5S In 1884 1t
was s.. 40 49,. Isl. or So. n per capita. The
population In is73 was 4i,sT.ooo: in 1894 1t
was 6s.725.o"o. SO that while population
has Increased about so per cent. money
has increased 100 per cent.
In 1873 the United States mint coined
s57,oea,1a7 In gold to si.uo4.7i7 OF silver; the
ratio was then 1899. where IL had gradu-
ally crept In spite of all the power OF the
Latin Union from 1850. When France
discontinued buying silver the price be-
gan to fall more rapidly. until iSSs. when
st was aoTS. In 1878 an act OF congress
was passed authorizing the secretary of
she treasury to buy at the market price
not less than ssooo.G go a month, and re-
storing It's legal tender character. This
momentarily checked the increasing dis
parity and reduced X from $40 to 1906.
hut the output OF the world. which had
nearly doubled in ten years sfrom $50
- 60 IN iSse to So. 80. eeo In 1879 steadily
Increased. In 1870 an act was passed au-
shorizing the purchase OF 4.5eo0so ounces
a. silver a month a. the market price.
not To exceed one dollar for s5l ~ grains
o. pure silver. In that year the ratio re-
surued from - 10 TO 1875. hut notwith-
standing the purchase by the treasury OF
over 500 80 0oo IN two years the ratio fell
away again 10 @3..3. and when. notwith-
standing a further purchase 90 over SIS
uao. co by the United States the ratio fell
away again 20 $40. congress became
alarmed. In less than four years The
government had purchased SIS. 9si. %.
worth OF silver yet the market price Eel
from sl-afsi 20 So7Sl2
Since ISIS when the United States made
an heroic effort TO maintain :he rattle
a,ore. the worlds production had gor,
~ at an extraordinary rate. In N,
United States it had increased from SIS.
Sa.co 70 STTss5,7ST. bat throughout ,hs
world the increase was even greater.
Tae sols"wing figures ara taken from
the on eiaf report TO congress: