The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-08-07

products seek the market. They thus
have an unlimited market, as the minis
are open to all that comes. 1t is a ques-
ton of supply and demand. Supply Of
precious metals is limited. When the
minis are open In unlimited demand is
created. This demand is limited only by
the capacity of the business of the coun-
try to absorb money.
with limited supply and unlimited
demand what stops their value rising?
1t is this: The law says, We coin SnA
grains pure silver and 1872 grains pure
gold, respectively, into dollars, and con-
fer upon these coins functions which
make for them permanent and equal
demand When this is the law people
will not take less for their silver and gold
the quantities above named--than a
dollar of current money for they have
the right to have it coined into dollars.
The law fixes the quantity in the dollar
and the unlimited demand holds 1t firmly
to that point. In this respect money is
a creation of law. Without this law there
is demand for the metal The law ADDS
a new use and new demand for 1t. ZAP
plause)
This unlimited demand for the two
metals existed in all the world at ratios
one to the other up to 1876 when England
closed her minis to silver. The demand
the two metals at the ratio fixed by law.
England closing her minis had practical
ly no effect. She was at that time the
greatest commercial nation in the world,
but the commerce and trade Of the other
nations were sufficient to absorb all the
surplus of both metals, and the closing
of the English minis to silver made no
difference. 1t was designed to do so,
and was the beginning OF the movement
intended to limit the quantity of primary
money to one of the metals and CORE
spondingly decrease the value OIL the
other metal.
I'm 1854 Germany and Austria closed
their minis to gold, but 1t had no effect
on the relative commercial value OF the
two metals, as the demand for these
metals for money in the countries whose
minis were open was sufficient demand
to hold them relatively steady.
ct is not necessary to speak of the in
fuences that were at work to get rid Of
one of the metals. We are dealing with
the question of unlimited demand as
created by the open minis of one or more
great countries whose use for money is
sufficient to absorb all the surplus, II
any, of these two metals.
COMMERCIAL RATIO OF SILVER TO
GOLD.
IT now make a part of my remarks an
official table taken from page 1Oo Com
piled Laws and Coinage Statistics, an Of
fetal document from Washington, snow
ing the commercial ratio Of the two met
ais for 200 years, to which have added
the commercial ratio for 1894. l now
hand the book to Mr.. Horn. l wish to
give those present an opportunity to see
this table, and now distribute copies of
it in the audience. From this table 1t Will
be seen that under the effect of unlimited
coinage up to 1873 a parity between the
two metals was maintained at the legal
ratio. England closing her minis in 1916
to silver and Germany and Austria In 1884
to gold had no perceptible effect. cast
your eyes up and down these columns and
see how evenly the commercial ratio kept
pace with the legal ratio. The ratio of
France, the largest nation commercially
during that period having bimetallic
ratio, was the governing influence, which
was 1917 to l; ours was Is to 1 till 1884,
then 16 to l.
II will in few minutes explain to you
how these figures in that table were at
a parity of commercial ratio with the
legal ratio of France"
COMMERCIAL RATIO OF SILVER TO
GOLD EACH YEAR SINCE 1887.
From 1857 to 1882 the ratios are taken
from Pixley and Abells tables, and from
1879 to 1890 from daily cablegrams from
London to the bureau of the mint.
Republshed from the coinage laws of
the United States, 1892 to 1894. See United
States senate report No. 235, page 10S.
The table which Mr.. Harvey recites is
the same which he publishes in Coins
Financial School and demonstrates that
from 1857 to 1882 inclusive the entire vari-
alton between the ratio of silver to gold
during that entire period of nearly 200
1892 and 1563-a difference as will read
lily be perceived of only 69-100ths of the
unit one AS the table is too long to be
repeated here for the benefit of the read
err we quote the ratio between silver and
gold each Is years through the above
period for the purpose of showing that
the two METALS were maintained practi-
cally at the same point without difficult
ty so long as the civilized world chose to
adopt the bimetallic standard. We give
the ratios in a form of a table: