Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-08-29
Coinage Legislation-A Summary.
NUMBER XI.

= ASAAA @AA~ ohs AooAS lOoihoi ~
In this article. which closes the Sc
ries, we give a general summary of the
coinage legislation of the country,
touching only the more important laws.
The constitution gave congress-with-
out the consent of other nations-the
power to ..coin money and regulate
the value thereof" In pursuance of
that con stitutiOnal provision, congress
at the first session, April 2. 1892, es-
tablished and equipped United States
mint. That act provided that coins of
gold. silver and copper should be
coined from time to time. The silver
dollar was made the anti of Udlale.
The ratio was fixed at 15 to /; that is
fifteen pounds of pure silver were made
equal in all payments to one pound of
pure gold. The coins of gold were to
be eagles. half eagles, quarter eagles.
The silver coins were dollars, halves,
quarters. and dimes. The eagle. Or
GSh-o SoAo PiCSC, SOhCdihCo <fs
4-5 grains of pure silver The silver
dollar contained 371i grains of pure
silver-that is is 24.75 grains of pure
gold were equal in value to 3714 grains
of pure silver. Both coins were full
legal tender, and were coined for own
ers free of expense.
February 9, 1898, foreign coins were
made legal tender in the payments of
all debts and demands. Sixty years
later. Feb. 21. 1857, all acts making
foreign coins legal tender were re-
pealed. While foreign coins were a
legal tender, it was not necessary to
coin so much gold and silver to furnish
sufficient volume of circulation.
The ratio remained unchanged till
1884. The act of June %. 1884, re-
duce6 the number of grains of pure
gold in an eagle from PAT AS to 232
grains, and other gold coins in proper
tion. The silver coins were not
changed. This was change of ratio
from 15 to l to little over 16 to L
that is %. 20 grains of pure gold were
made to equal in value 37l4 grains of
pure silver.
Congress, on January IS, 1887,
passed a general coinage law, but the
only change made in the ratio was to
put little more gold in the gold coins
in order to conform the alloy to a deci-
NAL system, the alloy in both gold and
silver coins constituting one-tenth of
the weight of the coins. Under this
law 1922 grains of pure gold were
made equal in value to 371i grains of
in round numbers 16 to l. Both me-
tails remained full legal tender, but
depositors OF bullion for coinage were
required to Pug the cost to the govern
ment for materials and labor employed.
By the act of March 3, 1S49, the
coinage of gold dollars was first author
ized. The gold dollar coin was de-
clared ..to be of the value of one collar
or unit"-that is equal to silver dol
lar which was the unit of value. The
early silver dollar had On the edges of
the coin the words, zone dollar, or
unit. Hundred cents" and a few of
these coins are in existence to-day in
addition to the law itself as evidence
that the unit of value was in silver.
The ratio established by the act of
1887, continued. as far as the silver
dollar was concerned, till 1873; but
February 81, 1858. the amount OF
standard silver in half dollar was re-
duced from 206i grains to 1872 grains;
and the quarter. dime, and half-dime
were changed accordingly, but this did
not affect the unit of value.
The act of February IL, 1873, made
the gold dollar, instead of the silver
dollar, the unit of value, dropped the
standard dollar from the coinage, and
the coinage of the trade
dollar of 420 grains of standard silver.
This was a curious act. for the stand |
ard silver dollar of 4124 grains was
worth three cents more than the gold |
dollar This act, as explained by sub |
seauent legislation, was the first act of
a series to bring silver into disrepute, |
and to bull the price of gold; for max |
ing 42O grains of standard silver equal |
in value to a gold dollar, when the
gold dollar, commercially, was OF less |
value than 4121 grains, was nothing |
more nor less than increasing the |
price of gold by law, and decreasing |
the relative price of silver to gold. |
The law also further Disseminated |
against silver by depriving it of legal
tender value in sums exceeding $500. |
This was the first time in the history |
of the nation that the legal tender
value of the silver dollar was limited.
By the act of January Il, 1875. spe-
Gle payments were resumed. The se-
cretary was authorized and directed to /
coin silver as rapidly as possible, to
redeem the fractional currency. /
Ru act of .Tulv %. 1876, the trade I