Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1895-07-11
From the Junction City Tribune,
The Law Made Price of Gold.

From the Junction CITY tribune,
The Law-Made Price of Gold.
An Illinois correspondent asks
"DoeS the la,C of England require
the Bank of England to purchase all
the fine gold offered at $1,000 per
OatnceP
The statement that the price Of
gold is fixed by English law is true.
The Peel act of 1874 requiring the
Bank of England to pay 3 pounds, II
shillinss and 8 pence for every ounce
Of standard gold offered is still in
force, and being one of the provisions
of the Bank of England charter it
fixes the price Of gold the world over
With the English sovereign quoted at
$4, 1861 the above prices is equivalent
to about $1S so of U. S. money. As
British standard gold is 9l666 parts
in a thousand (eleven-twelfths) fine,
it is evident that the above price is
that of eleven-twelfths of an ounce of
fine gold. The price of full ounce
is Sis. so plus one-eleventh Of itself
The PRICE mentioned by our cores
pondent ia bis inquiry is near enough
for non-technical purposes. Our cor
respondent can verify the above va "
alton Of the sovereign ny referring to
page LOO U. S. Coinage Laws, edition
of 1894. Consplt article Banks" APP
ploton's American Gyolsp8qlR, Yol 2,
page 275, as to the law governing the
Bank of England and the price it
must pay for gold, also Encyclopedias
Britannica, ninth edition, American
reprint, 1883, VOL 16, page 1856, ar
ticIe Mint" No doubt the same
facts are stated in Chambers and
other standard works. Alden (article
Bank Of England y makes thts slater
ment-.
1.-THE bank also makes profit upon
bullion and foreign coin. These are
brought to the Bank for notes; they
are worth Go It's. 1Oad. per ounce;
but the Bank is obliged by its charter
to purchase them at &3 It's Cd. The
holders prefer taking liz price TO
having their bullion and foreign con
coined, free Of charge, at the public
mint, as the delay in the coinage is
equal to loss Of interest of I'D per
ounce" -AIden'S Manifold Cyclope-
dia, first edition, 1851, Vol 3, page
G14.
The addition of I'D approximately
three cents), warranted by this quota
ton, to the Bank of England price of
gold gives us the coinage price per
ounce at the English mint, and that
the price at the U, s. mlnts is practi-
cally the same is found by dividing
the number Of grains in 40 ounce by
23.22, the number of grains of fine
gold in dollar, 1t is thus shown
that the coinage price of an ounce of
pure gold is something over $2O.67. I
The following definitions will be in
terested in this connection:
DOLLAR, n. (a) A silver coin of the
C'nlted States containing 81, 25 grains
of silver cud 4125 grains of alloy,
that is, having d total weight of 41.25
grains, (b) A gold coin Of the United
States containing % % grams of gold
and 25S grams of alloy, that is hav-
ing a total weight of 25,8 grains,
nine-tenths fine. 1t is no longer coin
ed We6Ster'S International DlctiOn-
arg.
SOVEREIGN, 70, A gold coin of the
value of 2Os and weighing 1913 274
grains Troy, the standard of the Eng
lish coinage of the present day
The Imperial Dictionary.
Those who assert that the price of
neither gold nor silver can be fixed
by law find in the above facts an EN-.
phatic denial of their theory. The
governors Of the Bank Of England