Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-08-22
HISTORY OF COINAGE.
slxTY-s,1AT YEARS UNLIMITED USE
OF GOTH METALS.

Fall In the Price or silver Accounted
For Foreign Money Laws,
| Tho proposition is 10 take OFF all linn
il as to coinage; to withdraw the gov
ornment support OF silver; to let any
man who has silver bullion worth 40
cents have it stamped 100 cents With.
out government support al9ls grains OF
! silver and the new silver dollar would
be of tho same oxehangeahle value The
question: therefore, is, What effect
would free coinage have on silver hui
hong Would alaN grains Of silver be
come worth rs much rs 20, : grains OF
gold9 Would free coinage give it an ex.
! changeahle value equal to our present
! dollar III the markets of the worlds III
| the value of silver is not doubled by FREQ
coinage, then the exchangeable value Of
our new silver dollar must drop to the
actual value of the silver put into IT.
We would not have himetallism. bat
gold dollar worth twice as much as
the silver dollar. and tho silver dollar
would become tho standard measure Of
value, driving the gold dollar out of cir.
culaton We would reduce our stand
ard ene.half
When the act of 1909 was passed, JEFF
ferson and Hamilton both determined
to mako tho now gold and silver dollar
equal in value TO tho then standard of
measurement, which was II dollar equal
to aisi grains Of gold They recognized
tho fact that the exchangeahle value of
| coined dollar must be controlled by
tho commercial value of tho bullion put
upon II, Therefore they undertook to
find how many grains of silver uncoined
were commercially equal in value to
| 2Is, grains Of gold, They decided that
II required 10 times as many and null
tiplying AN by 10 placed 37lla grains
Of silver III II dollar
This undervaluod gold For the first
few years, owing largely to the lack of
quick International communication, Ii
circulated to u limited extent and then
long before 1884, went entirely out of
circulation, and we were on tho silver
store bimetallism, but he was unwilling
tochange the standard upon which bust
ness was then being done He recog
| nizod tho danger to commerce of chang.
ing the standard. He therefore reduced
the amount Of gold put into the dollar,
so that under the new coinage the bnl.
| lion value Of both dollars would be Just
equal to tho dollar then In use, aud NJ
his instance n new ratio Of 10 to was
passed II was soon found that this new
ratio underyalued silver, and shortly
after 1884 this country went to tho gold
standard Of 30. 8 grains Of gold to the dol.
! lar and has boon on II ever since, with
the exception Of tho timo incident to the
war.
Under the now ratio, after 1894, even
! fractional currency was worth more
when melted than its coinage value.
and therefore in 1853 IL became neces,
snry to provide u fractional currency,
containing reduced number OF grains
to tho dollar, and their legal tender was
limited to 81, The Spanish milled dol
lar was still in circulation, but the
| highest amount Of foreign silver by the
estimates Of the treasury department In
circulation ut amy timo was $50, 600, 900.
In 1900 the gold circulation was
| $2Id, 900, 900 and subsidiary silver
SCI 900, 900 While 4, 900, 900 silver dol
lars had been coined they have pll gone
out Of circulation, being worth more
when melted AS bar silver than their
face value.
| These facts prove that free and unlim,
tied coinage Of both metals by tho Unit
cd States did not substantially affect
the bullion value Of either metal; that
| the cheaper metal became tho standard
Of value. and the other went out Of cir
! culntiOn.
II 0S years Of experience with FREQ
and unlimited coinage Of both metals
showed that by free aud unlimited coin.
age wo were unable 10 affect. first, the
value Of silver, 10 make IL equal 20 gold
Mt tho ratio Of 10 to |, or, second, the
value OF gold to make 10 equal to silver
ut 10 10 /. when the difference In their
bullion valne was only 8 per cent, is II
not preposterous to claim that free and
unlimited coinage now will no increase
| WIG VI bllNNi Nuth tHu
IL 90 per cent?
II cannot be claimed that the legisla.
ton by the United States In 1878 seri.
ously affected the commercial value Of
silver, for since that time we have fur
nished market for $500. 600, 900 Of sill.
yer. very much more In proportion TO
our increasing commerce than went
through our minis during the days OF
FREQ and unlimited coinage Of silver.
The fall in the price Of silver can
easily DO accounted for In 1873 the
worlds product Of silver Mt coinage
value was &Si 200. 900, in 1899, IL was
$i98. 450, 900; In 1903. $209, 1876. 900.
and In 1894. $214,4s1 900. This enor-
nous increase in the production Of sill.
yer took place despite the fact that sill
YER had fallen in value 80 per cent.
BY legislation passed in 1919 Nor.
way and Sweden and Germany suspend
ed tho coinage Of silver in 1874. Ger.
many demonetized silver and put $780,