The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1895-12-20
ON GOLD AND SILVER.
STATISTICS SHOWING THEIR
RELATIVE VALUES.
The Re ports Of the Director OF the
Mint show That i6 Ounces Of silver
TO One Of Gold IL the Proper Ratio
Of Coinage.

At the time Of the discovery OF Amer
lea the amount of gold and silver in
Europe in use as money was insignifi-
cant, being estimated by Humboldt at
not more than $15O.O00. 900. the larger
made during the rise OF
the Roman empire having been almost
entirely dissipated. Three hundred
millions Of dollars is considered to be
very liberal estimate of the whole stock
Of gold and silver In existence in the
then known world at the time OF the
discovery of America The production
Of gold and silver in the world since
1893 Is given on pages ia and ITS OF the
report Of the director of the United
States mint for 1894 at 406 .s06. .476
ounces Of gold OF coinage value Of
s.. .33s. .1Ol. 900. and 1864 .O23.716 ounces OF
silver OF coinage value Of 5000 ,O4l 900.
How much of this gold is still in exis-
tence is problematical. for 1t is impossi-
BILE even to approximately estimate the
actual loss in use and the waste OF the
precious metals In manufacturing and
the arts. The approximate amounts OF
gold and silver in use as money In the
world are. however, given by Mr.. Pres
ton. director OF the mint. at $3.965.9O0.-
600 gold and $4.O55. 700 900 silver at our
coinage ratio OF 16 n5.9S) to l. from
which II is apparent that there Is almost
exactly sixteen ounces of silver In use
as money to one OF gold. The balance
of the gold and silver mined since l%SS
has. OF course. either been absorbed In
the arts or lost. But as affecting the
supply Of gold and silver available Tor
coinage we have little occasion to spec
ulate as to the amount OF gold and sill
yer used in the arts and still In exist
ence. for gold and silver 80 used Is as
efYectually withdrawn from the stock OF
gold and silver available for use as
money az II IL were lost. for the labor
expended on gold and silver used in the
arts gives Il such an enhanced vaiue
that the melting down OF such gold ana
silver used as ornaments and pate Tor
sale as bullion is out Of the question.
The total amount Of silver purchased
under the act Of July IA. 1890 the Sher-
man act). from August 49, 1890, the date
the act went into effect. to November !
1888, the date OF the repeal OF its pur-
chasing clause. aggregated l6s,e74.Sss
9 $500 ounces fine tpure silver without
r alloy). costing si55.93l .oo2.25. or an
+ average OF .9244 cents per ounce, tns
), coinage value OF the same in silver dol
! lars being S21s. .Os4.43s. OF the amount
purchased there was used up to Novem
r Der, 1. 1894, in the coinage OF 8.5sl.l4
' silver dollars. %, sol .43o.ss fine ounces
costing $40. .7s7. .Os2s7. Thus 1t Will D
= seen that little more than one-sixth o
J the silver purchased under the Sherman
act has been coined. tSee pages 10. i
7 and II. report Of the director OF IN
United States Mint for lSS4D Of IN
= treasury notes issued TO purchase tni
silver. costing S155,s31 .oo2.25. as above
u sl4l. 900 900 are still outstanding.
- Under the act Of February ~. lsI'
:. known "A the Bland act, 2sl.272,ols.S
a ounces OF fine silver were bought Al
2. cost Of Ssos. .27s .2so.7l and coined int
" 37s.l66.7s3 silver dollars. against =
equal portion Of which sss.ooo.oo0