The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1895-05-16
ABOUT FINANCE.

vi CHlcHRO, anu w. ., fOffeSt 90
into warm discussion on the silve
question, which ended in a wager al
to whether or not both silver anS
gold were made units of value in tn,
United States by the law of 1902
The question was referred to Judg,
w. A. Vincent for settlement. The
Judge listened to arguments on boil
sides of the question, looked up thu
authority himself and decided tha
the value of the metal was to b,
measured in both metals. He says
"The language of the proposition
'.submttted for decision is not.es. clesl
and satisfactory as might tS dssfre1
but l am of the opinion that unde,
the act of 1902 the unit was to b,
the dollar. The value of this uni
was to be measured both gold anC
silver, BIN grains being the quan
tity of silver and 243i grains being
the quantity of gold which were tc
equally express the measure anc
value of the unit adopted.
"In April, 1880, congress referred
certain matters relating to the estab
lishment of mint to Alexander
Hamilton, then secretary of the treas
ury. His report is an exhaustive
treatise on the subject of currency.
on which Hamilton was almost uni
versally conceded to be the best in
formed and most profound student
of the nation.
"Under the question, what ought
to be the nature of the money unit of
the United StatesY Hamilton says,
among other things, las long as gold,
either from its intrinsic superiority as
metal, from its greater rarity, or
from the prejudices of mankind, re-
tains 80 considerable pre- eminence
in value over silver, as it has hither-
to had, natural consequence of this
seems to be that its condition will
remain more stationary. The revo-
lutions, therefore, which may take
place in the comparative value of
gold and silver, will be changes in
the state of the latter rather than in
that of the former. But, upon the
whole it seems to be most advisable,
as has been observed, not to attach
the unit exclusively to either of the
metals, because this cannot be done
effectually without destroying the
Office and character of one of them
as money, and reducing it to the sit
uation of mere merchandise, which
accordingly, at different times, has
been proposed from different aud
very respectable quarters, but which
would probably be a greater evil
than occasional variations in the unit
from the fluctuations in the relative
values of the metals, especially if
care be taken to regulate the pro-
portion between them with an eye TO
thir average commercial value. The
conclusion to be drawn from the OBJ
servations which have been made on
the subject is this: That the unit in
the coins of the United States ought
to correspond with twenty-four
grains and three quarters of grain
of pure gold and with 81 grains and
one quarter of grain of pure silver
each answering to a dollar in the
money account
"Inasmuch as the number of grains
in silver dollar was suggested to be
exactly fifteen times the n.mber of
grains in gold dollar, Mr.. Hamil-
TOMS report necessarily recommends
the adoption of a bimetallic system
at ratio of Is to /, and his retlec-
tons are certainly of greater value
than those made by others bears be-
fore that time. Based upon the
Hamilton report, congress enacted
the law of April 2, 1892. Section II
reads: That the proportionate value
of gold to silver in all coins which
shall by law be current as money
within the United States, shall be as
Is to l according to quantity in
weight of pure gold or pure silver;
that is to say, every fifteen pounds
weight of pure silver shall be of
equal value in all payments with
one pound weight of pure gold, and
80 in proportion as to any greater or
less quantities of the respective met
ais.
at is undoubtedly true that the
Spanish milled dollar, as it was then
current, was the starting poiLU and
the number of grains to compose a
gold dollar was ascertaiaed by divid-
ing the number of grains in the silver
dollar by 10, but this does not alter
that units were expressed in gold and
silver. On the contrary, it seems to
show that both were made units of
value. The word unit was en-
ployed as the equivalent of dollar
and the dollar was to consist of either
one of two different things. One
tenth part of 247si grains of gold, or
371A grains of silver, just as equal
values might be embodied in given
weights of any two given commodi-
ties, such as wheat or corn. A unit
of value is the unit in which values
are expressed; the values of both
cold ell H..