The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-05-21


| the existing intrinsic or commercial ratio
| between them A brief experience. how
ever, showed that n mistake had been
made, and the inevitable result followed.
| 1t soon became evident that fifteen
pounds of silver were not In fact equal In
| value to one pound of gold, and that no
matter what words were printed In the
statute book the people in the transaction
of their business wholly disregarded the
| legal ratio and treated the metals accord
ing to their relative commercial value.
| and that they would not exchange one
pound of gold for fifteen pounds Of silver,
either in coin or bullion, nor use gold coins
as money when the amount of bullion in
| the coin was worth in the market more
than the coin itself. In short, silver had
been over-vaiued and gold had been under
valued in the law, and the consequences
was that by the year 1912 gold had disap-
peared from the country, and from that
time on until the passage of the act Of 1884
the United States had practically silver
monomctali In May, 1905, President
Jefferson stopped the coinage of the silver
dollar, and during a period of thirty-one
years thereafter not single standard
silver dollar was coined at the mints of
the United States; but, under the act Of
1892, the subsidiary coins were of full
weight as compared with the dollar and
were legal tender, and these coins, with
Spanish dollars, French crowns or s.
franc pieces, and bank notes constituted
our circulating medium. Gold having dis
appeared from circulation. congress de-
termined, in 1894, to bring 1t back by
changing the ratio. The act of 1884, sup
plemented by the act of 1887. provided that
the legal ratio should be 16 to l. that is,
that 16 pounds of silver in the coins should
be equal to pound of gold in the coins,
and the effect of this was to drive silver
out of circulation and substitute gold m
its place, because silver was under-valued
and gold was .over-valued in the statute.
one pound of gold, coined or unconcd.
was not IN fact, worth intrins!cally or
commercially Ii pounds of silver, coined
or unconed, and, therefore. the coins Of
the two metals could not circulate to-
gether at that ratio. The authors and
supporters of this law well knew what
the effect of such legal ratio would he
I'm case 1t did not conform to the CONNER
cial ratio but the great object in view
was the restoration of gold to the c!rcula-
tlon, and all other considerations We're
subordinate to that. Doubtless many of
them stll believed that the so-called
double standard could be maintained. and
that the coins of the two metals could
be kept in circulation together at the new
ratio; but they were mistaken. Silver
went out and gold came in. The gold
basis was established in 1884, by the prac-
teal operation of the ratio, just as COM
pletcly and effectively as If it had been
expressly declared in the statute. Here,
then. were two experiments in the free
coinage of the two metals in this country,
covering period of eighty-one years, at
legal ratios very nearly corresponding to
the real relative values in the commercial
world, and they both fa!led-in one case
because silver was over-valued, and in
the other case because gold was over
valued. A very small percentage of differ
ence between the legal ratio and the COM
merc!al ratio has always been found sutti-
cient in modern times to drive the under
valued metal entirely out and substitute
the other. or paper based upon the other.
in its place, and no congress or parliament
can repeal or alter the natural law of
trade by which this movement of the
metals is governed.
In 1853 congress, in order to maintain
the circulation of subsidiary coins-half-
dollars, quarters, and dimes-reduced the
weight of the metal contained in them
and made them legal tender only in the
payment of sums not exceeding S. in
amount. Under this act the value of the
bullion contained in two half dollars, four
quarters, or ten dimes was not equal to
the value contained in either a gold or
silver dollar and consequently these small
limited legal-tender coins went into circu-
lation and remained in use until expelled
by the cheaper paper currency issued dur
ing the war; not being full legal tender,
they could not drive out the gold coins.
Gold Our True Mea -ure OF Value.
This was the condition of our monetary
system at the time the act of 1873 was
passed Our legal position was bimetal-
lic but our actual measure OF value was
gold, and our actual circulating medium
was paper, with a purchasing power
measured by the gold standard. We had
no silver and it had no influence whatever
on our prices, or on our ability to pay
debts. The act of 1873, therefore, did not
and could not take away from the people
of the United States any advantage they
then possessed but 1t did prevent the
coinage of full legal-tender silver dollars
thereafter, and the act of 1874 destroyed
the debt-paying power of the old standard
dollar coined before 1873, except in sums
not exceeding s.. If there had been any
such dollars in circulation or In existence
here this latter act would have abridged
the ability of debtors to discharge their
obligations, but as there were none 1t had
no practlC1l erect dl tldl tiHt.~
Thus we remained until 1873. We had
tried to keep the legal-tender coins of the
two metals in circulation at the same time
under system of free coinage, but had
utterly failed. In 1878 new policy was
adopted and 1t was determined to restore
the standard silver dollar to the coinage
and to circulation with full legal-tender
qualities, not by opening the mints to its
free and unlimited coinage on individual
account, as is now proposed, but by pro-
viding for the purchase and coinage of not
more than 100000 worth nor less than ST.,
100000 worth of silver bullion each
month by the government Itself. In
der this act, ard the so-called Sherman
act, and the act providing for the recon-
age of the trade dollars, there have been
coined at the mints of the United States
and put into circulation during seventeen
years 1897 652 S73 in full legal-tender stand
ard silver as against So, ,030. 900 coined dur
ing the whole previous existence of the
governmental period of eighty-nine years.
In other words, there have been coined and
put into circulation among the people, In
coin itself or in certificates Issued upon
It, nearly fifty times as many full legal
tender silver dollars as were produced at
the mints of >1e United States from 1872
to 1S78 and yet some gentlemen are writ
ing books and making speeches to con-
vince their fellow-citizens that silver Is
demonetized in this country. There was
never In our whole history one-third as
much legal-tender silver In use in the
United States at one time as there Is now,
and 1t Is used without deprivng us of all
our gold, which was never done before.
Silver is not demonetized In this country,
but it's coinage has been so limited and
regulated by law and the financial affairs
of the government have been so conducted
that up to the present time It's purchasing
power has been preserved and Its circula-
ton to large amount has been main-
tanned concurrently with other forms Of
money, Notwithstanding 1t has been coined
ut a ntin Nxhinh does not cnnfacrIa To ho