The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-05-29
,upcr hughes LETTER.

,rncr uUGUEs' LETTER.
Iudee Robert W Hughes has written an
elaborate letter In advocacy of the irce
coinage of silver by this country aione
at the ratio OF 10 TO l. which we leei
hound to notice. though we shall not con-
,rover, very much the main propositions
for which he contends, for we nave re-
Gently discussed those so fully in our re-
,,ovy Of "Coin's Financial School that
We would not be justified IN giving them
much further attention at this time
The Judges main propositions arc THE
crime of 1873" the facts relating TO which
we have fully laid before our readers and
the idea. which he now puts forward ana
argues with great earnestness, that the
Almighty put silver into and upon the
earth in the proportion of sixteen times as
much silver as gold for mans good. ana
that man is wantonly throwing away a
blessing intended for him by his Creator
when ne refuses to use the two metals
coniointly as his money. upon the basis
of 16 ounces of silver being worth one
ounce of gold. The Judge does not say
as much, but It is plain that he thinks
the men who object TO using the two
metals on this basis not only throw away
a blessing designed for them by their
Creator. but arc guilty of actual sacri-
lege as well.
OF course. II there is n divine command
ment that man who has given an ounce
Of gold for three sheep shall
sell those three sheep for an
ounce of silver, that ends the question
with us, and we shall no longer contend
that the case is one where men have the
privilege Of appealing TO the doctrine of
free will. But. for our part We should
find this to be an inscrutable act OF
divine providence and it would be ncces-
sary to produce very overwhelming evil
dence OF It before we could give an I'M
conditional assent to It,
In the first place. we would want TO
ask the Judge how he knows that gold
and silver are concealed within the bowels
OF the earth in the proportions of sixteen
ounces of one TO one ounce Of the other?
There have been periods in the worlds
history when in some States, an ounce
OF silver was thought TO be more valua-
bic than an ounce of gold. Strabo al
leges that the ratio of value in coun-
try bordering that of the Sabaeans was
at one time one ounce of gold to two
ounces OF silver. In very remote an
tiquity silver appears TO have been val
ued ounce for ounce with gold. In Rome
for a long time the ratio was ten TO one
In the Arabian States of the seventh
century, It was about 61-2 .or /. In
France at that time. 1t was 10 for l.
In England. during the twelfth century
II was . for /. Between ll03 and 1874
France changed the ratio S97 times. and
IN 1925 she establishd it at "A 1-2 to I. TO
remain so until 1893. when she changed It
10 1912 to /. What authority Judge
Hughes can find in these unquestionable
historical facts for saying that the Al
mighty has placed the two metals in the
earth in the proportion of sixteen OF one
20 one of the other we are unable TO see.
Who knows that we shall not strike a
vein of gold that will give us twenty
times the quantity of gold that we have
Of silver?
Another point on which we should wan;
light would be this: II the Almighty
concerned himself about the matter at
all. why should he have selected the ratio
OF l6 TO 1? He was able to select any
ratio whatever. Why arc we to suppose
that II was his will that men should use
the two metals in the proportion of lG
10 /? They certainly have used them
for long periods in other ratios Why not
say that It was his will that they should
be used in one OF those other ratios?
Our own opinion is that the Almighty
has left man free agent in the matter.
with full authority to do about it as he
peases We think the respective value
OF the two metals depends upon the
labor required TO dig them out Of the
ground. and the desire men have Tor
them when dug out.
Judge Hughes has made some very re-
markable errors IN his statements Thus.
he quotes a table from the report Of the
Director OF the Mint OF the commercial
ratios between silver and gold each year
from 1901 to 1873. and he says
1.-THE legal ratio being 10 to /. 1, viii be
borne IN mind by the reader that whore
the table shows the comparative value
Of silver to 10. silver has been at a com
mercial parity with gold. and whenever
the numeral has been less than 10. silver
has been at premium over gold"
But we must remind the Judge that
the legal ratio between silver and gold
was fixed IN 1882 az 10 to l. and that II
remained SO until 1884, During that long
period the commercial ratio was never
Is to /. but always above IT, but below
M except In three years. In all those
years, therefore. gold dollars were at
srenauu over silver dollars. II WA only