The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-21
Heta God-Giren Rntio.

I IN tle study or the currency question
l facts are important 10 name. however
/ great, can give weight 20 statements that
! ne facts 40 not sustain. The friends OK
/ the % 10 1 ratio have "a theory that the
use Of silver and gold as money on that
I basis IS a providential arrangement. Some
Of than declare that God has placed the
I metals in the mines in that ratio. Nr
Morsas. in his Griffin speech. says: 1T
/ IS not true, neither is II possible. tina.
I IN the course OF a century. or 90 years,
I there IS ever more than a slight variance
I in their production on ratio Of sixteen
l pounds OF silver 10 one Of gold.'' That IS
! a simple. clear statement. Is it true? Lee
I the facts answer. In the tables arranged
I in the enice of the director Of the mint
/ We have thu number Of fine ounces OF
\ gold and silver mined in the world since
| the discovery Of America. The statistics
/ are given 70 US in periods and by annual
| average. The figures can be had by any
/ citizen interested and the calculation is
/ simple. An examination of these figures
| viii show that the mystic Is 10 1 never
/ appears. The varlence, instead OF beiEs
| our populist orators never reveals itself.
Let US bals the matter up by centuries.
in order 10 show how far wrong Senator
/ Morgan Is. We shall ind that the average
annual production from 1893 to 1870 was
eight time5 a. much silver as gold. The
| Gcd-gven ratio does not appear in these
terms. Let US skip a century. and do We
ind the old earth keeping its steady step
OF 10 to /? No. there is a slight % vari-
ance, and the ratio Of production becomes
almost So to l.
The next hundred years lowers tho rec
ord TO 81 ts l. Just twice what it ought to
be to verify our silver-tongued senator
| Note the variance IS this time a times
less than the former ratio. Jump over
another 100 years and we find silver going
on in its production by almost forty-nine
pounds to one Of gold.
These changes prove anything else than
that there has been a constant and steady
parallel between the two metals in their
mining.
But We are not so interested in the pro-
| duction OF 100 years ago as we are in that
of the present. We give the foregoing
/ figures only to show the literal inaccuracy
| of Mr.. Morgsn's proposition. What has
been the history Of the production of the
metals in the last thirty years? over
/ one-ffth of the total silver production of
the world during 400 years has been made
in the last seventeen years-between 1875
and 1892.
In 1870 there was produced seven pounds
Of silver for one of gold. In 1873, the be-
! ginning of our modern silver flood, the
ratio went up to 1liz to /. and IN 1892 the
output of the white metal mines was
twenty-four times greater than that of
the yellow. The total for the 400 years
| embraced in the record will surely adjust
itself to the exigencies of the infationlst
scheme. Alas! comfort IS not found even
here. The total ratio of the worlds pro-
duction for four centuries is 1871 How
traitorous the facts are to so basely de-
sert a sinking cause!
A scrutiny OF the facts on this sub
ject, such as Senator Morgan says has
been given II, clearly proves that there IS
no mystis ratio in the production
of these metals. They are like
oats and corn. subject to the many in
cidents Of industry. and their use in our
commercial reasoning, not theological
dogma or fatalistc accident.
Always. however, in the discussion of
the question our friends confuse the
commercial ratio and the ratio of pro.
duction. The commercial ratio has not
varied as much as that of production.
This law can be laid down as to the rela-
items Of the two and will be found to be
sound. The commercial ratio varies in
versely as the ratio of production. When
there is large production of silver as
compared with gold the price of silver
goes down. In 1870 there was seven times
as much silver produced as gold and the
commercial ratio was 1857 to ]. In 1892
twenty-four times the quantity of the
white metal was mined as Of gold and the
ratio in the market was 1872 to !. Mr.
Morgan says the highest ratio silver ever
reached IN the past 2OC years, as measured
in gold, was 1414 to l. The ratio of pro-
ducuon then stood at % to !, but when the
production became AZ to l 1t took 16iA
pounds Of silver to buy one of gold. The
old democratic law of supply and de-
mand" shows itself all through the tortu-
Gus pathway Of the history of the two
metals. Silver was demonetized larg ely
because its production in excess of gold
was increasing so rapidly. 1t was not the
money mower" or the criminals of 1879
that worked the change, but the limped
stream had overlooked the narrow banks
of safety and endangered the commerce Of
| mankind.
The Preachers Vacation.