Birmingham age-herald., 1895-08-18
WHAT SHOULD THE RATIO BET
To the Age-Herald:

the present dlScuSSlOn or the coiIidSe question it will certainly diffuse knowl- edge of the subject in places where ig- norance has heretofore prevailed. If this discussion could be conducted calmly and candidly, 1t would be devel- oped that the difference between the par ties, and factions of parties, is rather of policy than of principle, and can easily be reeonciled if patriotism is allawed to rule where partisanship now commands.
 All political parties of this day are lineal descendants of those that existed in 1792 led respectively by Hamilton and Jefferson and it is instructive to note that on the subject of the coinage leSis- lation of that year these two leaders or opposing parties were agreed as 10 the principle which should govern congress in fixing the ratio of the gold to the sill yer coin.
 Hamilton, in his report on the estab- lishment of a mint, document that has become a classic in American politics, says:
 "There can hardly be better rule in any country for the legal than the market proportion"
 This was said in reference to the ratio to be established between silver and gold coins
 In his notes on the establishment of money unit and of a coinage for the Uni ted states, Wn1Cn appear III lelleTS anu reports of the superintendent of finance, volume g. No. 137, of the manuscript rec ords of the continental congress at page 363, MT. Jefferson lays down the rule as follows:
 Just principles will lead us to disre- gard legal proportions altogether; to in- quire into the market price Of gold Tn the several countris with which we shall principally be connected in commerce and to take an average from them. T!'e proportion between the values of and silver is a mercantile problem together"
 The principle thus expressed may be stated as follows:
 Congress should not adopt an arbitrary ratio in the coinage of the two metals; but having ascertained the relative com mercial value of gold and silver through out the civilized world, should take the legal ratio corresponding to it as nearly as possible.
 This was the guide in 1792, when con- gress fixed the ratio of fifteen parts of silver to one part of gold as the legal ratio, and again in 1S34-37, when the ra- tio was increased to 159S of silver to one of gold If the rule was correct, then, when the United States was isolated, when commerce was conducted in sail ing vessels, when it was a lucky ship that made the voyage from New York to London inside of three months. surely it is sound today, when the steamship and telegraph have brought all nations into daily intercourse and made them mutually dependent.
 It is historical that after the legislation of 1S34-37, by which the ratio of coinage was raised to 15.98 of silver to one of gold, the silver dollars enhanced in value until they were worth 104 cents as com- pared with gold. In other words, ten silver dollars would sell for $4.40; or it required $1O4 of gold coin to puchase $100 in silver The result was that the silver dollars were withdrawn from circulation and hoarded as being more valuable
 This discovery continued until the dis covery of the gold deposits in California in 1S4S, and as consequence one of the last acts of MT. Folks administration was the enactment of law providing for the coinage of the gold dollar and the 20-dollar gold piece. By the law of 1792 only the ten, five and two and half dollar gold pieces had been author- ized and coined by the government.
 The following are the first and second sections of the act approved March 5, 1Si9:
 Be 1t enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That there shall be, from time to time, struck and coined at the mint of the United States and the branches thereof, con formally in all respects to law except that on the reverse of the gold dollar the figure of the eagle shall be omitted), and conformably in all respects to the stand- ard for gold coins now established by law, coins of gold of the following de- nominations and values, viz: Double eagles, each to be of the value of $20, or units, and gold dollars, each to be of the value of $1 or unit.
 Sec g. And be it further enacted, That for all sums whatever the double eagle el,a ha SpO and gold dollar shall be legal tender Tor $1
 This law was supplemented by the act of February 21, 1853, authorizing the coinage cf the three-dollar gold piece, the seventh section of which is as foi- lows:
 Act of February 21, 1853: An act amend atory of existing laws relative to the half dollar, quarter dollar, dime and half dime:
 s',cton '. And be it further enacted That from time to time there shall be struck and coined at the mint of the United States and the branches thereof. conformably in all respects to law, ana conformably in all respects to the stani- ard o1 gold coins now established by law,
 coin of gold of the value of three dol ATS. or units and all the provisions of an act entitled "an act to authorize the cninape of gold dollars and double eagles" approved March 3, 1S49, shall be applied to the coin herein autnorlZeu, so far as the same may be applicable; but the devices and shape of the three dollar piece shall be fixed by the secre- tary of the treasury. ,.
 Thus the law remained until lSf3 when the act called the "crime against silver was passed.
 In the light of the foregoing facts ana Legislation, what is the proper 1nterpreta- tion of the law of 1873? Did it estab- fish a new policy as to coinage, or was it in the nature of declaratory statute:
 We have seen that more than torty years before the act of 1873 the silver dollar had ceased to be part of the cir culating money of the country. Whether this was caused by the legislation of lSoi- 37. or by the gold discoveries, or both, if is useless to speculate. The fact or the withdrawal of the silver dollar from business channels was known to con gress. and to supply it's place they pro yided the gold dollar and the double eagle by the act of 1S49, and followed this action by the coinage of the three-dollar gold piece in 1855 Both or these acts, 1t may be noted in passing, were passed by democratic congresses and approved by democratic presidents. The eftort 10 maintan the circulation on silver basls o, on tha double basis of gold and silver