The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-02-20

than the gold dollar: consequently men
with silver bullion sold II In the market az
bullion. instead OF coining II INTO aoi'a'"'
This remained the case until 1873, when
our coinage laws were all revised. anu as
no silver dollars were being coiheu OF
used. and as the country was ana hao
always been on gold basis, the ne"
coinage law OF 1873 omitted all provision
for the coinage of silver dollars.
Shortly after that time the silver mines
of the silver States began to pour out
their prodlgous yield and the market
value of silver began TO decline. Iheh
these silver mine owners found out that
the American people were without enough
money to transact their affairs. What
they really discovered was that they
could no longer get a dollar In the mar
ket for 81 ii grains OF their silver
(which is the quantity OF pure silver IN
dollar. at the ratio OF IS to u, but that
If there were another law passed, pro-
viaing for the free and unlimited coinage
of silver (and this is the sense in which
free" In connection with silver Is used,
they would be able TO get from the Gov
ernments minis a silver dollar for every
81 Ia grains of silver which they de-
posted there, and thus they would sell
their silver TO the people of the United
States for more than they could sell
it in the open market, If offering 1t as
bullion. The output Of their mines has
gone on increasing, and making the sup
ply Of silver more than the world wants,
until now the silver I'm silver dollar Is
worth less than one-half-of gold dollar.
Yet these men and the men who are
In debt and want a cheap dollar TO pay
their debts with, insist that the minis Of
the Government shall be thrown open to
the free and unlimited coinage of silver
dollars at the ratio of 1G to /, which will
make an unlimited quantity of silver
dollars in our circulation worth no more.
in fact. than half-dolars This is what
is aimed at by the demand for free COIN
age OF silver
The "seigniorage' is nothing but de-
lusiye trick. "Seigniorage" is what
governments have charged i'm the pre-
ceding history of the world for coming
the precious metals. Under the two acts
we have had for the Government buying
silver it has now stacked up in the
Treasury and uncoined a large mass of
ciiypr bnI1ipp Tho f.1yfrptnanf 40
its promissory notes for about one hun
dred and fifty millions of dollars 10 pay
for that. Now you can coin one hum
dred and fifty millions of silver dollars
each containing 81 IA grains OF silver
and worth only fifty cents each out Of this
bulk of silver, and pay off the notes the
Government issued, and still have enough
silver left over TO coin some sixty mill
lions Of the same sort of dollars, which
on that method of statement, would be
a clear profit TO the Government of that
sixty millions of dollars. But a man Of
common sense knows that this is moth
ing but method of making money out
OF moonshine. There is no real profit
for the Government there at all. If in
coming up this bullion the Government
should put into each dollar silver enough
to make it worth a real dollar, the
whole bulk would not produce real dol
lars enough to pay off the one hundred
and fifty millions of dollars OF notes that
the Government issued in payment for the
silver. because silver has been steadily
declining in value ever since the Gov
eminent commenced purchasing it, and
an ounce of silver purchased four years
ago is not worth now much more than
three-fifths of what the Government
then paid for It.
The Dispatch's correspondent must see,
then. that what they call the "seignior-
age" Is nothing but sham and a delu-
sion, and an effort to put out upon the
people fiat dollars that are really worth
only fifty cents apiece.