The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1896-08-27
WHAT 1T MEANS.
FREE COINAGE OF SILVER AT
RATIO OF l6 TO /.
THE Consequence Would be the Decline
of the Purchasing Power of a silver
Dollar I'd One Half what it will Buy at
Present.

A silver dollar weighs sixteen times as
much as a gold dollar. This is what Is
meant by the coinage of silver lat the
ratio of Ii to L.
silver bullion when brought to the mint,
shall be coined into dollars at the eX-
pensp of the United States government,
without cost to the owner.
Ry the "unlimited" coinage of silver
is meant that all the silver. American or
foreign. brought 10 amy OF our nllii,'s
shall be so coined, at the owner ue-
mand.
When the ratio of Is to | was estab-
lished by the government. sixteen ounces
of silver bullion We're worth, III the mar,
ket. just as much as one ounce OF gold
bullion. \ silver dollar and Il gold dol
lar were then worth precisely me same
before they were coined, when they were
coined. or after they were melted. The
face value OF a silver dohar was us
actual value.
But of late years pure silver has de-
clincd in value. so that now the com
mercial ratio. instead of being IL to l.
is about 81 to /. That is to say, an
ounce of gold bullion is c~NchangGanl Tor
thirty-one ounces of silver bullion. IN
stead of being eXchangcahle for only SIN
teen ounces of silver bullion, as 1T Tor
| merlv was. Silver bullion Is thus worth
in gold only about half as much as IT
was when the coinage ratio was made
1G to l..
A silver dollar. with the stamp of the
government upon it. passes for more
than it is worth. Just as "A paper dollar
passes for more than the paper upon
which it is printed is worth. The credit
of the government Is behind the paper
dollar. and the credit of the government
is behind the silver dollar. The United
State government lends its credit TO cV-
cry man with an American silver dollar
in his pocket, so that he can pay loo
cents of debt with SO cents worth of sill
yer. Iut the credit Of the government
is not behind the uncoincd silver. III the
form of bullion. Therefore the bullion is
cXchangoable for other commodities only
To the amount of lis actual or intrinsic
value.
The free and unlimited coinage of sill
yer at the ratio of Ii 10 l. means. there
fore. that the government of the United
States. instead of plcigln@ It's credit for
the maintenance of Il limited amoun of
coined silver at parity with gold, shall
pledge It's credit for the maintenance of
an unlimited amount of silver. now
worth only 81 to |. at a parity with
gold. at Il ratio of IL to /. by this the
United States would undertake 10 double
the value of every ounce of silver. coined
or uucoinc,. in The world. and extend an
invitation to all the nations to send their
surplus silver here to he coined into sill
yer dollars at a ratio of IL to |.
These silver dollars, if coined in an I'M
limited quantity. would not be worth rs
much as gold dollars, because it is the
credit of the government which makes
those we now have equal in purchasing
power to q gold dollar. and the credit of
the government is not without limit.
"Cnlimitcd' coinage of silver would eX-
hauSt its credit. hy cXhausting it's power
to redeem lis pledge to maintain silver
at n parity with gold. AT the ratio of 10
to |. he consequence would he That The
silver dollar would soon decline IN pur-
chasing power to the commercial value
of the bullion il contains. and would be
worth little. if any. more than half-a-
dollar in gold. As I'LL private ana public
debts not explicitly payable in gold would
then be payabl" in these half-rate dol
lars. our gold would disappear from cir
c~ulation and would quickly be drawn out
OF the country IN paying our OBLIGATIONS
and purchases from goid-u>ing countries
where our silver COINS would not bc ac-
cellted. AS Il consequence we should in
a few months lose all of our S6l2.UOO.-
oOO OF gold, leaving us with a much CON
tractcd and greatly deprecated currency.
\ disastrous panic you'd ensue, followed
ny the suspension of thousands of fac
tories business houses. a general
business collapse, and the loss of employ
ment ny hundreds of thousands of wage
earnors and lahurcrS.
Under our present monetary system.
ana untl the agitation for the free coin>
age OF silver became a dangerous men
ace to business and labor. we had the
most prosperous years ever known in
American history.