The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-07-22
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liS-5F a prrvaIg Stallion, 70 employ every non
orabie means at his command To avert It,
While the sudden expulsion OF s62O, 100000 I'm
| gold from our stock Of money would itself be
| sufficient TO create financial disturbance UNI
| paraleled in the history OF this or any other
| country the situation would be very greatly
aggravated by the fact that the purchasing
power Of all the remainder of our currency
would be suddenly reduced about one half;
we should have only about twothirds as much
currency rs we have now, and Mt the same time
II would be so deprecated in value that It
would require about twice as much as we have
now TO transact the business OF the country,
provided there should be any business to
transact.
Double Standard u Failure.
The attempt to maintain what is called the
double standard of value-that is, TO attempt
TO keep the legal tender coins of the two met
ais, gold and silver, in use as money at the
same time, upon ratio OF value fixed by law
has repeatedly been made by kings and par
liaments In every civilized country in the
world, and 1t has failed again and again In
every one OF them, and II requires no gift Of
prophecy to foresee that IL must continue 20
fail so long as self interest constitutes IA con-
trolling factor In the business affairs of men.
Without trespassing upon your patience TO
review the monetary history OF other coun-
tries in which this experiment has been made
and failed IL may be advantageous To refer
briefly to our own experience upon this sub
ject When IL was determined to adopt a
monetary system for the United States and
establish a mint, Alexander Hamilton and
Thomas jefferson, two men who differed
widely upon almost every public question and
whose names rs founders and leaders of their
respective parties will live long as our POI
litical literature is read, agreed that in deter
mining what should be the coinage or legal ra'
ito between gold and silver the true relative
commercial value of the two metals In the
markets of the world must first be ascertained,
and that this relative value, when ascertained,
should be incorporated into the statute as the
basis of the proposed system of coinage. AL
though they Were party leaders, they were
statesmen and patriots, and when they were
called on To consider this great business ques.
ton affecting all the private affairs of their
fellow citizens they gave II thorough and
impartial investigation upon its merits, with.
out regard to the effect their decision might
have upon their own political fortunes or
upon the political fortunes of their followers
The Fathers" Not Disturbed by This De-
fusion.
These great men We're never disturbed for a
moment by the delusion that congress could
fix by statute the actual or relative values of
gold and silver any more than IL could fix by
statute the actual or relative values Of a pound
of lead and pound Of iron. They knew that
gold and silver, like all other exchangeable
things, are commodities and that their value
will be fixed in the markets Of the world.
They knew that Il was entirely competent, in
fact necessary, for congress to declare the ra-
ito upon which the two metals should be coined
at the mint If they were TO be coined at all, |
but they knew equally well that If the ratio so
declared did not correspond substantially with |
the ratio which tho commercial world had es.
tablished the coins of the two metals could |
ha Ian in Mt fa..l
and consequently, az have already said, they |
determined to ascertain the commercial ratio |
and TO adopt IL. They reached the conclusion |
that the true commercial ratio at that time |
was Is to THAT is, that 10 ounces of silver |
were equal in value to ! ounce OF gold and |
accordingly the act of 1892, which was our first |
coinage law, authorized the coinage of the two |
metals at that ratio.
AT the ratio thus established the silver dol. |
lar contained 31l14 grains of fine silver and |
the gold contained 2i54 grains of fine gold but |
1t was soon discovered that "A mistake had been |
made and that 37l14 grains Of fine silver were
not in fact equal in value to 2l34 grains of fine
gold, and the consequence was that, although |
the difference between the value OF n silver |
dollar and the value of gold dollar was only
about one cent and one-eghth of cent, silver
drove gold out of use and out of the country |
and from that time we had silver monumetal
lism until after the passage of the acts of 1884
and 1881
The fact that the silver was put into the
form of coin and made legal tender the same
as gold, and that both dollars were declared
to be worth 100 cents each, did not increase
the value Of the 3il14 grains of silver to any
extent whatever. The people could not be de-
ceived by mere words printed in a statute:
they soon learned that the metal contained
in the silver dollar was not equal in value
to the metal contained in the gold dollar
and they paid silver to their creditors and |
boarded the gold or sent IL out of the coun. |
try. Even our new and full weight silver
coins would not circulate or remain in the
country, because congress, by various acts
made certain foreign coins legal tender in the
payment of debts, and they were generally
80 worn by abrasion as 10 be of less weight
than the new domestic coins they drove our |
dollars and half dollars, and to large extent
our quarters and dimes also, out of u.s.. AS |
money. Our own coins were exported and used |
at their bullion value in making purchases
and paying debts abroad, and Mr.. Jefferson
himself, who had then become president of the
United States, issued an order ON the first day
OF May, 1906 stopping the coinage of silver
dollars ut our mints. No more silver dollars
were coined until 1856, 50 years afterward, and
then only lOOO ~ them were issued from the
minis.
Restoration of Gold Standard In Is3A
Gold having left the country, congress. IN
1884, during the administration of Andrew
oachsoh' ueterhllheu 10 restore II To the circu
lation and, in order TO accomplish that result
the legal ratio was changed from IS tolt,
about 10 to THAT is, the law SO amended n.
TO provide that the gold eagle. or $40 Niece
should contain 232 grains Of pure gold, which
made the dollar consist of % l-5 grains but bv
the act of 1851 II was changed TO 1922 grains
which now constitutes the dollar and unit of
vaiue' ms was slight generalization Of gold
In the coinage, because 20 22 grains of fine gold
were not In TACT worth as much In the mar.
kets as 6H14 grains of fine silver. Although tho
diference In value was very small, IL proved
sufficient to change the whole character 81 onr
metallic currency, and under this ratio GOLD
and silver exchanged places. Silver went ONT |
Oh the country and gold came in, and from
that time until after the passage of the ACT Of
1915 we had practical gold monometnllisp,
except during the period of the war. when No..
had no metallic money of any kind Whom the
great civil war began, we had no silv.r 4, |
circulation except the subsidiary coins nutbor
lied by the act Of 1853, but we had gold and |
paper redeemable In gold, and it was not lone
veIore we had another practical illustration of
,he natural law that the inferior or loss vain
able legal tender currency will oxnel 10 ~
perior or more valuable legal tender currency
from circulation '"''
faper Currency of War Period.
Early in lo62congress most unwiselv. I'm nv
oplhion' authorized the issue Of legal tendr,
paper 10 circulate as money, and the usual and
inevitable result followed. Gold ceased ~ n, q
USED as money and the banks and The treasury
Ia. having suspended specie payments, the conn
Wy was nooucd with deprecated curraucy
worm AT times less than JOccnts az, tb, d,,ita
Later ON fractional paper cnrrcnc,, % 20 +
.norized by congress, and the effect oT ri.
was 70 drlve out Of circulation oven tho b,,,,, D
weight subsidiary coins. and for ,nanv 80 a.
- single piece 81 metallic money Of ans