The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1896-06-23
A PLAIN STATEMENT.
What Is Meant by Free and Unlimited Col
age Mt the Ratio of Sixteen to One.

/
What Is Meant by Free and Unlimited Coin
age Mt the Ratio of Sixteen to One.
Not ut all infrcquently even yet thc
query department of The Sunday News
is called upon to explain what is meant
by free and unlimited coinage at the ra-
ito of 16 to /.
Occasionally there is question which
betrays depth of ignorance most faith
Unless. The News has received one
and from small town in Colorado at
that-which makes us believe that a
statement of the familiar facts will be
of value in some quarters, In effect it
is as follows: "
A. bets b. that 10 to means that the
mints shall coin 1G silver dollars for
every gold dollar they coin. B. bets that
it means there shall be 10 parts of pure
silver to part of alloy in each silver
dollar. Which wins?"
! Neither of these notions has anything
| to do with the meaning of the express
sion "16 to l. ~ 1t means that the
weight of pure gold in gold dollar
shall be 23, 22 grains and the weight of
pure silver in silver dollar shall be
371 20 grains. 1t will be seen that the
weight of silver III silver dollar is
within trifing fraction of 10 times
the weight of gold i'll gold dollar, the
ratio being called for convenience 16
to 1.
The act Of 1S37--for free and unlim-
tied coinage at this ratio-providcd
that gold and silver bullion brought to
the mint should be received and coined
for the benefit of the depositor. The
coinage was free and unlimited, because
any person might bring any quantity of
gold or silver bullion of the standard
degree of flneness to the mint and re-
ceive for it gold or silver coins. The
only charges permitted were for rcfin-
ing when the bullion was below stand
ard, for toughcning when metals were
contained in it which rendered it unfit
for coinage, for copper used for alloy
when introduced into the alloy for gold
and for separating gold and silver when
those metals exist together in the bull
lion. All of these charges relate to the
conversion of bullion into the exact
kind of bullion suitable for coinage.
By the act of Feb. 21, 1858, the right
of individuals to have silver coined in
to half dollars, quarter dollars, dimes
and half dimes was taken away, the
quantity of silver put into such coins
was reduced, their unlimited legal ten
der quality was reduced to q limit of
So, and the government went into the
making Of them as a business, which
was profitable because of the less guam
tity of silver put into them. The silver
dollar was not mentioned in this act.
bring bullion to the mint and have it
coined into standard silver dollars, and
the silver dollar retained its quality as
an unlimited legal tender, which it
holds to this day. This act of Feb. 21,
1858, established mintage charge of
one-half of 1 per cent on all gold and
silver whether coined or run into ingots
on account of dopositors, in addition to
the charge for refining or parting the
metals contained in the act of 1897.
Thus the matter stood until the pas
sage of the act Of Feb. 12, 1878, which
established the gold dollar us the unit
of value and dcmonetized silver by
omitting the standard silver dollar from
the list of coins. Until that day any
person might bring standard silver bull
lion 900 degrees fine to the mint and
for each 37l.25 grains Of pure silver
therein obtain silver dollar, paying
only onc.half per cent coinage charge.
If he brought pure silver to the mint
instead of standard bullion, ninc-tenths
Gnc, he would have to pay 2 cents IN
ounce for the copper alloy. If 500
ounces Of pure silver were deposited at
the mint, it would coin GAG dollars.
There would be $3.50 ounces Of copper
for alloy, which would cost
SI:11. The one-half per cent for coin
agewould be So. 23, which would make |
the total charge at the mint $4.34 on
GAG dollars.
Through Ignorance or malice tho !
statement is frequently made that un.
der free coinage the owners of silver |
mines would sell their product to the
Pictures are drawn Of the
government vaults choked with silver |
which it would be unable TO force into |
This idea has probably |
grown out Of the acts Of 1878 and 1890,
both of which provided not for free
coinage, but for purchase by the United
States Of II limited amount of silver
each month, the dollars coined there
from or tho notes issued in payment
therefor not being legal tender when
otherwise specified i'll the contract. Un-
der free coinage the government would
not purchase the silver coined into dol
lars. Itwould simply coin the silver for
brought it to the mint and
band the coin over to the person who