The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-10-17
Ratio OF GOLD
AND SILVER
Fixed by Coinage, Not by Bull
lio.1 Value.
HE RECORD OF 400 YEARS.
A Stable Ratio Maintained For
Four Centuries Up to 1873.

Auditor L. P. Baldwin of the treas
my has just completed compilation
Of statistics relating to the production
Of gold and silver since the discovery of
America, to2, ether with the ratio of val
re for the per.od His resllts, he trinks,
are convincing & eUough to satisfy the
most rabid gol standard advocate that
the value Of sil yer during that time was
liked by the col uage value of the nc1al
and not by the bullion or commercial
value Mr.. Baldwin considers tie pro-
duction of the two metals by periods,
the first dealing with the years between
1893 and 1850, the sec0 nd between 1880
and 1872, the last from, 1873 TO 1895.
The value of this tai9le is derived
from the carefully colEpiled statement
Of the ratio between The two metals
during these periods. Duriug the first
period the ratio Of pzCnGtiDD of gold TO
silver was to 81. 52 During the second
period it was / to 3. 80 a1rd during the
third period / to II. 63 The ratio OF
value, however. was never materially
disturbed during tine years from 1893 to
4Ci'. i|bh ms tiiC litht ppiioh viz @fh'D
Of value between the two METALS was
comprised betwecn IA. IA and 16. 80, the
latter being the greatest divergence IN
value, although the ratio OF production
of gold to silver was 1 to 81 p.
During the second period the ratio oa
value was even more stable, the highest
being Is. 70 and the lowest Is. u, al
though the ratio of production Of gold
TO silver had dropped to / to 6 practi-
cally. During the third period, howev.
er, which comprises the time since the
passage of the act demonetizing silver
the ratio Of production Of gold to silver
has been l to 17.G3. During that time
the lowest ratio of value was / to Is. 80,
while the highest ratio, about two years
ago, was to 32. So. Mr.. Baldwin says
that this demonstrates clearly and III
the most positive manner that the value
Of the two metals is fixed Dy coinaga
and not by the bullion or commercial
value.
He points out that the small amount
Of silver used in the arts during such
time as silver was coined free with gold
could not affect the value OF the metal
at all, and that when the coinage value
vas less than the bullior vaiue the
coinage supplied the arts with such
small measure of the metal as was need
ed, and even when the bullion vaine Of
silver fell below the established ratio
the fact that it could be coined into full
legal value maintained the parity
During the 400 years under consid-
tho TTadnnfinn Gf TJ6l1
ed to 424, 800, 202 fine ounces, a coming
value of $S, 7S3, ago, 400. The produf
tion of silver during the same time was
3,011, l22, ,035 fine ounces at value Of
8l0,357, ,S12, 100. The ratio of the pro-
| duction Of gold to silver during this
| time was Is. Is.
| 1t is shown that during the widest
variation in the ratio of production Of
the two metals a stable ratio of value
was maintained because both metals
were admitted to free coinage, but this
cato of value was destroyed as soon as
| Ilver was deprived Of the privilege Of
free coinage, with constantly incfeas-
ing divergence in the value Of the two
metals since 1873. AT one time the ra
tic of production Of gold to silver drop
ped to / to 6, while at another time it
rose to l to 81 =, but at no time be-
tween 1903 and 1878 did the ratio of
the value Of silver 10 gold rise to II to
or drop to l. to 1. Since the demOne
tization of silver, however, the ratio
has altered until it Is now nearly S2 TO
/, this change having occurred in the
last 10 years.