The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-07-09

anu DC DOlhS UAO AOAOJ
by the constitution of the United
States. As a matter of fact tie
original ratio was not 16 to 1, bht
Is to l, nor was there ever such&a
ratio established as 16 to 1. On
der the law of 1884 the ratio was
1902 to l, which was altered by
the law of 1884 to 1898 to l.
That Is the ratio which is referred
to as 16 to l simply because the
real ratio is hard to remember and |
is a cumbrous assemblage of figures
to use in common speech.
But why, then, was not the more
simple and esily prounced rato of
1G to l selected instead of 15.98S?
That is a very natural query but
it Is one from which the free ilyer
advocates shy off, because tie an
swer upsets their arguments. The
explanation is this: 1t has always
been the rule of coinage III sS6is
country that the mint ratio should
correspond with the market ratio.
The object was to make the bullion
contents of the silver dollar equal
to the bullion contents of the gold
dollar. The value of coin is an in.
trinsic value and great pains were
taken that the coinage stamp should
not declare any more value than the
worth of the coin. Hence in fixing
the so-called ratio of 16 to / is was
provided that if coins should lose
more than one-half Of ! per cent of
their weight, they should be a legal
tender only for their bullion value,
The reason why the original ratio
Is to l was changed to Is, 1888 to l
was because the market ratio had
d, departed from the mint ratio, so
the mint ratio was changed to cor
respond with the market ratio
Indeed so anxious were the states
men of 1887 that the mint Valua
ton of silver should not exceed the
market value that they made the
mint valuation a little below the
market value. They were afraid
that the great production of silver
IN Mexico would bring down tn,
market price of silver so they cut
e little below the current market pric
o in fixing the mint valuation OF sll
: yer. But silver did not decline
Ii OF silver bullion were worth a ffttl
i more thar one part of gold anC
+ very little silver found its way int
e the mint since it was worth NOR
S as bullion than as coin. This is tn,
T reason why the silver coinage of the
: country was so inconsiderable
v The country had a gold currencv
l before the war. Before 1887 tn,
e entire coinage of silver dollars wal
i only l, 440,517., From 1887 t.
1863 the coinage of silver dollars
was 6,6O5, 321. Since the passag,
: of the act of 1873, fifty times q,
+ many silver dollars have been coineC
T as in the 81 years before.
If ratio were to be selected nov
o on the same principles as wer,
I applied when the so-called ratio O.
S 16 to l was fixed, the market pric,
T OF silver would be taken for thu
e basis. A calcuation would b,
; made how many parts of silver bull
= lion at its market value would
be required to equal one part o.
gold bullion at its market value
and this proportion would be made
the mint ratio. Instead of ratio
, of 16 to this would require ratio
OF about 81 to l. There are many
things in modern Democracy al
which j etferson and Jackson would
stand aghast, but nothing would
astonish them more than to find
that a ratio which was originally
established as expressive Of the pro-
portionate market value of cold and
silver should be taken up now
when it is widely different from
the market value. The demand
for free coinage at the obsolete ra-
ito OF 16 to l is conceived in igno-
rance and born IN dishonesty.