The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1896-07-23
What Free Silver Means,
just what Would Happen If the POpuIlsts Won.
Methods Followed al MINIS. How Silver Owners
Could Turn Bullion into Dollars

Could Turn Bullion into Dollars,
A reporter asked Director of the Mint
Preston to describe exactly what would
occur when any one has the right to take
bullion to the mint for coinage. the char
acter of the metal that can be presented,
what the mode of procedure would be,
the cost of the coinage, the amount that
would be returned to the person submit
ting the metal for government stamp and
the official Interpretation of the term ''l6
to l.
Until there has been legislation car
rying out in detail the general plan of the
free coinage of silver such as contemplat-
ed by the platform at Chicago Mr.. Pres
ton replied, ''it will, of course be impos-
sible to describe accurately just what will
have to be done. ] can only explain to
you generally what the routine would be,
based on experience gained before the re-
peal OF the sherman law, and upon what
tree coinage OF silver is generally inter-
preted to mean. In the first place, silver
IN any form. ii not too base tor the opera
ton OF the mints, viii be received from
anybody and coined into silver dollars OF
bars free OF charge, except the cost of the
alloy employed, which is two cents per
ounce.
The word unlimited as used in the
Chicago platform, means that there shall
be no restriction as to the amount of bul-
lion permitted TO be received and coined
Unless by legislation the coinage OF silver
should be limited to American product.
our minis would be open to all the silver
in the world, and it may safely be stated
that without such restriction the Unit
ed States would within few years have
the surplus silver of the world. BY sur
plus l mean all the silver not used by
other nations as subsidiary coin.
Under free silver law any one pos
sessing old silver spoons, slverware, or
anything else containing silver, would
have the privilege of taking such articles
to the minis and having them coined into
silver dollars. 1t is not to be expected.
however, that the mints will be called
upon to perform much work of this char
acter. 1t will be the smelters and refiners
who will do most of this work.
''There is mistaken notion as to the
class of people who take bullion to the
minis to be coined. 1t is generally sup
posed that mine owners do this. AS
rule they do not. Their work is confined
to taking ore from the mines and selling
1t to the smelling and refining establish
ments. There are about a dozen of these
establishments now in operation and with
free coinage law, of course, the number
will greatly increase. There are two in
Denver, Col. one each in Leadville, Col,
Omaha, Neb., Kansas City, Kan, Perth
Amboy and Newark, y. j., Pittsburg,
Pa, Chicago, Ill.,, San Francisco, Cal,
and one in course of erection in Idaho.
From these establishments would come
ninety per cent. of all the bullion that
would be sent to the minis to be coined.
TO avoid embarrassment to the minis
by those having small quantities of old
silverware, it is probable that bullion of
less value than 500 will not be received,
as provided in the old coinage law. This
will be the routine pursued in the matter
of having bullion coined into money.
ut will be taken in person or shipped
direct to the respective minis. 1t will be
weighed in the presence of the depositor
or his agent, and the weight be verified
by the register of deposits. The weigh
clerk and register will then enter in their
| respective books the name of the deposit
OF, number and date of each deposit, kind
of bullion, weight before melting, and, if
it can be ascertained, the state or country
from which it is derived The depostor
will then be given receipt for the value
~
that its value can be ascertained before
melting.
From the weight OF the bullion after
! melting and the report of the assayer as
to tineness the value of such deposit and
the amount Of charges will be computed,
and detailed statement given to the
depostor. When the depositor presents
ms receipt and certificate for the net
value he will sign the receipt, and the
coin or bars will then be paid to him.
ut is not to be presumed, however,
that under free coinage law a person
presenting bullion would have to wait for
his money until the material which he has
presented had actually been coined. All
that will be necessary will be to wait I'M
til the actual value of his bullion is ascer-
tanned, Nor is it to be presumed that
any great number of people will 90 to the
minis for their silver dollars. The chances
are that you will not find any more cart
wheel dollars in circulation under a free
silver law than there are now. The coin
is too cumbersome. The people may want
free silver, but they would rather have a
government paper equivalent for it than
its actual weight in metal.
1.-The result will be that silver certiti-
Gates will be authorized to take the place
of the silver dollar, and the United States
treasury will have to be storehouse for
the metal. This will bring up the ques-
ton of increased vault room at the treas
ury and sub-treasuries. Our vaults in
the treasury are now overcrowded, and
there is no space left for erecting addition
al vaults. A new treasury building may,
therefore, be in order not to speak of the
additional minis that will be necessary.
We now have mints located at Philadel-
phia, san Francisco New Orleans and
Carson City. The latter has been closed
for some time. A free coinage law will
mean the construction of at least half
dozen additional minis.
''The term '16 to L means that the pure
silver in the standard dollar weighs about
sixteen times as much rs the pure gold in
the gold dollar. A silver dollar now con-
tains 37l.25 grains of silver, while gold
dollar contains 1922 grains of gold. At
the time of the establishment of the
United States mints, Congress agreed that
the ratio between silver and gold should
be as fifteen pounds to one pound, this
being at that time the relative values of
the two metals. 1t was subsequently
found that this ratio gave too high a value
to silver. 1t was accordingly changed to
IL to l.
by this action Congress jumped on the
other side of the stream. In European
Al