The true northerner., 1896-08-05
The Depreciation of Silver.

The advocates of the free coinage of
silver charge upon the "crime of 1873"
the great depreciation in the value of
the white metal, and affirm that if its
coinage is resumed, free to all the silver
in the world, depreciation will cease.
A few facts are worth a volume of the
ories on this subject.
From the establishment of the mint
in 1893 till 1853 we had free coinage for
silver dollars and subsidiary coin, and
from 1853 till 1873 we had free coinage
for silver dollars, the government MAX
ing subsidiary coin on its own account.
During this whole period of so years,
from 1893 to 1873, with the mints open
10 every one, the total coinage of silver
dollars was only s,03l,23s, while the
gold coinage amounted TO 81 ,010, 900,-
324, or about one hundred and twenty
six times as much in value as the silver.
Yet near the end of that period silver
was at Il premium of three per cent
above gold, and had an actual value,
as bullion, of Sl.33 an ounce. From
1878, when the coinage of the silver
dollar was resumed, till 1896, there
were coined 429, ,2s9,9 ,9l6 silver dollars,
while the gold coined was valued at
ssO1 800, I'll, less than twice the coinage
value of the silver. Yet the latter
metal had deprecated in bullion value
10 IS cents an ounce. If with a coin
age of only Ss, 600, 900 in so years silver
was at premium, and If with a coin
age of S429, ,00O. 900 in Is years, it had
fallen off in bullion value 50 per cent,
there must surely be some cause other
than the coinage for the fluctuation.
The cause is clearly shown by the
study of few further figures To go
back TO 1853, when the disproportion
between the production of the two
metals was the greatest, the worlds
product Of gold was 100000 ounces
and that of silver was 81, 800, 900 ounces,
or only 4l6 times as much as gold.
The same year the product of gold in
the United States was 3,144, 900 ounces,
and that of silver only 10000 ounces.
In other words we produced almost
eigty times as man. ounces of gold as
we did of silver. From this time on
for twenty years there was gradual
diminution in the amount of gold pro-
duced in the world. and a steady,
though not very rapid, increase in the
production of silver, till in 1872 the
worlds production of the latter metal
had increased TO 100000 ounces,
while that of gold had fallen TO $780,
900 ounces. the proportion being 1865
In the United States gold had fallen to
l.74l 800 ounces. and the silver had in.
creased TO %. 237 900 ounces.
In 1893. when the Sherman law for
the purchase of silver was repealed.
the worlds production of gold had
risen TO 1000, 900 ounces, while that of
sil,, lad increased to Ice, ,O92, 900
ounces, the proportion being 2l.s3 to /.
In the United States we produced
l,739, 300 ounces of gold, and GO, 900, 900
ounces of silver In other words, in
stead of producing so times as many
ounces of gold as we did of silver, as
was the case in 1853, we produced "a
times as many ounces of silver as we
did of gold.
1t requires no expert in political
economy To understand that, under
these circumstances, a change in the
relative value Of the two metals was
inevitable. We must add to these
changes in production the fact that since
1853 all the commercial nations of
Europe have ceased to coin sill
yer us standard money. If we open
our mints TO the free coinage of the
worlds product the tide would be ire
sistablc. The hope that we could alone
maintain silver at par with gold on
basis of 10 TO would be folly. Gold
would go out of circulation and we
should speedily be on the single silver
basis, with silver at its deprecated
value. We should be in poor condition
To trade with other nations Of the
earth.