Marble Hill press. (Marbel [sic] Hill, Mo.) 1881-1923, 1896-02-06
LAWAND GOLDVALUES
DEMONETIZE 1T AND ITS PRICE
WILL FALL AT ONCE.
In That Respect 1t Is No Better than Sill
ver-Stin the Piutocrats Claim that
WAY

In London averaged IS It's. Cd. ar
ounce, while the mint rate was f3 It's
1012d. In other words, an ounce o.
gold in the form Of coin was worth AZ
pence more than the same gold was be.
fore it was coined. Why? The gold
tie persistently claims that the value OF
gold is altogether independent of coin
age. Then what reason was there fol-
English coin being worth AZ pence an
ounce more than plain gold bullion
! There could be but one reason. The
| coin was more desirable than the bull
lion. But why more desirable? There
was just one thing that could be done
! with coin that could not be done with
uncolned bullion. People could pay
their debts with it. The coin was "le-
| gal tender" The man who owed an
other a pound sterling could tender a
gold sovereign in full payment and the
creditor was legally bound to take it.
But ten tons of gold bullion at the mar
ket price, Of which we hear so much,
l."ONAA NV NC q SOOu ISuUCI 1CL lItS
smallest debt Therefore a man who
had gold bullion would sell it to some
broker for less than it's coinage rate in
order to get money, because with money
he could pay his debt or procure any
thing else that he needed.
But it may be asked, How was it
that the bullion was worth less than
the coin when coinage was free? For
the simple reason that there was de-
lay in executing the coinage. When a
man deposited gold at the mint, on an
average he had to wait about sixty
days for returns. Rather than Go this
he took the bullion to some broker and
suffered loss Of AZ pence on each
ounce in order to at once get the coin.
But in 1874 the English Parliament
passed law compelling the Bank of
England to receive all gold bullion OF
sufficient flneness and pay for it at the
rate Of E3 lis. Sd. an ounce, the bank
being allowed a margin Of IL pence
per ounce on the mint rate of E3 lis.
lloyd. From that day to this there has
never been an ounce Of gold bought or
sold in the London market for less than
the price set upon it by the law.
Here in America, if the depositor OF
gold had to wait for his money, the
bullion would be worth less than the
coin, and the difference would be in
proportion to the length of the wait
If instead of waiting sixty days. as
formerly in England, the deposition had
to wait five years TO get his coin. it is
scarcely necessary to say that the DIFF
ference would be very great. If the
bullion could not be coined at all the
difference would be still greater. But
there is no delay and no charge for
coinage AS soon as the value of a
deposit is ascertained the depositor re-
ceives draft for the amount. and the
transaction is closed so far as he is
concerned. The coinage is then execut-
ed according to the capacity or convent
ence Of the mint.
Of course the closing of the Ameri-
can mint to gold would not destroy it's
coinage value elsewhere. The minis of
other countries remaining open it would
be coined in those countries at the rates
prescribed by law. For example, it
would still be coined in England at f3
f7s. 1O12d. an ounce, because the law
provides that any person depositing
gold at the royal mint may have it
coined into money at that rate.
If every other country in the world
should prohibit the coinage or use of
gold as money it would still be coined
at f3 It's. 1O12d. in England under the
existing law. It's nominal or money" !
value would be the same. But it's value
in exchange would be less. 1t would |
not buy so much. If man could not
use gold as money anywhere except in |
England he would be very silly to give
as many bushels of wheat or pounds of |
cotton for an ounce of gold as he will |
give now when it can be coined and
USED in many countries.
SO we see that the expressions that |
a gold dollar is always worth dol
lar" or 100 cents" and that gold ,
bullion is just as good as gold coin"
do not touch the essence of the money
question at all. Gold bullion is as
good as gold coin Tor the simple reason
that the law makes it so-that is, by
operation of law gold bullion is in
stantly convertible into coin, and with
put expense.
But if there were charge for coin
ing, as above stated, a delay in getting
returns, the bullion would not be
worth as much as coin.
We also see that the money value"
Of gold is entirely matter of law. be-
cause money itself is a matter of law.
When we say that an ounce of pure
gold is worth S2O.67 we simply mean
hot ~, n.apoa ~ H. ,r14.I ...t.t |