Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-08-20
WRATH MEANS.
vNee coiNAoE FslLvER ATrHE
RATIO OF 10 TO l. s..
The consequenes woaid be the Decline
. of the Purchasing Power of u Silver
Dollar TO One Half what IL will Buy at
Present.

A silver dollar weighs sixteen times rs
much as n gold dollar. This is what is
meant by the coinage Of silver st the
ratio of 16 to L. ~
'Free" coinage of silver means that
shall be coined into dollars at the ex-
pensc of the United States government,
without cost to the owner.
BY the unlimited" coinage of silver
Is meant that all the silver, American or
foreign, brought to any of our minis
When the ratio Of 1G to 1 was estab-
iished by the government, sixteen ounces
of silver bullion were worth, in the mar.
ket, just as much as one ounce OF gold
bullion. A silver dollar and a gold dol
lar were then worth precisely the same
before they were coined, when they were
coined, or after they were melted. The
face value of a silver dollar was its
actual value.
But of late years pure silver has de-
clined in value, so that now the COM
mercial RATIO instead of being 16 to 1,
is about 81 to 1. That is to say, an
ounce of gold bullion is exchangeable for
thirty-one ounces of silver bullion, in
stead of being exchangeablc for only six
teen ounces of silver bullion. as 1T for
mcrly was. Silver bullion is thus worth
was when the coinage ratio was made
1G to I.
A silver dollar, with the stamp of the
government upon it, passes for more
than II is worth, just as paper dollar
passes for more than the paper upon
which ID is printed is worth. The credit
of the government is behind the paper
dollar. and the credit of the government
is behind the silver dollar. The United
State government lends its credit to ev-
cry man with an American silver dollar
in his pocket. so that he can pay 100
cents Of debt with 80 cents worth of sill
yer. But the credit of the government
is not behind the unconed silver, in the
form of bullion. Therefore the bullion is
cXchangcable for other commodities only
to the amount of its actual or intrinsic
value.
The free and unlimited coinage of sill
yer at the ratio of Is to 1" means, there
fore. that the government of the United
States. instead of pledging its credit for
the maintenance of limited amount of
coined silver at parity with gold. shall
pledge It's credit for the maintenance of
an unlimited amount of silver, now
worth only 81 to /. at n parity with
gold. M a ratio of 10 to /. BY this the
United States would undertake to double
the value of every ounce of silver. coined
or unconcd, in the world. and extend an
invitation TO all the nations to send their
YER dollars ut a ratio of 16 to ].
These silver dollars, if coined in an I'M
limited quantity, would not be worth as
much as gold dollars, because it is the
credit Of the government which makes
those we now have equal in purcha sing
power to gold dollar, and the credit of
the government is not without limit
Unlimited" coinage of silver would ex-
haust It's credit, by exhausting its power
to redeem its pledge to maintain silver
at a PARITY with gold. at the ratio of 1G
to j. The consequence would be that the
silver dollar would soon decline in pur-
chasing power to the commercial value
of the bullion it contains, and would be
worth little, if any, more than halfIa-
dollar in gold. AS all private and public
debts not explicitly payable in gold would
then be payable in these half-rate dol
lars, our gold would disappear from cir
culation and would quickly be drawn out
OF the country in paying our obligations
and purchases from goldusing countries
where cur silver coins would not be ac-
ceptcd. As consequence we should in
a few months lose all of our SGD 900
OOO of gold, leaving us with much con-
tracted and greatly deprecated currency.
A disastrous panic would ensuc. followed
by the suspension of thousands of fac
tories and business houses. n general
business collapse, and the loss of employ
mont by hundreds of thousands of wage
earners and laborers.
lnder our present monetary system,
and until the agitation for the free coin
age of silver became dangerous men
ace TO business and labor. we had the
most prosperous years ever known in
"A m