The morning times., 1896-10-11
There Are Tons Of It Slowed Away as Basis
OF Silver Certificates
IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT OUR COINAGE
The Gold Coin is Still in Excess Of the Silver
in Circulation.
BUT IT is VERY RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING FROM USE
Copyright, 1s96.l

Copyright, 1860
One of tue strange features Of the present
political campaign is that one may marshal
facts concerning tue coinage and the bust
Dess Of tue country and set them forth
in orderly way, to tue equal satisfaction
OF silver free coinage men, OF gold mono
metallists, or of International bimetailists-
Gold Democrats, silver Democrats and
Republicans can alike reap reams OF ar
gument from the dry stubble OF treasury
report, and no one need be accounted a
partisan who recounts some Of the net
results OF tue American monetary system.
In spite OF tue considerable quantities
In which silver has been coined In the
last twenty years, we have still rather
less silver than gold coin. On July 1 there
Were $56S 900 600 OF gold coin ouistand-
ing, to S506 200 .OO00 of silver coin.
The United States has therefore stamped
with its dies something like ten pieces OF
silver for each inhabitant OF the Union,
for OF the coinage reported, considerable
portion is in tue minor coins; quarters,
halves and dimes.
lars, there would be something ike 11.40O
miles OF them in a straight row with
edges touching II coined into single
silver dollar of tue present thickness,
itwould be noble disc something ike three
fourtls Of mile in diameter.
But besides tue silver actually coined.
there lies In the Treasury vaults an al
most inconceivabIe quantity OF uncoined
silver bullion. purchased prior to the re-
peal Of the Sherman act and under its
provisions,
One silver dollar, or it's bullion equiva-
lent. weighs practically S6-loo of an
ounce. Consequently the bullion which is
held as the issue basis for S472 ,o0o,e0o
! in silver certificates weighs 25,3To,oUo
pounds, or some IL ,5S5 short tons. Twelve
thousand tons or So OF iron would not he
very large quantity for which to find
storage, but silver bullion is worth steal
ing IL must be kept under lock and key,
protected against theft by the most elabor-
ate precautions. In bulk, if II were cast
in solid mass, as OF course it is not,
the bullion in the Treasury vaults would
assume RATHER stately dimensions.
Coin silver is trifle more than ten
and half specific gravity. \ cubic foot
of silver will therefore weigh 612 pounds
and be worth nearly S12 900.
Upon this reckoning, tie Treasury silver
bullion amounts to some 10000 cubic feet
and would make block fifty feet square
and sixteen feet high, or would COM
pletely fill forty vaults, each ten feet
long, wide and high.
As matter OF fact, silver bullion is
piled up in pigs. much as iron would be.
and as they are not very large aud the
piles cannot be high, and there must be
space for access to them, the bullion hoard
accumulated under the Sherman law lit
orally fills to overflowing even the big
strong boxes of Uncle sam.
As the specific gravity OF coin gold is
17.647, and its value weight for weight
sixteen times that of silver, S4.2, COO, 900
worth OF gold bullion could be cast in o
single block about ten feet square aud
fifteen feet high.
Add to the $412, 900, 900 in bullion
owned by Uncle Sam the $500 goo, 900 in
| actual silver ccin, and We have the total
| S97S, 600 900 IN silver of one form or an
other at the ratio of 16 to /. In round
numbers, the United States makes Use,
for money, of 26 900 tons of silver, all OF
| WHICH Is lndiHhdlHtu on q parry VIII u
| little over a thousand tons of gold.
| We are all proud Of the magnificent
white ships cf the new navy. A first
rate cruiser may weigh, fully equipped,
for cruise and loaded to her water line
some 5000 tons. or this, about one
third at the very least is coal, woodwork,
food, ice, and other non-metalhc substances
and supplies. The metal of hull, en-
| giDes, armament, and equipment may
| weigh 1900 tons. Uncle sam has, there
fore, silver coin and bullion enough TO
build say four first-class and five second
class cruisers, and to equip them through
out with guns. engines and ANN munition
all cleaning silver.
What white fleet that would be, with
perspirng stckers shoveling coal into sil
yer furnaces with silver shovels; with
bo's'ns blowing silver whistles: with the
long muzzles of silver guns cleaning from
the silver turrets and barbettes. and
silver military masts rising like glitter
ing white birch psles from the silver deck.
and the sun lighting up the silver sides
as the stately beauties swung into line
up the harbor! A white fleet to be proud
of. that!
In the question OF the ability of the
United states alone to coin silver To adj
vantage the amounts OF coin held by
other nations must figure. or silver and
gold, coin and bullion combined, we have
slightly more than any other nation. Call
it, Tor the sake of round figures and ccl-
venicnce, 81 500 100000. The nation
which comes next is not Great Britain,
as many would suppose, but France, with
$1,000, 900 900 in coin.
This is not because France is richer
country than Britain, but because it is
more thrifty one. Coin circulates free
ly, the Bank OF France has large
quantity OF gold, and most Of the peas
ants have little boards. Shire wdly hidden
away here and there, tied up in stock
ings. France has almost exactly as much
actual silver coin as we have-say $780,
900, 900. Great Britain has less than one
quarter as much silver coin as either
France or the United States. Although
it is there used more freely than here in
making change, because there is no gold
coin smaller than So. so, nor any Bank of
England note smaller than $25, the Briton
boards no silver.
France has more silver than any other
nation save ours; she has more gold than
any other. There are supposed to be