The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-08-11

Having been flooded with queries on
finance, the Washington Star submitted
the following questions to Senator
Jones. chairman OF the Democratic
committee, and also to Robert E. Pres
ton. director of the United States mint:
What is meant by the free coinage
of silver? What is meant by the ratio
of 16 to /? What is meant by bimetal-
lism? What is meant by single stand
ard, gold or silver?
Senator Jones replied as follows:
1.-THE free coinage of silver means
coinage of silver without charge for
mintage, Just as gold is now coined
and as silver was coined prior TO 1873.
1.-THE ratio of 16 to means that there
shall be sixteen times as much pure
silver by weight in a silver dollar as
there is pure gold in gold dollar. The
true ratio, that in force just prior to
1873, is a small fraction under 10 to /,
but it is spoken OF in round numbers
as 16 to l.
1--WE mean by bimetallism the use or
both gold and silver in coinage at the
same time as standard money. The
single standard, gold or silver, means
the decentralization of one metal ana
the use of the other, only, as standard
money"
Mr.. Preston made answer:
/. What is meant by the coinage OF
silver?
Ans.-The right of individuals to de-
post standard silver in any amount al
the minis and have it coined into full
legal tender coins.
2. What is meant by the ratio OF IL
to L?
Ans.-The ratio in coinage of 16 TO
means that 16 ounces of pure silver
coined shall have the same value as
one ounce of pure gold coined-name-
ly, $2O67.
2 What is meant by bimetallisTn?
Ans.-The unlimited coinage OF both
gold and silver on private account,
into full legal tender coins.
4. What is meant by single standard,
gold and silver?
Ans.-That only one metal shall be
coined on private account into full legal
tender coins. and that only the favored
metal shall be coined without limit.
A more extensive and comprehensive
statement regarding the ratio has also
been made by Mr.. Preston to personal
inquiries that have poured in upon MN
since the opening of the campaign:
Il
All standard silver dollars coined by
the minis of the United States since
the massage of the act of January Is,
1887, have been coined IN the ratlo OF
TO Il. 9SS4- generally called the ratio
of l to 16. 159SS4-being very nearly
16. Still. to reach accurate results, the
former, and not the latter, figure must
be used in calculation. The ratio Is
obtained in this way: The silver dol
lar contains 371.25 grains OF pure silver
and the gold dollar 1922 grains OF pure
gold. If you divide 371.25 by 1922 you
will get the ratio of weight between
gold dollar and silver dollar, that is,
45.98S4-.
1t is true that to be on par with gold
silver would cat our ratio) be worth
81. 1929. The reason is this, gold dol
lar contains 1922 grains of pure gold.
In an ounce, or $50 grains, OF gold
there are as many dollars as 23.2Z is
contained times in $50, or one ounce.
If YOU divide $50 by 1922 you will get
S2O.67, the number of dollars that can
be coined out of an ounce of pure gold;
in other words, the money equivalent
of ounce of gold or of 15.9SS4 ounces of
silver at the ratio of 1 to 15.9SS4.
Now. if 15.9S84 ounces of silver be
worth S2O67. one ounce will be worth
S12929. as you can prove by simple
division. The same result is obtained
by dividing 4S0 grains or one ounce of
silver by 37125, the number of grains
of pure silver in standard silver dol
lar. at the ratio of 1 to 15.98S4, which
gives $1.2929.
Sixteen ounces of pure silver will
coin a little more than one ounce OF
gold, 15.9SS4 ounces of silver will coin
exactly the same amount of money as
one ounce of gold, that is, S20.67. You
can prove this by dividing 15.9SS4
ounces by 81. 25 grains. The operation
is as follows:
15.9SS4 multiplied by $50 divided by
371.25 equals S2O.S74
It is not true that 16 ounces OF silver
will coin only $3.50 at the ratio OF
to 16.
AS will be seen above, one ounce Of
silver will coin 81 1929. Multiplying
/ 1929 by 16 gives 20.6S. You can make
the same result in another way; six
teen ounces Troy or 1850 grains di-
vided by 371.25 gives the number of sill
yer dollars that can be coined out Of
sixteen ounces of silver. 1850 divided
371.25 equals $20.6S.