San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-05-04
A NATURAL RATIO.
II There One Between the Value of Silver
and GoldY-If So, Is 1t 10 to 1?

II There one between the value OF silver
and Golds-H So, Is 1t 16 to ~
Mr.. J. ]. Mott, chairman of the ma
tional committee of the free silverparty,
recently organized at Washington, In
flicts on a much-abused public a long
appeal for votes for free coinage. This
latest official utterance of the silverites
Is not much worse than their former
walls over the terrible suffering caused
by an imaginary scarcity of cart wheel
dollars, and is only notable in that 1t
boldly asserts that gold and silver exist
in the earth In almost certain fixed pro-
portions, and that the natural ratio be-
tween the two metals is therefore six
teen to one. This ratio" says Mr..
Mott, "has continued as arranged by man
under the natural order as he found
It," 1t was accepted by mankind as a
part of the grand plan upon which
the world was to move, and approved by
the philosophy and common sense Of
all ages.
If it were true that when the earth
was created the amount of silver found
in IL was 16 times greater than the gold,
this would be no reason why one metal
should be worth 16 times as much as
the other. The labor cost of producing
anything and the demand for it is what
regulates it's value. There is no natural
measure of values, and no fixed ratio
between two metals or any other prod
ucts, so that there is no ground for the
claim that the value of an ounce of
gold was designed by nature to be the
same as that of 16 ounces of silver.
Mr.. Mott must have been using the
newly discovered ray to peer into the
innermost depths of the earth, if he
really knows that gold and silver ex-
ist in almost certain proportions" 1t
is pity that he does not inform the
public just where all those hidden met
ais are and how many tons there are of
each. Perhaps he is waiting until con-
gress passes a free coinage law, when
he will uncover the mass of silver which
he knows so much about. And per-
haps, great and wise as a chairman
of silver party must be, he doesn't
know anything more about the metals
in the earth than he does of the cur
rency question.
"The grand plan upon which the
world was to move" seems to have got
badly out of joint in these days. If Il
natural law can be set aside by worldly
minded business men, who say that as
the commercial value of silver is 30
times less than that of gold they will
give no more for it, nature must feel
sighted. But there is bare POSSIBLE
ity that even Mr.. Mott hasn't been
told all of the worlds plans for NOV
ing.
AS for the PHILOSOPHY and common
sense of all ages" il is little curious
that in some of the ages silver was
valued at eight to one of gold. If the
yield of the South African, Australian
and American gold mines should prove
to be as large as is confidently predicted
by eminent biologists and mining en-
gineers, the ratio might again drop to
those figures. Would the "philoso-
phers," of whom Mr.. Mott is evidently
one, stick to the magic sixteen to one,
or would they adopt the commercial
ratio, whatever it might be?
The silver party may get few votes
in November, but its following will
certainly not be increased because of
the practical wisdom and arguments
OF its national chairman.
q