Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-08-12

A silver dollar weighs sixteen times as
much as a gold dollar. This is what is
meant by the coinage of silver lat the
ratio of 16 to IL
Gree" coinage of silver means that
silver bullion when brought to the mint
shall be coined into dollars at the ex'
pense of the United States government
without cost to the owner.
By the ''unlimiteG' coinage of silver
is meant that all the silver, American OF
foreign, brought to any of our minis
shall be so coined, at the owners de-
mand.
When the ratio of Is 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 is to i
is about 81 to l. That is to say, al
ounce of gold bullion is eXchangeable fol
thirty-one ounces of silver bullion, IN
stead of being exchangeable for only SIX
teen ounces of silver bullion, as 1T for
merly was Silver bullion is thus worth
in gold only about half as much as Il
was when the coinage ratio was made
Is to i.
A silver dollar, with the stamp of the
government upon it, passes for more
than it is worth, just as a paper dollar
passes for more than the paper upon
which it 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 So cents worth of sill
yer. But the credit of the government
is not behind the uncoined silver, in the
form Of bullion. Therefore the bullion is
exchangeable 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 T. means, there
fore, that the government of the United
States instead of pledging its credit fol
the maintenance of a limited amount OF
coined silver at parity with gold, shall
pledge its credit for the maintenance OF
an unlimited amount of silver, now
worth only 81 to i, at parity with
gold, at Il ratio of IS to 1. By this the
United States would undertake to double
the value of every ounce of silver, coined
or uncoined, in the world, and extend an
invitation to all the nations to send their
surplus silver here to be coined into Sill
yer dollars at a ratio of Is 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 purchasing
power to a gold dollar, and the credit of
the government is not without limit.
Unlimited coinage of silver would ex-
haust its credit, by eXhausting its power
to redeem its pledge to maintain silver
at parity with gold at the ratio of 1G
to l. 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, IL any, more than half-a-
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 N paying our obligation
and purchases from g0ldusing countries
where our silver coins would not be ac-
cepted. AS consequence we should in
a few months lose all of our $751; O00.-
OOO of gold, leaving us with much con-
tracted and greatly deprecated currency.
A disastrous panic would ensue, followed
by the suspension of thousands of fac
tories and business houses, general
business collapse. and the loss of employ
ment by hundreds of thousands of wage
earners and laborerS
Under our present monetary system
and until the agitation for the free coin,
age of silver became a dangerous men
ace to business and labor, we had the
most prosperous years ever known in
American history