News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1896-07-02
WHAT FREE COINAGE MEANS.
[From the Troy, N. Y. Times.l

atect domestic and foreign tradet
W. E. H.
The Troy Times has received many
inquiries similar to the one above,
and as they are evidently in good
faith and with a sincere desire to Sc
cure light on an important question,
it will do its best to clearly explain
the matter.
The laws of the United States re-
guire that the gold dollar coined by
the government shall weigh % $40
grains. The half eagle ($5), eagle
$50 and double eagle $50 are to
be of proportionate weight. The
standard silver dollar must weigh
412k grains. Both gold and silver
coins must be of specified tineness
900 parts of pure metal to 100
parts of alloy. The standard silver
dollar of 412R grains, of which 371A
grains must be pure silver, is sixteen
-or to be very precise 15.9S-times
the weight of the gold dollar. This
is the much talked of 16 to l ratio.
1t was established when that ratio
closely approximated the actual COM
mercial value of the two metals-when
the quantity of gold in a gold dollar
of % $40 grains and the quantity
OF silver in a silver dollar of 412A
grains were each worth about 100
cents according to the prices of gold
and silver bullion in the markets of
the world.
But gold and silver, like all other
commodities, are subject to fuctua-
tions, though these affect gold much
less than silver. OF late years there
has been a very great change in their
relative values. The stock of gold
and silver in the world has largely in
creased, though the greatest gain
has been in the white metal. AS a
consequence silver has decreased in
price, while gold has remained to all
intents and purposes stationary.
The falling off in the price of silver
has been almost one-halt, and there
fore the actual bullion value of the
quantity of silver in a standard sill
yer dollar of the United States,
weighing 4121a grains and containing
not less than 371A grains of pure
metal, is about fitty-one cents, and
the true ratio between the two met
ais, at the commercial estimate, is
not 16 to l, but about 81 to l.
Free coinage of silver means this:
That anyone may take silver of the
standard hneness to the United
States mint and have it coined into
dollars" of 4121a grains-that the
government shall declare every such
dollar" issued to be one hundred
cents. though it is really worth but
fifty-one cents or less, and that such
a dollar shall go forth bearing a
government stamp certifying that it
is something which it is not-an act
ual, bona tide, honest coin meaning
Just what it says, when it is really a
base impostor, This is exactly what
free silver coinage would be-theissu-
ing of fifty or fifty-one cent dollars
in place of those good for one hun
dred cents. And the imposture is
sacrilegiously stamped over bast-
ard eagle Gin God we trust"
What would be the effect of free
and unlimited coinage of silver dol
lars at the 16 to ratio, and with
existing values of bullion, it is easier
to imagine than to describe. Inevit-
ably it would be disastrous beyond
our powers of conception. The
money system of all highly advanced
nations like our own and the other
great commercial powers rests or
gold, because gold is the one meta
accepted everywhere and subject tC
slight changes. A given quantity o
gold will bring practically the same
price in any part of the globe. II
may be in coin or in bullion in either
case it is good for it's full value. Lei
man try the experiment with rol
of gold eagles and another of silve
dollars. He can take the eagles tt
Europe or Asia, melt them down anC
sell them for about the same amour
that they represent in coin. The sill
yer "dolars," on the other hand,
melted down, would as silver bullion
sell for little more than fifty per cent
of their face value as coin. Does no
this establish the true position c
the two as money metals?
The silver extremists put fort
many fictitious and sophstics
claims. They assert for one thing, tina
free and unlimited coinage of silve
at the 16 to l ratio would vastly Ell
large stock of money in circulation
AS a matter of fact, it would have d
rectly the contrary effect, for it woul
contract, and not expand, the Gu
rency. 1t is an invariable law ths
the cheaper supersedes the deart
money, and the very first cons
quence of free silver coinage would |
that gold would either be driven oil
of the country or boarded by its pc
SCISSORS here. There is in rour
numbers about $620,000,000 in go
coin in the United States, and ii
immediate withdrawal of this fro
circulation would cause a monetal
stringency of the severest characte
This would be aggravated by t
substitution of fifty-one-cent dolla
for the currency now in use. '
would at once go to silver bas
and the shock to business. and indu
try would be most calamitous.
The currency now in use in t
United States consists of gold al
S;Iyou tbo c.noot, bo oEo nm fraa or