The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-13
REGARDLESS OF THE FACT THAT
THE VALUE rs hut LITTLE
MORE THAN HALF.
IT WOULD DRIVE GOLD OUT,
AS ALL SILVER WOULD RUSH TO
THE MINT IN EXCHANGE FOR
GOLD.
is SILVER GOOD sTANDARDs
Wild Fluctuations of the Metal
Make FITS Value as Il Measure
Very Doubtful.
Copyrighted bv the Author. J

copyrighted by the Author.)
Free coinage" of silver means the
freedom of any private person to have
silver bullion coined at the mint into
dollars having full legal tender power
1t makes no difference whether the
mint charges few cents for coinage of
each piece, OF. not; the real point is
that any person can have coinage done,
whether a small charge Is made, or
NOT. At present our mint makes no
Charge, but we do not have free coin
age of silver
Free coinage of silver at ''16 to 1"
means that in making the coins at the
mint a silver coin contains 16 times as
many grains Of silver as the gold coins
have grains of gold for equal denomina-
tons For instance, our dollar of gold
would contain 1922 grains of pure gold,
and the silver contains 371.25 grains of
pure silver. That is, the silver in dol
lar has 16 times accurately 1888
the weight of the gold in a dollar. In
1884, when this was enacted, 16 grains
OF silver could be bought for nearly the
same as 1 grain of gold That is, the
OIltt VI dCCOulil, Tie UOlldT, Was IIldQo
up of that amount of silver which
would nearly equal in value the amount
of gold contained in gold piece of the
same denomination. The true theory
was that it would make no difference
whether man used a S. coin of gold,
or five. silver dollars; the coins would
be equal in intrinsic value
In the markets all over the world to-
day, no matter what the reason, 16
grains of silver will net buy 1 grain of
gold Indeed, it takes about grains
OF silver now to buy l grain of gold.
That is, 16 grains of silver now equal
only " grain of gold. So that, in order
to make our gold and silver coins of
equal value, either the silver dollar
should be doubled to 7421s grains, or
the gold dollar haIved to 11.61 grains.
In short, since 1884, silver and gold have
c~a-,gad - val,lc -~1o ++vo1r- = m
other, and what might have been done
with our money in 1884 cannot be
done today
1t is brought by some that we
should establish free coinage of silver
at 16 to T. today, regardless of this
remarkable change in the values of
gold and silver. What would be the
consequences? OF course, we would
not wish to entirely drive away gold,
which is needed in trading with the
great commercial countries always buy
ing our cotton, wheat, corn and meat
And we also need silver for convenience
in ordinary payments from neighbor to
neighbor. But, if 81 grains of silver,
when uncoined, exchange for l grain
of gold in the open market; and, if 16
grains of silver, when coined, are
offered for 1 grain of gold. what will
happen? If butter in tubs brings %
cents pound, and the same butter in
stamped pats brings so cents pound,
what will happen? OF course the but
ter will all be stamped to be sold at
the higher price. So, also, with silver.
If the same silver, when stamped. at
the mint, will exchange for twice as
much gold, to the stamp it will go. All
silver will rush to the mint, so long as
it can exchange for twice the gold it
can buy as bullion. But how about
gold? The situation is just reversed
for gold. AS ordinary bullion, without
a stamp, grain of gold buys 80 grains
OF silver: as coined gold, l grain Of
gold buys only 16 coined grains of sill
yer, what will happen to gold? Just
as the owner of silver sold his silver
where he could get the most gold, so
the owner of gold will sell his gold,
where he can get the most silver. BY
melting his gold coins, or selling them
by weight, the owner of gold can buy
81 grains of silver in the open market.
He would certainly be a fool to keep
his gold in coins and let them pass for
only Is grains of silver coin. Then,
what is the result? There is an enor-
nous profit on rushing silver to the
mint to be coined and exchanged for
gold, as long as any gold circulates; and
likewise an enormous profit on with
drawing gold coins from circulation to
be sold by weight for silver, or else ex-
ported But mark this further result:
The profit on coming silver ceases the
moment no gold coins can be found
in circulation to be exchanged for silver
coins. Just that moment the silver will
have no volue beyond its own intrinsic
value. But the owners Of gold will be
quick as flash to see a profit in with
drawing geld,-therefore, there will be
absolutely. no chance to get the profit
on coming silver and exchanging it for
gold. VIII Silver coins keep the value
of 1e to 1?.991That will, of course, be
impossible, For, since there are no
gold coins in circulation, how can 16
grains of silver buy l grain of gold?
The only place to buy gold with silver
is In the bullion market, and there 1t
takes 90 grains to buy grain Of gold.
So long as the silver coins are kept In
clrCulat1On at par WITH SOtQ CO1nS tdS Is
the case now, the silver Is kept up In
value by being exchanged readily for
gold in all dealings. But with the un-
limited free coinage Of silver when
its market value Is one-ha1f It's coin
value. the silver dollar will inevitably
be valued at one-half it's present pur-
chasing power. About this there cam
not be a shadow of a doubt Such re-.
suits have happened again and again
in monetary history. If any man does
not believe a simple explanation that
steel Is hard and can be made into
sharp edges, let him sit down in the
grass before the flashing knives Of
moving machine, and await the result.
A pint Of facts is worth bushel Of
talk.
It is as plain as a pikestaf that
free coinage of silver at l6 to II means
the withdrawal of all gold from use
as money in general circulation, and
that we shall have money either of
silver or redeemable in silver, worth
only one-half the purchasing power Of
the present dollar. The greenbacks.
being then redeemable in silver, viii
be worth only as much as the silver
behind 1t; and so of national bank notes
(which are redeemable In any lawful
money1 All our currency in circula-
ton, June 1, 1896, amounted to $1.521,-
00O, 900. Under 'free coinage Of silver
at 1s to l." the gold coin. and gold