The Daily Texarkanian., 1896-10-21
THE RECORD OF 400 YEARS.

lllI NEVUltD Of tOO lGhItD'
4 Stable Ratio Maintained For Fou
Centuries Up 10 1873
Auditor E. z. Baldwin of tht
treasury has just completed a com.
pilation of statistics relating to the
production of gold and silver sine,
the discovery of America, together
with the ratio of va ne for the peri.
cd. His results, he thinks, are con
vinciDg enough to satisfy the most
rabid gold standard advocate that
the value of silver during that time
was fixed BY the coinage value OF
the metal and not by the bullion OF
commercial value. Mr.. Baldwin
considers the production of the two
metals by periods, the first dealing
with the years between 1893 and
1850, the second between 1850 and
1873, the last from 1873 to 1895
The value of this table is derived
from the carefully compiled state
ment of the ratio between the two
metals during these periods Du-
ring the first period the ratio Ofpro.
duction of gold to silver was / to
3152. During the second period it
was l to 5.09 and during the third
period ! to 1853. The ratio of
value, however, was never materi-
ally disturbed during the years
from 1893 to 1873. During the first
period the ratio of value between
the two metals was comprised be-
tween l41 and 1926, the latter
being the greater divergence in
value, although the ratio of pro-
duction of gold to silver was l to
81.
During the second period the
ratio of value was even more stable,
the highest being 1870 and the
lowest 1927, although the ratio Of
production Of gold to silver had
dropped to ! TO practically. Du-
ring the third period, However,
which comprises the time since the
passage of the act demonetizing sill
yer, the ratio of production of gold
to silver has been / to 1853. Du-
ring that time the lowest ratio of
value was | to 10 92, while the high
est ratio, about two years ago, was
| to 1886. Mr.. Baldwin says that
this demonstrates clearly and in the
most positive manner that the val
ue of the two metals is fixed by
coinage and not by the bullion or
commercial value,
He points out that the small
amount of silver used in the arts
during such time as silver was
coined free with gold could not af-
feet the value of the metal at all,
and that when the coinage value
was less than the bdllion value the
coinage supplied the arts with such
small measure Of the metal as was
needed, and even when the bullion
value of silver fell below the estab.
lished ratio the fact that it could
be coined into full legal value main
tanned the parity,
During the 400 years under con-
sideration the production OF gold
amounted to 424 900, ,2O2 fine ounces
coming value of $8,793, 469, 400.
The production of silver during the
same time was SOL, 1872, OBS fine
ounces, at a value Of $40, 1857, ,8l2, 100.
The ratio OF the production of gold
to silver during this time was 1918.
1t is shown that during the widest
variation in the ratio Of production
Of the two metals, stable ratio OF
value was maintained because both
metals were admitted to free coin
age, but this ratio Of value was de-
stroyed as soon as silver was de.
prived OF the privilege OF free COIN
age, with a constantly increasing
divergence in the value of the two
metals since 1873. At one time
the ratio Of production Of gold to
silver dropped TO- to &, while at an.
other time 1t rose to to BIZ, but
at no time between 1903 and 1873
did the ratio Of the value Of silver
to gold rise to II to or drop TO II
to /. Since the demonetization OF
silver however the ratio has al
tered until it is now nearly 81 to /,
this change having occurred in the
last 10 years,
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