Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-27
Mr.. CARLISLE EXPLAINS
He Writes Letter About Treasury Circular
1873.
A Clear Exposition Of the Meaning
of Terms In That DOcu-
mcnt.


to Mr.. A. M. Simmons Of Cincinnati in ex-
PLANTATION Of certain expressions used in
the recent treasury circular, giving in
formation on financial topics. The Secre-
tary says:
Your favor of the 10Th instant, calling
my attention to what you characterize IS
serious errors in the circular recently is
sued by the Treasury Department, reached
here during my absence, and 1 embrace the
first opportunity after my return 20 ac-
knowledge it.
1.-THE statement in the circular to which
you refer is as follows
The act of April ., 1892, established
the first monetary system in the United
States. The basis Of the system Were
the gold dollar or unit, containing pa
grains of pure gold, and stamped in pieces
of $40. $ and $3.50, denominated. re-
spectively, eagles, half-eagles and quarter
eagles, the silver dollar or unit contain
ing 371.25 grains of pure silver.
"A mint was established. The coinage
was unlimited and there was no mint
charge. The ratio of gold to silver in
were legal tender. The standard was dou-
BILE, land you say the free coinage ad-
vocates point to these mistakes and claim
that they are Intentionally lugged in to
prove that the unit of value established
by this government was gold
Nothing About emit of Value"
'If you will re-examine the statement
you will observe that nothing whatever is
said about the unit of value or about
a standard of measure or value. except
that the standard was double meaning,
of course that the legal standard was
based on both gold and silver.
Il am unable to discover any error in the
statement. If 247.5O grains Of pure gold
constitutes $40. or units it is evident
orr I'M of miro coli T.
tute one unit The 24.75 grains of pure
gold constituted a gold unit, and the 371.25
grains of pure silver constituted a silver
unit, and the dollar was the unit whether
it was composed of gold or silver.
THE unit is merely the name or denom-
ina ton of the coin used IN computation
and in keeping accounts. and if Congress
had seen proper to make the dime the
have changed the actual legal value of
the coins to any extent whatever.
THE only effect of such a provision
would have been that instead of counting
in dollars and fractions of dollars, as We
now do, We would have counted in dimes
and fractions Of dimes. That is, Instead
OF saying one dollar or one dollar and a
half, we would have said, ten dimes or
fifteen Dimes
1.-THE franc, worth a little over nine
teen cents. is the unit in France, and the
mark worth about twenty-four cents, is
the unit In Germany, no matter whether
the franc or tine mark is represented Icy
coin or by paper but, notwths; anding the
fact that their unit is mucii smaller than
ours, and, therefore, much less valuable,
their standard of value is as high IS ours
The defect in the reasoning of our free
silver friends on this subject is that they
constantly confuse the unit of account
with the standard or measure of value
They are entirely different things, and
nave no necessary connection with each
other.
Wholly Imma:criaI.
THE words unit of value We're never
used in the coinage law of the United
States until February T. 1873, and then
they were applied to the gold dollar con-
tanning 1922 grains of pure gold, or 25.S
grains of standard gold. The fact that
this quantity of gold Is not now coined
into single piece is wholly immateral.
That quantity Of gold constitutes a stand
ard or measure of value for dollar,
and when men contract for payment in
dollars they mean dollars equal in value
to 25S grains of standard gold.
The authors of the act of 1892 estab-
ished, legally, two standards-a gold
standard ard a silver standard but, in
used at the same time. AS long as 371 25
grains of pure silver were actually equal
In value to 24.75 grains of pure gold there
was, In fact but one standard, although
represented by two metals, but when these
quantities of gold and silver cease to be
equal to each other in value, one or the
other nee essarily disappears as standard
That is just what happened and gold went
out of circulation; silver became the actual
standard. and so remained until after the
passage of the acts of 1894 and 1877.
THE effect of the two acts Of 1884 and
1897 was to change the ratio between gold
and silver from 15.1 to Il. 9SS to l (com-
monty called 16 to y, and the result of this
change was that silver went out OF cir
culation hecsuse it was uEdervalued in the
law, and gold took its place and became
the actual standard of value from that
time on"