The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-07-30
ala TO l."

simple. It is the ratio of value de-
termined by weight of gold to silver.
1t means that at one time gold and
silver were mutually exchangeable at
the ratio of one ounce of gold for Is
ounces of silver, and that it was upon
this ratio that the relative weights OF
gold and silver in our coins were adj
justed by the Coinage Act Of 1884.
That made the weight of pure silver
in dollar SIT grains, or 412ll grains
of nine-tenths fine silver. The weight
of pure gold in dollar was made 1922
grains, or 25.S grains of nine-tenths fine
gold. This made the silver dollar
weigh 1898 times as much as the gold
dollar, or practically 16 times as much.
This matter of ratio of valuation
between the two metals has been a
troublesome one always, and made much
disturbance in commerce at different
periods.
The possibility is that in the earliest
times a pound of one was as valuable as
a pound of the other. 1t is also prob
able that copper was nearly as valuable,
But pretty soon they parted company.
The shekel of gold was 1872 grains, the
shekel of silver 220 grains, and the
shekel of copper 52S grains. This
would Indicate that that early men
began to give nearly twice as much
silver as gold, and four times as much
copper.
As civilization progressed silver and
copper became still more plentiful as
compared to gold, and for some centu-
ries before and after the birth of Christ
the Greeks and Romans made their
coins bear about the relation of IL to /.
At one time during the life of Julius
Cesar the supply of gold is said to have
become so plentiful that the ratio was
3 to 1.
During the Dark Ages we have no
figures of any value. The earliest rec
ords of the British mint show that in
1874 one ounce of gold was worth
12.475 ounces of silver. In the 10Th
and 18th centuries so much gold was
found in Peru and Mexico, with COM
paratively little silver, that the valua-
ton of gold fell until one ounce was
only worth / ounces Of silver. Then
as the supply of gold stored up by the
Montezumas and Incas was exhausted
while rich silver mines were found, the
price of gold went up, until, in 1717, one
ounce of gold was worth 1929 ounces
of silver, and this ratio continued fol
about century, though Spain, i'll 1870
adopted the ratio of Is to |, and France
made it 1442 to 1. England stopped
free coinage of silver in 1898, but con
tinued the ratio at 1921 to 1.
There was good deal of discordanct
among the European countries as to the
ratio during the latter part of the last anG
the beginning of this century, in which
we shared, having the ratio at one tim'
as low as Is to 1. But finally England
and the most of the other countries o
Europe agreed upon ratio of Is.
to /, when we foolishly disagreed will
them, and fixed the ratio at Is to 1, be
cause We were producing much gold an;
no silver. We lost all our silver il
consequence, and were flooded with tn
cheaper gold This was intensified b,
the discovery Of gold in California. n
silver of any consequence was the
> found, and it looked for few years a
if there would be more gold than silver
p In order to keep silver change in thi
country we had to make the minor coin
Z at ratio Of Is to /.
E Prior to 1850 there had been abou
q 65 ounces of silver produced in tn
n world to "a ounces Of gold. From 1876
y to 1875 there were only 20 ounces {
silver to II ounces of gold. But peopl
began hunting eagerly for silver mine
and metallurgists sought for methods
II cheaper the cost Of working mines an
II low-grade ores. Dynamite and tt
- diamond drill were invented, and pr
- cesses Of extraction were greatly in
as proved