The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-09-12
Il PLAIN
what lis Meant by Free and Unlimited Coin
age at the Ratio of sixteen to One.

age at the Ratio of Sixteen to One.
Not at all infrequently even vet the
query department of The Sunday News
Is called upon to explain what is meant
by free and unlimited coinage at the ra-
tic of is to /.
Occasionally there is a question which
betrays a depth of ignorance most faith
omless. The News has received one
and from a small town in Colorado at
that-whlch makes us believe that a
statement of the familiar facts will he
of value i'll some quarters. In effect tt
is as follows:
"a. bets B. that 16 to 1 means that the
minis shall coin 16 silver dollars for
every gold dollar they coin. B. bets that
it means there shall be Is parts of pure
silver to l part of alloy in each silver
dollar. Which wins?'
Neither Of these notions has anything
to do with the meaning of the express
sion '16 to IT, It means that the
weight of pure gold in q gold dollar
shall be 1922 grains and the weight Of
pure silver i'll a silver dollar shall be
371.25 grains. 1t will be seen that the
weight of silver in a silver dollar is
within a trifing fraction Of IS times
the weight of gold in a gold dollar, the
ratio being called for convenience 16
to 1.
The act of 1S37-for free and unlim.
tied coinage at this ratio-provided
h a gold and silver bullion brought to
the mint should be received and coined
for the benefit of the depositor. The
coinage was free and unlimited, because
any person might bring any quantity OF
gold or silver bullion of the standard
degree of fincness to the mint and re-
celve for it gold Or silver coins. The
only charges permitted were for refin-
ing when the bullion was below stand
ard, for tOughening when metals were
contained i'll it which rendered it unfit
for coinage, for copper used for alloy
when introduced into the alloy for gold
and for separating gold and silver when
those metals exist together in the bull
lion. All of these charges relate to the
conversion of bullion into the exact
kind of bullion suitable for coinage.
By the act of Feb. 81, 1858, the right
OF individuals to have silver coined in
to half dollars, quarter dollars, dimes
and half dimes was taken away, the
quantity of silver put into such coins
was reduced, their unlimited legal ten
der quality was reduced to a limit Of
So, and the government went into the
making of them as a business, which
was profitable because of the less GUAM
tity Of silver put into them. The silver
dollar was not mentioned in this act.
The public retained the full right to
bring bullion to the mint and have it
coined into standard silver dollars, and
the silver dollar retained it's quality az
an unlimited legal tender, which it
holds to this day. This act of Feb. 21,
1858, established a mintage charge of
one-half of l per cent on all gold and
silver whether coined or run into ingots
Oh account of depositors, in addition to
the charge for refining OF parting the
metals contained in the act of 1887.
Thus the matter stood until the pas
sage Of the act of Feb. 10, 1878, which
established the gold dollar as the unit
OF value and demonetized silver by
emitting the standard silver dollar from
the list of coins. Until that day any
person might bring standard silver bull
lion 900 degrees fine to the mint and
for each 371.2 grains of pure silver
therein obtain a silver dollar, paying
only one-half per cent coinage charge.
II he brought pure silver to the mint
instead of standard bullion, nine-tenths
fine, he would have to pay 2 cents an
ounce for the copper alloy. If 500
ounces of pure silver were deposited at
the mint, it would coin GAG dollars.
There would be 55. 55 ounces Of copper
required for alloy, which would cost
81. II. The one-half per cent for coin
age would be So. 80, which would make
the total charge at the mint "a. "a on
GAG dollars.
Through ignorance or malice, the
statement is frequently made that I'M
der free coinage the owners of silver
mines would sell their product to the
government. Pictures are drawn Of the
government vaults choked with silver
which it would be unable to force into
circulation. This idea has probably
grown out Of the acts of 1878 and 1890,
both of which provided not for free
coinage, but for purchase by the United
States of a limited amount of silver
each month, the dollars coined there
from Or the notes issued in payment
therefor not being legal tender when
otherwise specified in the contract. Un-
der free coinage the government would
not purchase the silver coined into dol
lars. 1t would simply coin the silver for
whoever brought it to the mint and
hand the coin over to the person who
brought the silver Denver News.