The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1896-10-15

each cent into equal parts called mills
This made computation easy. The
next question was, What shall the
dollar be made of: How big shall it
be?' Looking around. the men charged
with the answering of these questions,
the old Spanish dollar made of silver
They took a number of these, weighed
them. divided that weight by the number
of coins. and found the average weight
to be 3T1H grains of pure silver. This
quantity of pure silver was adopted
for the dollar of silver. 1t was deter
mined also to coin gold on private ac-
count. It then became a question,
What shall the ratio be?' TO deter
mine this. those wise old fathers of ours
studied the markets of the world. They
did not assume to dictate what the ratio
should be. nor endcavOr to make the
world adopt the ratio that they had Sc
lcctcd. Perhaps they were not very
patriotic American citizens, but among
them was Thomas Jefferson. who wrote
the declaration of independence. and
ton and Gen. Knox, whose swords
flashed in the sunlight to achieve that
independence. We have always been
under the impression that they had Il
high regard for Alherican Independence.
vet they thought it wise to study the
markets of the world in determining
this question of the relative value of
gold and silver and to govern themselves
accordingly.
Fixing the Ratio in 1902.
Having studied the markets Of the
world they conclude that in those mar
kets an ounce of gold was worth as much
as fifteen ounces Of silver. SO they cstab-
liShcd as the coinage ratio. fifteen to one.
Since the silver dollar, already selected.
was fixed at 3I1H grains. all they had to
do to determine the quantity of pure gold
to the dollar. was to divide 3I1H by -.
The result is 243I grains. And so the
mints were opened to the coinage of both
metals at the rate of 311A grains of pure
silver or 24;u grains Of pure gold to the
dollar. 1t should be noted that they put
exactly one dollars worth of silver into
the silver dollar, and a dollars worth of
gold into the gold dollar. In other words.
they tried the experiment then. which
some good people would like to have
tried again. Uncle Sam was simply
called upon to tell the truth. to stamp
upon the metal the value of which it pos
sessed, whether coined or uncOined. They
hoped. those good fathers of ours, that,
since the man having gold and the man
having silver had the privilege of bring
ing them to the mint. both would come
very reasonable hope, and yet they were
disappointed. At the time the ratio was
fixed, it was a true ratio, but within a
year it ceased to be the true ratio. and
has never been true since then. Owing
to the discovery of a great silver mine.
the value of silver began from that time
slightly to fall. BY the year 1900 an
ounce of gold was worth in the market
1868 ounces of silver.
Now let us see what man having gold
to dispose of at that time would natur-
ally do. He would reason with himself
somewhat like this: IF l take my gold
to the mint, every ounce of it will be
treated as equal to fifteen ounces of sill
yer; but if | take it to the market and
sell 1t as bullion, every ounce of my gold
is as valuable as 1865 ounces of silver.
Clearly it would pay me better to sell
it as bullion. than to have it coined into
money! Which would you have done
under those circumstances? You would
have taken your gold to the market and
not to the mint. And this is precisely
what history tells us that the men of
man having silver to dispose of, would
reason with himself somewhat like this:
IF l take my silver to the mint, it will
require only fifteen ounces of it to be
equivalent to an ounce of gold but if I
take it to the market it will require 1865
ounces of silver to be equal in value to
an ounce of gold" Evidently the best
place for the man to take his silver, the
most profitable for him, was to the mint
That was where it would naturally go,
that was where it did 60.
And thus we see, that with the mint
open to the coinage of both on private
account, one of the metals went to the
mint and the other went to the market.
Thus has it ever been; thus will it ever
be-
1t is highly important that we remem-
Der that the relative value of gold and
silver constantly fuctuate. They have
done this through all the ages, and there
is no power on earth to prevent their
doing it. There was a time. according
to Alexander Delmar, when gold and
silver were equally priced by man, when
an ounce of gold was exactly equal in
value to an ounce of silver. They sep
arated in some way, we do not know
how, untold centuries ago. and have been
drifting further and further apart from
that day to this. And, therefore. fixed
ratio, by the very fact of it's being fixed,
cannot remain correct ratio. Just as
soon as it ceases to be correct it becomes
more profitable to take one of the metals
to the mint and the other to the mar
ket. And the great law of human ma
ture to which / have adverted soon as
serts itself; one then goes to the mint and
the other to the market. That is. with
theoretical bimetallism we have prac-
teal recommendation. This is the basis
of the great fundamental principle of
coinage, principle enunciated by
Oresme Of France, later by Copernicus.
the astronomer and later on still by