The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-07-24
Whnt 10 10 I Really Means.

! WASHINGTON, July 22.-Tho Mint Bu-
| reau of the Treasury is in receipt of u daily
growing mail from all sections of tho
country requesting information on tinan-
| cial topics The questions cover every
conceivable phase OF the currency ques.
| tion, and tho inquirers are of all shades OF
political bslief
Most of them want information that
Can be easily furnished, such, for Instance
/ rs the total amount of the coinage of the
last fiscal year; the amount of gold and
silver in circulation in the United States;
the present value of different coins, etc
but many are of more abstruse nature
and would tax the officials to answer them
properly. The bureau is doing all it can
to meet the demand upon it as an educa-
tional institution, and Director Preston
says that he could easily dispose of 5000
copies of the last annual report of his bu-
'rcnu if he had them for distribution.
Mr.. Preston has made the following
simple and comprehensive statement In
regard 10 the coinage ratio between gold
and silver, in response to frequent inquir-
les ON that point:
All standard silver dollars coined by the
mnts of the United States since the pas
sage Of the act of January ls, 1887, have
been coined in the ratio of to 10 DSS4-
generally called the ratio of | to l6-l5.9SS4
being very nearly 49, Sill, to reach ac-
latter figure must be used in calculation.
The ratio Is obtained in this way The
silver dollar contains 37l 25 grains of pure
silver and the gold dollar 232! grains Of
pure gold IL you divide 3Il,25 by 232?
you will get The ratio of weight between
a gold dollar and silver dollar, that is,
l5,9oS4.
H. is true that to be Oh par with gold
silver would(at our ratio) be worth Sl2D!9
Tho reason is this, GOLD dollar contains
23.22 grains of pure gold. In an ounce, or
iS0 grans of gold there are as many dol
lars Us % % is contained times in 4So, or l
ounce. If you divide $50 by 2322 you get
s2O.67, the number of dollars that can be
coined ouG of IN ounce of pure gold; III
Other words the money equivalent Of ono
ounce Of gold Or of l5.9SSi Ouac1s of silver
at the ratio of | to l50SSl.
Now, if Ii DSSi ounces Of silver be worth
$2O.67, one ounce will be worth SL2I!9 ai
you can prove by simple division. The
same result is obtained by dividing 40
grains or one ounce of silver by 3Il 20, the
number Of grains of pure silver ina stan.
dard silver dollar, at the ratio Of to lo9osi,
which gives 81 2r!9.
Sixteen ounces Of pure silver will coin II
little moro than one ounce Of gold, 10 9Sdi
ounces Of silver will coin exactly the same
amount OF money lis one ounce OF gold,
that is $50 u. You can prove this by di
viding Is !SSl ounces by 31l25 grains. The
operation is rs follows:
l50SS4 multiplied by 4S0,. divided by
37l.25 equals S2OG74.
1t is not true that sixteen ounces of sill
vCr will coin only SIG 50 at the ratio OF to
l6
As will be seen above one ounce of sill
yer will coin Il 29!9. Multiplying Sl2o?0
by Is gives S2p6S You can make tho
same result in another way;siX X,crn ounces
Troy or 1859 grains divided by 81 p gives
the number Of silver dollars that can bo
coined out of sixteen ounces of silver.
1859 divided by 37l.2 equals s2l.6S
nr Si,nms' IN, dor, Svrup tbp rrlrbrnt-