Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-07-24
The Silver Ratio, 16 to 1.
A Calm and Illuminating Die NsIon
from the Editorial Par ZIOnss


the late Democratic convention in Chicago,
is a riddle many wise as we'll as plain peo-
pie are unable to declare. They ask what
the riddle means. "Sixteen to one" is
phrase used III reference to the coinage. 1t
expresses ratio between the two metals.
gold and silver The weight of silver is to
be 10 times as .,reat as that of gold.
In the American monetary system the
unit of silver is. the dollar, and Of gold the
eagle. For comparison of one with the
other, or, in other words, to find the ratio,
we use the dollar. According to the mint
act, the silver dollar must contain 371. 25
grains of pure silver, and the gold dollar to
be equal to it must contain %. % grains of
pure gold AS matter of fact, neither
the gold nor silver coins in circulation are
pure metal Both metals are too soft for
use in coins. The stamp would soon be
worn away by handling and carrying in
the pocket. To remedy this evil, an alloy
of about 10 per cent, usually of copper, is
employed. BY this means the metals are
rendered harder and stronger. The alloy
adds 10 per cent to the weights above indi-
Gated. In other words the silver dollar of
the currency contains 4l250 grains of al
Logged metal, and the gold 25.S grains.
The ratio, which still obtains, was fixed
by the mint act of 1884. Exactly stated,
it is 159S grains of silver to one grain of
gold. At the time the act was passed. the
silver dollar, with the ratio of 1j.9S to l,
was more valuable than the gold dollar;
for in the European markets the metals
stood Is. so to |. AS result, the Amer-
can silver coins were all bought up and
taken to Europe. Gold alone was found
in circulation. This obliged the govern
ment in 1858 to authorize the issue of sill
yer coins in halves and quarters of less
than the standard weight. These frac-
tions of the dollar contained at the rate of
3S4 grains of standard silver instead of
1880 grains. By this reduction the silver
dollar, being of less value than the gold
dollar, furnished no temptation to the eX-
porter, and the silver coins were permitted
to circulate at home and for the conven-
fence of our people.
Since 1884 there has been a great change
in the relative value of silver-a change
such as had never before occurred in his
tory. The white metal has been falling in
the markets of the world. The change be-
gan about 80 years ago, and was due to the
new impulse given to mining by the dis
covery of gold in California. When our
first coinage law was enacted in 1892
the amount OF silver taken annually from
the mines was very small. Gold had the
precedence. The silver dollar at 1898 to
was really little better than the standard
gold dollar, while today the ratio is about
81 grains of silver to one grain of gold;
that is, the silver dollar of today is worth
but very little more than half what it
was worth in 1884. The abundant supply
has lowered the price; for in the matter of
price the precious metals follow the same
law as other commodities. A great corn
crop reduces the price to II cents bushel,
and, in the same way, the large harvests of
silver send the price down one-half or
thereabout. The gain in the quantity of
silver is relatively much greater than in
that of gold, so that the results of the mine
have been driving the values in the two
metals wide asunder. Hence, to go back
to the silver dollar Of the fathers is to i'm
pose false valuation. With the fathers,
1898 grains of silver were worth one grain
of gold. With us it takes 81 grains OF sill
yer to equal one of gold. A silver dollar
today is worth only about half as much as
was a silver dollar so years ago.
why do we retain in the coinage the ratio
of 1898 to 1? Why do we not make the
ratio 81 to 1? We should be obliged to do
so if the silver coinage was unlimited or
made legal tender for all debts. But, in
fact, our monetary system is based on gold
Gold is the standard. Silver is used only
as a subsidiary coinage, for the conven-
fence of the people. 1t is issued in the
first place in small quantities; and, in the
second place, it is a legal tender, in the
payment of debts, to the amount of only
ten five dollars. For any debt above ten
dollars the debtor can demand gold or it's
equivalent. Used in this limited way, it
makes very little difference whether the
silver coins are at the ratio of 1898 to l, or
of 81 to /.
What the Democratic platform proposes
is quite different matter. 1t proposes to
coin silver at the ratio of 10 to that is,
it proposes to issue silver coin worth
about SO cents and TO stamp it 81; or, in
other words, it proposes to brand the white
metal with lie on the face of it. 1t pro-
poses to oblige the government to tell the
lie and place under it its own countersign.
This is establishing untruth by law. If
the platform went no farther the case
would not be so bad as it really is. But
the platform does not stop here. Having
made its cheap dollar it would oblige every
debtor to accept, TO meet his claim, the
SO cent dollar to cancel an obligation for
100 cents. That is to say, the platform
would make the deprecated silver dollar a
legal tender for all debts. 1t would be an
ex-post facto law, retroactive, changing the
values in past obligations. Besides this,
the coinage of silver is to be "free and I'M
limited"
At present no private coinage of silver is
allowed the government purchases what
ever is needed to be used in subsidiary
coinage. When individuals were allowed
to bring silver to the mint on their own ac-
count, the mint made charge in the shape
of seigniorage. The new order would be
to allow anyone to bring silver bullion to
the mint and have it coined into dollars
and the fractions of dollars without any
charge for the mintage. But the most as
founding proposal of all is the issue of this
baser money in unlimited quantities. OF
course, under this rule, the largest quantity
possible would be coined; for the mint
would appreciate every mans money near
ly one-half. Out in the markets he could
obtain for his 371.50 grains of silver only
SO cents, but the mintage would make that
SO cents equivalent in debt-paying to 100
cents. One can readily see that gold would
have no chance in such a competition.
Gold would at once retire, and we should
have cheap silver in place of our present
gold standard. The process would be to
Mexicanize the currency of our country in
a day. The process, too, would scale down
Ill 1al.N IL II n