Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-07-15
What 1T Means.

In answer to query, The Milwau-
kee Sentinel of Monday gives the. fol
lowing concise explanation of what is
meant by the clause, owe demand
the tree and unlimited coinage Of both
silver ana gold at the present legal
ratio of 16 to l." as contained In
the Democratic platform adopted
last week:
The language of the Chicago plat
form is so explicit that it does not
seem to require explanation unless to
those who do not yet understand
what is meant by the ratio of Is to
/. 1t appears that there are still
many such persons, in spite of all
that has been written and published
on the subject during the past score
of years. An official Of one of the
tanks of this city tells us that he is
almost daily asked to explain it, and
th,tC be frequently meets persons who
think that the ratio Of 16to l means
tilt Is silver dollars shall be coined
for every gold dollar.
Once more, therefore, we shall eX-
plain that the ratio of 16 to l means
that, for coinage purposes, 16 ounces
of silver shall be reckoned as equal
in value to one ounce of gold. Hith
erto, when governments have at
tempted to fix a coinage ratio be-
tween the two metals, the effort has
been to ascertain their market value
as bullion, and to make the bullion
in the silver dollar for instance CORE
spond to the bullion value OF the
gold dollar. Thus the first coinage
law OF the United States provided
for a ratio of l ) to L, that being the
relative value OF the two metals then.
But the bullion value of silver and
gold has always been subject to
changes, though never so great as in
the past twenty years. 1t was soon
found that the ratio Of l 5 to l under
valued gold by small percentage,
and that all gold was therefore ex-
ported or boarded. Then, in 1884,
the ratio was changed to 16 to l,
ratio that soon proved to slightly
undervalue silver, and silver coins
were then exported and could not be
kept in circulation. Wehad free and
unlimited coinage of gold and silver,
as the Chicago platform demands, at
the legal ratio OF. Is to L from 1884
to 1878; in other words, any person
having gold or silver bullion could
take it to the mint and havei coined
into American dollars free of charge,
receiving back the same weight ofgold
or silver that he deliyered to the mint.
But nobody took silver bullion to the
mint Tor coinage, the reason being that
it was worth, in comparison with gold,
slight percentage more than accord
ed by the ratio of 16 to l.
In 1878 the coinage laws were re-
vised, the gold dollar made the unit
Of value, and the provision for the free
coinage of silver dropped. At
the time, neither silver nor gold
were IN circulation, our curren-
cy being exclusively composed of
irredeemable and huctuatlng paper.
Subsequently, owing chiefly to the
enormous and uneXampled produc-
ton Of silver, the bullion value of that
metal began rapidly to decline, and it
Is now worth only about one-half its
former price. The demand of the Chi
cago platform is for the restoration
OF free coinage, not upon the basis of
a new ratio corresponding to the mar
ket value OF the metals, but upon the
old ratio which overvalues silver by
nearly 100 per cent. The result of
course would be to expel gold from
the country, to give US the silver
standard, and to reduce the value of
all our paper currency, now at par
with gold, by the difference between
the gold and the silver standard.