Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1896-10-30
THE SILVER QUESTION .NAMvrsHeLl

THE SILVER QUESTION INANUTsHELL
Free Coinage Of Bricks would Not Raass
Their Price.
Did you ever stop to think what
would be the result il the government
should BY lesislation determine that or
dinary building bricks 2 BY by 8
inches in size should be legal tender in
any amount for 81 each and should ar
range to have them 10 stamped In any
quantity free Of cost to the persons pre-
senting them?
Under such circumstances the prioo
Of building bricks would at onoe advance
to el, 900 . thousand, for Il they could
be COINED" without cost the bricks
'uncoined" would be worth just ~
much a the COINED" bsicks-el each.
But did it ever occur 20 you that IL
would not be an advance in the value Of
the bricks, but . decrease In the value
Of the dollars. which would thus estab-
-lish Q new "parity between money and
property" that under such . system
$1,000 would be worth only 1000
bricks; that that 1000 bricks would
exchange Tor no more commodities OF
labor than it does today, and conse-
quently that $1,000 would mean no
moro to US than 1000 bricks do now?
In other words, cur government can
determine BY legislation what commod-
ity and what amount OF that commodity
81 shall be, but it must leave it to the
laws Of comparative supply and de-
mand. cost .6 production, etc. to de-
termine what the value Of thar COM
modify shall bc 1t may declare that a
brick shall be dollar, in which case
81 will be worth whatever brick will
exchange for. 1t may declare that 49, 8
grains Of gold shall be a dollar, in
which case 81 will be worth whatever
25.8 grains Of gold will exchange for.
or it may declare that 4121s grains Of
silver shall be dollar. in which case 81
will be worth only what 4121e grains of
silver will exchange for. the same to-
day as 50.3 cents in gold, or, "giving
the debtor the option" as to what dollar
he shall use with which to pay his
debts, it may declare that each Of these
three shall be dollar, in which case
81 will be worth just as much as the
least valuable of the three. which under
present conditions would be the brick.
IL Carroll Root.
Silver Inferior to Gold.
Silver is inferior to gold as stand
ard for measuring value, and 1t has
become in the last twenty years much
less fitted for the purpose than it was
before on account of a decrease in the
cost of producing it, and correspond
ing increase in the amount produced,
with consequent fluctuations in it's val
Ie which have constantly tended down.
ward. This can be shown by the ac-
cepted results of DIR. Soetbeer's studies
down to 1885, and the reports of the di-
rector of the United States mint FOR
the recent years.
There is really no fixed relation be-
tween the ratio of production and the
ratio of value for the two metals, be-
cause there are other elements besides
supply to determine the value of each,
the most important being the demand
for other uses than coinage. A much
larger and much more variable proper
tion of silver is now used in the arts,
and of two valuable articles that
which is obtainable in the smaller
amount and at the greater cost is less
subject to variation in value, all the
more so when the supply of it is more
steady. However much truth there
may be in the claim that gold itself
varies in relation to other products, 1t
is certain that silver varies more, and
that In the last twenty years the di-
Nergence from the old relation has been
mainly, If not wholly, a depreciation
In silyer. 1t should be kept in mind
in making these comparisons that the
most important of all qualities in a
standard of value is stability of value
in its own substance.
The average annual production of
gold in the world during the thirty
years after the discovery of America
was less than 100000 ounces, valued
at about $4,OOO,OsO. During the same
period the average annual production
of silver was about 100000 ounces,
with a coinage value of about $2,OOO,-
600. The ratio Of production by weight
was IL gold to 50 silver, and by value
664 gold to 1876 silver, and the ratio at
market value of the two metals was
about 1915 to for the same weight.
The average annual production of gold
increased steadily and almost regu-
larly from 1921 to 1910, and for the de-
cade ending with the last named year
had reached only 652, ,291 ounces, val
ued ut $13,4S4,OOO. The supply of sill
yer had increased with much less
regularity and in considerably larger
proportion, and the average from 1880
to 1910 was 19,175,s67 ounces, valued
at $24, 1885, 600. The ratio of produc-
ton had varied between a gold to 92.G
silver, and IL gold to 9S.3 silver in
weight, and between $50 gold to AL
silver, and % gold to 78 silver in value.
The ratio of one metal to the other in
market value for the same weight had
gradually changed from 1915 to 1 in
1920 to 1925 to In 1920, IA to in 1910,
and Is to in 1860. The fuctuation
from that time to 1910 had been be-
tween the lines of 14.14 to and 1926
fn -Novx, vO,slr VC1vnoc