The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1896-08-11
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A PLAIN STATEMENT,
Whet Is Meant by Free and Unlimited Coin
ago ut tho Ratio of Slxteen to Ono.

What Is Meant by Free and Unlimited Coin
age at the Ratio OF Sixteen to Ono.
Not at nll infrequontly even yet the
query department of The Sunday News
is called upon to explain what is meant
by free and unlimited coinage at tho r,,-
ito of 10 TO 1.
Occasionally there is q question which
botrays depth of ignorance most faith
lmloss. The News has received one
and from small town in Colorado at
that-which makes us believe That q
statement of the familiar facts will be
of value in some quarters. In effect It
is as follows:
IA. bets B. that 16 to means that the
mints shall coin 10 silver dollars for
every gold dollar they coin. b. bets that
it means there shall be 1G pGr is of pure
silver to part Of alloy in each silver
dollar Which wins2"
Neither of these notions has anything
to do with the meaning of the express
sion ''16 to f." 1t means that tho
weight of pure gold in gold dollar
shall bo 1922 grains and the weight of
pure silver iu d silver dollar shall be
371 % grains It will be seen that the
weight of silver in silver dollar is
within trifling fraction Of 10 times
the weight of gold in gold dollar, the
ratio being called for convenience 16
to l.
The act of 1937-for free and unlim.
itcd coinage at this rutio-provided
that gold and silver bullion brought to
the mint should be received and coined
for the benefit of the depositor. Tho
coinage was free and unlimited, because
any person might bring any quantity Of
gold cr silver bullion of the standard
degree Of inencss to the mint and TO.
cei' Z for it gold or silver coins. The
OILY charges permitted were for rcfin-
ing when the bullion was below stand.
ard, for toughening when metals were
contained in it which rendered it unfit
for coinage, for copper used for alloy
when introduced into the alloy for gold
and for separating gold and silver when
those metals exist together in the bull
lion. All of these charges relate to tho
conversion of bullion into the exact
kind of bullion suitable for coinage.
BY the act Of Feb. al, 1868, the right
of individuals to have silver coined in.
to half dollars, quarter dollars, dimes
and half dimes was taken away, the
quantity of silver put into such coins
was reduced, their unlimited legal ten
der quality was reduced to limit Of
So, and tie government went into the
making Of them as u business, which
was profitable because uf the less guam
tity of silver put into them. The silver
dollar was not mentioned in this act.
The public retained the full right to
bring bullion to the mint and have il
coined into standard silver dollars, and
the silver dollar retained its quality as
an unlimited legal tender, which il
holds to this day. This act of Feb. 81,
1853, established mintago charge of
ono-half of per cent on all gold and
silver whether coined or run into ingots
on account Of dcpositors, in addition to
the charge for refining or parting the
metals contained in the act Of 1887.
Thus the matter stood until the pas,
sage Of the act of Fob. IL, 1878, which
established the gold dollar as tho unit
of value and dcmonotized silver by
omitting the standard silver dollar from
the list Of coins Until that day any
person might bring standard silver bul.
lion 000 degrees fine to the mint and
sor cach 37l,25 grains Of pure silver
therein obtain silver dollar, paying
only one-half per cent coinage charge.
If he brought pure silver to the mint
instead Of standard bullion, nine-tenths
fine, he would have to pay cents an
ounce for tho copper alloy. II 600
ounces Of pure silver were deposited at
the mint, it would coin 646 dollars.
There would be 5000 ounces Of copper
required fer alloy, which would cost
81. IL. Tho one-half per cent for coin
age would be SO. 23, which would maln
tho total charge at the mint $4.84 on
GAG dollars.
Through ignorance or malico. tho
statement is frequently made that un-
der free coinage the owners Of silver
mines would sell their product to the
government. Pictures are drawn Of tho
government vaults choked with silvor |
which it would be unable to force into |
circulation. This idea has probably |
grown out Of the acts Of 1878 and 1890,
both Of which provided not for FREQ
coinage, but for purchase by the United
States Of limited amount of silver
each month, the dollars coined there
from on the notes issued in payment
therefor not being legal tender when
specified in the contract. I'M
der free coinage the government would
not purchase the silver coined into dol
lars. Itwould simply coin the silver for
brought it to the mint and |
hand the coin over to the person who
brought tho silver. --Donycr News
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ncpublIoanism Eight ana E'S=s Year, ago.
"Tho American people. from tradition
and interest. are in favor of bimetallism
and demand tho nEe of both gold ind
silver as standard money" said the Re
publican platform OF eight years ago |