Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-09-17
COINAGE AND RATIO.
SCIENCE OF METALLIC MONEY
IN BRIEF.
Il Is Free Coinage That Fixes the Price
of Gold as Well as Silver-Closing
MINIS Depreciates Bullion but Not
the Coin OF Great Country.


ito of our present silver and gold coins.
To increase the ratio would necessi-
tate the recoinage of our present silver
dollars into a less number of dollars.
For instance II the ratio were made
80 to / our present four hundred mil
lion silver dollars would be recoined
into only two hundred million dollars.
II 1t were proposed to diminish the
ratio and make ounces OF silver
equal in value to one ounce or gold
then our present silver dollars would
be coined into twice as many dollars.
The money power fight the coinage OF
silver because 1t means more money
and therefore cheaper dollars OF all
kinds. They would all the more Dit
terly fight to l because that would
mean a much larger increase in money
volume than 16 to 1. Besides their
objection to a diminished ratio there
may be another objection, says the
Missouri World. The United States
bonds call for coin of the weight ana
fineness at the time of their issue. A
reduction in the weight of the silver
dollar would probably enable the bond
holder to lawfully refuse to take IL.
1t has been claimed that even an IN
crease in the weight of the silver dol
lar would render it non-legal tender
for bond payments.
These are the reasons for 16 to l.
There are no other arguments 1or
that ratio now. Formerly when
France and some other European ma
lions coined silver free the ratio here
should have been fixed with some re-
gard to the ratio there. Their ratio
was 151e to and if they should reopen
their minis to free coinage at that rate,
our mints If reopened at 16 to l would
get little to do, for at 151a to 1 silver
is worth $1.32 an ounce, while at 10
to l it is worth only S1.29. The minis
Of France would pay three cents an
ounce more for silver than the United
States would. That was the case when
the United States and France both mad
free coinage, hence there were COM
paratively few silver dollars coined in
the United States during that time.
When a great governments minis
offer a price for limited article like
silver, that price will be substantially
the price the world over. But take all
mint markets away from gold and sill
yer and what their ratio would be no
man can tell. Maybe so to l. maybe z
to 1. The ratio would be changeable.
It might be 1 to l and later to l,
Just like the ratio between corn and
wheat. Net long ago corn and wheat
sold in this market at about the same
price per pound-the ratio was about
1 to 1, but now it is about a to L
four bushels of corn equal in value to
one bushel of wheat. If there was no
mint market then the recent gold dis
coyeries in Alaska would make gold
cheaper as compared to silver, but with
a mint market for gold and none for
silver, gold as compared with silver
Is getting dearer every day. A year
ago gold was worth $20.67 per ounce
troy and silver about 10 cents; now
after the Klondike discoveries, gold is
still worth $2O.67, while silver has
fallen to SIC. The minis of the United
States are. still paying at the rate of
s2O.67 an ounce for gold, hence the
price cannot get below that, whereas
silver with no mint market in any
great commercial nation, continues to
20 down, and may go to ten cents an
ounce. If all the minis should cease
to buy gold, the boys would come
back from Klondike in hurry, for the
uncoined yellow metal would probably
not be worth more than fifty cents an
ounce, but the coined gold would still
be worth s20.67 per ounce. United
States coined silver is still worth S1.29
per ounce, though the uncoined goes at
46 cents an ounce. If the Alaska gold
hunters should find the mountain of
gold which some seem to believe ex-
lists there, the coinage of gold would
be stopped without delay by all the
nations now coming gold, but the gold
coin would still be worth $2067. We
would see an ounce of coined gold
with $2067 at all times and an ounce
Of uncoined gold worth fifty or sixty
cents, with an uncertain and fluctuat-
ip0 marriott