The Farmington times. [volume] (Farmington, Mo.) 1874-1902, 1899-01-19

The argument for this ratio given by
MIR. Bryan ia his speech here is thai no
practical action can be obtained on the
election Of Democratic President aud
Congress, unless tbs President and Con-
grcssmeH elected arc all committed 10
given ratio. lie very correctly says
that II tho ratio Is left open 10 the
platform we will have some In favor of
lG TO /, others 20 TO /, others 23 to
/, aud others possibly 80 to /. That
all this would result in iulerision, Ia.
action aud anal defeat.
/ Had Mr.. Bryan given more of bis
speech 10 this subject he would no
doub, have given other and more
,Tenchcnt reasons for the party stand
Ing firm for the ratio Of 10 TO /. BE-
lIcying that what the readers Of your
paper want is further reasons and iusti-
iication for the ratio ai l6 TO !, |
called today ON Mr. W. II. Harvey.
author of s'Coin's Financial School, ~
aud asked him to tell TIC what the
reasons are.
"DBc reason, said Mr.. Harvey, isis
that as you Increase the ratio beyond
i6, yus ;:sas; either enlarge the size of
the silver coins or Lesson the size OF
the gold coins. All DOR present silver
dollars are 10 times the weight Of the
gold dollar The exact ratio is 1898,
but we say lG to for convenience.
What Is meant by ratio l. thai our sill
yer dollars are i6 times ;ke weight Of
our gold dollars. All our metallic
money DOW In existence bears that rel
alive weight, silver 20 gold. 10 change
the ratio means the recoining OF all the
coins made Of one Of the metals. III
the change Is made Ia the gold coins Il
would be by recoinIng all of the gold
coins aud making them proporiionately
lighier--one twentieth, or e-thiriiCth
the weight of tie present silver dollar,
according &C - Sc: Fs;iv was agreed on. "
"Aud the other way" asked.
''Is," he continued, 'to increase
the size of the silver coins. II mean,
ihc calling 10 oi the silver eoinz and
recoining them all, making them big. |
ger aud heavier--tweniy, or twenty |
five, or thirty, or thiuy-three times as
heavy as the gold dollar. II you in.
crease the size Of the silver coins the
expense of recoinIng them viii be very
great as compared with rccoiaing Tho
gold coins, us the silver coins outnnm.
Der the gold coins about 100 to l."
"Do you mean" asked, .'that
there Is 500 Of silver 10 circulation 10
81 of gold7"
"No," he replied, ''there are no,
Ms many dollars In silver coin IA gold,
bat the dimes, quarters, halves and
dollars in existence make about one
hundred pieces 10 one piece of gold
that has been issued. The gold coins
are fvcs, tens aud tweutics. There
are no dollar gold pieces, though Il L.
made by law the unit Of value. BY
act of Congress they are NJ longer
coined, for the reason that they are too
small TO be popular OF admit Of use
The law provides for "a 2.i0 grains
of gold as the unit of value. and yet Il
Is impraetic4blc To make the unit. So,
when yon consider tha. the gold coins
are all hves and over, and She silver
coins are 5ite aeliars aud less, you can
see bow there are something like one
hundred Of the latter to one piece of
F'le former. And the eesf Of recoining
the silver would be one hundred times
As great as rccoiuing the gold coins :" !.
"Thcre is Ia the world" continued
Mr.. Harvey" l6 90 about the
same quantity Of silver as gold. This
i mn admitted fact BY both sides.
What mean Is. tA.s dellas .as dollar, Il
with the silver dollar weighing sixteen h
lines as much a. the gold dollar, :,
here Ia In the world about 81 ,Oo0,- :
BOO, 600 of caeh--gold and silver. Toi ii
iiate II another way: There IL by .
weigh. sixteen times as much silver in !,
he world as there Is gold. moi twenty =
iiacs, nor twenty-five times, nor thirty !
lines as much, but sixteen times ~ !,
n .ith, by weight, OF silver to that VI :.
sold. Aud when coined into money at /,
he ratlo Ut weight u iG TO | il makes !,
Substantially the same number Of dol \
airs vi each metal, WHEN tho same !,
Srisiicga Il given 10 silver by posFcr. \,
ri natipn IKE the United States, that .
goid caioys, nj the ratio Of 16 to 1,lu
he comnieaeial values Of The two met r
d will resume shair former relation,
Nth the silvssr In silver dolI4r prau-
ieally OF the sanie commercial raine
the metal 10 the little mythical goid !.
NIL, or dollar
''aat Is the United States big enough L
. exert this infIuencea" asked. !,
.'The Standard Oh Company axes =
he price ii oil the world over. The !,
'nserican Sugar Refinery fixes the price :,
| sugar. Surely the Unism STATES Ii
lgger than either Of thcsc CONCERNS.
nd can Ak thg price .; sssyrr the worid ii
vrr. \ u simple problem when q
10 ufldsrstansis h. Bus,ss no con- ~
ndsd, n have not set sivsn Jon the III
rtaciral reason fx tho ratio 81 sI6la
, I.ssf 4.
ssAHd that is-~ssss I.
"Thas II shs rasio 4 Increased " ii
'coining TN silver ecins. . ths e.
~ thAt yoa rsiso Tho sntto. you Iessca
. a1antlly q nsesaliio nseer, md 4 II
p fsslen Icw psices ~ ~ pupSts. | u
BE- esils TINT dsnoustl axlf1n. hasl =
Ugh VIA = 40 IssF efless Is rsop- / q