The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1903-01-08
Stopping Gold Coinage.

From I'll. CpmmDnrr.
Director Of the Mint Roberts in
his annual report recommends that
we stop the coinage of gold He says
that tn" gold coin OF the couutryin
now entering almost entirely into
storage and he insists that the coin.
age OF the entire annual deposit is
uunCr"~. uY He argues that the
$500, 900 600 of coined gold in the
treasury is more than will be called
for in II generation aud he thinks
that it would be better to Issue Ger.
tihcatrS against gold bars.
This public recommendation,
taken in connection with an 0hjec-
ton which the director urged pri.
vatcly against the encouraging of
gold production by the establish
mcnt of new assay offices, would
indicate that the hnancicrs aud
their sympathi2crs are fearful that
gold will become too plentiful.
While many of the advocates of the
gold standard suppose that the gold
dollar has II fixed aud interchangeable
value the great financial magnatps
know that the purchasing power OF
a dollar depends upon the number
of dollars and, being interested in
dear mouy rather than in higher
prices, they will oppose the free
coinage of gold as Strendously as
they did the free coinage of silver
whenever they think that the
worlds production of yellow metal
is likely to bring aid to the debtor
class, They can look compliment.
~ upon an indefinite increase in
the purchasing power of the dollar
but they become alarmed at the
thought of II decrease.
Six years ago Il bankers mag.
azlne of London suggested that it
might become necessary to limit
the coinage Of gold TO prevent the
dollar from getting cheap and we
may expect the suggestion to be
acted upon if the gold production
become much larger. The gold
coinage of the United States drop
ped about $3S, 900, 600 during the .
past car;$l4 ,4j2 600 in gold was
withdrawn from the treasury for
use III the arts, ana TO this must be .
added the indefinite amount secured
by the melting of gold coin. When
it is remembered that this only
represents the consumption of one
nation il will he seen that a con
siderable proportion of the gold
production OF the world is diverted
from coinage to use as merchandise.
The total supply of gold coins is
also depleted by lost coins and bv
abrasiOu--a loss so great that the
quantity OF gold coin in existence
today in the entire world is con-
siderably less than the gold pro-
duction since lS4S. In other
words, the savings OF all the ages
prior to the great Discoveries of lS49
have disappeared.
Over nineteen million silver dol.
lars were coined last year lat the
ratio of 16 to without waiting for
the aid or consent of any other ma.
tom but the silver bullion in the
Treasury is now nearly exhausted
and the coinage of silver dollars
will soon cease.
The director of the mint suggests
that the limit on subsidiary coinage
be removed. He probably has in
contemplation the passage of the
bill (already passed by the house
Of representatives. authorizing the
recoinage of silver dollars
into subsidiary coin. :
II the readers of the Commoner
will watch the movements of the
inanciers they will find evidence
" persistent effort to lessen the
'olume Of legal tender money-a
,art of the gold standard plan to {
make gold the only legal tender and
'ank notes the only credit money.