Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 February 1920 — Money and Value [ARTICLE]

Money and Value

More in Silver Coin Than Appears on Face of it

The person who doesn’t know much about monetary science finds certain facts which puzxle him. If he has among his souvenirs, for instance, a perfectly good trade dollar, plainly stamped “420 grains," he may find it refused if he attempts to use it as legal tender. It is quoted in the coin market at something less than half a dollar. Yet he knows that an ounce of silver, which contains only 480 grains, is worth on the market upward of 51.86. T'He silver in that coin, then, has a market value of about $1.20. Or perhaps he gets "stuck” with a coin of Canada, . containing a less abundant weight of silver, but practically equal to United States coins of the same denomination; it is refused or he has to pass it at a discount. Yet this also has more than Its face value of silver. Silver that two years ago was worth only 50 cents an ounce is today headed for $1.40 an ounce, apparently. Knowing that when silver is at $1.30 or higher there is money in melting any of our coins for the metal, our financial powers are worried. At any time they may wake up to discover that silver currency has disappeared from circulation. There’s more money in it than appears on the face of it —Hartford Times.