Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1896 — WHAT IT MEANS. [ARTICLE]

WHAT IT MEANS.

freecoinage of silver atthe RATIO OF 16 To 1"Tlio Conw<luence W?hd<l lie the Decline of the 2‘urcliasing I*ower of a Silver Dollar to Ou« Half What it will Buy ut Present. A silver dollar weighs sixteen^timeses much as a gold dollar. This is. ;i whac is meant by the coinage of silver “.*.t the ratio of 16 to 1,” “Free” coinage of silver means that silver bullion when brought to the mint, shall be coined into dollars at the ex-pense-of the United States government, without cost to the owner. By the “unlimited” coinage of silver is meant that all the silver. American or foreign, brought to any of our mints shall be so coined, at the owner’s demand. When the ratio of 1G to 1 was established by the government, sixteen ounces of silver bullion were worth, in the market, just as much as one ounce of gold bullion. A silver: dollar and a gold dol- " Jar were then worth precisely the same before they were coined, when they were coined, or after they were melted. The face value of a silver dollar was its actual viilhe. But of left* years pure silver lias„ de.iCliped in value, so that now the commercial l.atio, instead of being 10 to 1, is about 31 to 1. That is to say, an ounce of gold bullion is' exchangeable for thirty-one ounces of silver buljjon, instead of being exchangeable for only sixteen ounces of silver bullion, as it formerly was. Silver bullion is thus worth in gold only about half ns, much as it was when the coinage ratio was made 10 to 1. A silver dollar, with the stamp of the government upon it, passes for more than it is worth, just us a paper dollar passes for more than the . paper upon which it is printed is worth. The credit of the government is behind the paper dollar, and the credit of the government is behind the silver dollar. The United' ♦State government lends its credit to ev‘ cry man with an American silver dollar in his pocket, so that he can pay 100 £ents of debt with 53 cents’ worth of silver. But the credit of the government is not behind the uncoined silver, in the form of bullion. Therefore the bullion is exchangeable forjrther commodities only to the amount of its Actual or intrinsic value. The "free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1” means, therefore, that the government of the United States, instead of pledging its credit for the niaiiilcnauee of a limited amount of coined silver at parity with gold, shall pledge its credit for the maintenance of, sin unlimited amount of silver, now worth only 31 to 1. at a parity with gold, at a ratio of 10 to 1. By this the United States would undertake to double the value of every ounce of silver, coined or uncoined, in the world, and extend an invitation to ail the nations to send their surplus silver here to be coined into silver dollars at a ratio of 16 to 1. These silver dollars, if coined ill an unlimited quantity, Would not be worth as much as gold dollars, because it is the credit of the government which makes those w<- now have equal ill |nirehnsing power to a gold dollar, and the credit of the government is not without limit. “Unlimited” coinage- of silver would exhaust its credit, by exhausting its power to redeem its (pledge to maintain silver at a parity with gold, at the ratio of 10 to 1. The consequence would be that the silver dollar would soon decline in purchasing power to the commercial value of the bullion it contains, and would be worth little, if any, more than half-a-dollar in gold. As all private and public debts not explicitly payable in gold would then be payable in these half-rate dollars. oiir gold would disappear from err- •' dilation and would quickly be drawn out of the country iti paying our obligations and purchases from gold-using countries where our silver coins would not be accepted. As a consequence we should in a few months lose all of our $012,000,000 of gold, leaving us with a much contracted and greatly depreciated currency. A disastrous panic would ensue, followed by the suspension of thousands of factories and business houses, u general —business -collapse, and the loss of employment by hundreds of thousands of wageearners and laborers. Under our present monetary system, and until the agitation for the free coinage of silver became a dangerous men-ace-to-buaincss and labor, we had the most prosperous years ever known in American history.