Sixteen To One What It Means

"What is the meanini: of all this talk about free coiuage and sixteen to one. ?" Tliis question was put by a Western farmer to the cashier of his bank. The reply was: - "Why, John, it means in this part of tlie country there are sixteen fools to one man of sense." Farmers are not the only persons who are asking this question. Letters are every day received by the Herald from otherwise intelligent men of varioua occupations requesting a plain explanaof the phrase "sixteen to one." Álthough most readers are throughly familiar with the controversy, it may be well to briefly outline the facts for the benefit of those who are only now iwakening to its importance. The pure silver in the big dollar weighs about sixteen times as mueh as the pure gold in the gold dollar. The exact weights are 23.22 grains of gold and 371.25 grains of silver. Henee "sixteen to one." When the mint was founded Hamilton and Jefferson agreed that a pound of gold was worth in the markets about fifteen pounds of silver, and accordingly the ratio for the coinage at first was made fifteen to one. Auybody could bring as much of either metal as he pleased to the mints and have it stamped into coins. This free or unlimited coinage of both metáis is called bimetallism, and the country was said to have a doublé standard of values. The bullion in either dollar was intrinsically worth as much before being coined as it was afterward, but the government's mint stamp was a guarantee of the weight and fineness of the metal and made it a legal tender. Subsequently it was found that fifteen pounds of silver were not worth as much as a pound of gold, and in order to conform to the relative market value of the metáis Cougress decided that the silver dollar should thereafter weigh sixteen times as much as the gold dollar. In doing this Congress went to the other extreme and put too low an estímate on silver. The European nations composing the Latin Union made their coining ratio fifteen and one-half to one, and the owner of silver here would not exchange sixteen pounds of it for one pound of gold becanse he could obtain the same thing in Europe for fifteen and a half pounds of his silver. In other words, the quantity of silver in a dollar was worth inore than one hundred cents. Consequently holders of silver bullion ceased to send it the United States mints and the silver dohars previously coined were hoarded. When the mint laws were revised in 1873 the provisión for the free coinage of silver dollars was dropped. This attracted little attention at the time because none of these dollars had been in circulation for a generation ; and, in fact, only eight millions of tliein in all had been coined from the foundation of the governinent up to that time. Owiug to the discovery of new mines the world's production of silver began to steadily increase, and the price cnnsequently began to decline, and tlie European nations were in self-defence compelled to close theirmints igainstfurther free coinage of tlie depreciated metal. While silver was liigh tlie mine owners cared nothing about the mint, but when it got so low that a ponnd of gold would buy seveuteen ponnds of silver in the market these gentlemen began to clamor for a restoration of the privilege of selling to the American people, through the mint, at the old ratio of sixteen to one. It was then that they discovered that the act of 1873 was a "crime." As a concession to them the Bland law was passed, under which nearly four hundred niillioii silver dollars were coined, the Treasury, houever, buying the bullion for this purpose at its marke valne. In 1890 the Sherman law was passed, compelling the Treasury to buy 140 toiis of silver every month and issue notes in paymeut. This produced the panic of 1893, and was then repealed. As a result of these laws we have coined or issued nearly six hundred ïnillion dollars of silver. Despite all tliese purchases by the Treasury the price of silver Bteadily feil. To-day it takes about thirty pounds of silver to buy a pound of gold, hut the free coinage advocates deinand that the government - tliat is to say, the people - shall take sixteen pouuds of silver as the equivalent of a pound of gold. When the 371J gnrains of silver that go to make a bis dollar were worth more than a hundred cent the mine owners sold their product in Europe. Now that 371% grains are worth about fifty-three cents they insist that the government shall stamp it into a dollar and shall opeu the mints to all the silver in the world at this