Full text of The Money Question of the 53rd Congress : Silver : Speech of Hon. Lewis Sperry of Connecticut, Debate in the House of Representatives, v.5, H-Z

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SILTEE.

SPEECH
Off

HON. LEWIS SPERRY,
OF

CONNECTICUT,

IK 'I'M*1?

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,




MONDAY, AUGUST 21,1893.

WASHINGTON".

1893.




Sllrer.
S P E E C H
OF

H O N .

L E W I S
OF

S P E 1 1 E Y ,

CONNECTICUT,

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Monday, August iUs 1893.

The House having under consideration the bill (H. R. 1) to repeal a part of
an act, approved July 14,1890, entitled "An act directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for other purposes'
Mr. S P E R R Y said:
Mr. SPEAKER: W e have been called here in extraordinary
session for the purpose of repealing a law the provisions of which
have brought the country to-day into a panio the like of which,
we have not seen for twenty years.
For one, and speaking for the constituency which I represent
I am in favor of the unconditional repeal of the purchasing clause
of that law; and in making this statement I will not qualify it by
saying that I am a free-silver man or that I am a bimetallism
Y e t I believe I could say I come nearer to being a bimetallist
than that wing of the Democratic party who stand here proclaiming that they are bimetallists and demanding the free coinage of silver upon a ratio whioh will not permit anything but
silver to circulate in this country.
If we are to choose, Mr. Speaker, between the two standards,
gold or silver (which seems to be really about the issue presented
to-day), I announce that as between those two metals I am a gold
man.

I believe that this country can not undertake to carry a

standard differing from that of the other great commercial countries of the world; that it can not undertake to maintain the free
coinage of silver upon a ratio different from the commercial
ratio in this country and in the markets of the world.
383




3

4
W e have heard much, Mr. Speaker, about the demonetization
of silver, which it is said was brought about in 1873 by stealth.
W e are told that members of both branches of Congress did not
know what they were voting: for when they voted for that act.
I have read the history of that legislation; and, in my judgment,
Mr. Speaker, it was a premeditated act.

The proposition had

been brought before Congress by several Secretaries of the Treasury during several previous years, and had been considered by
two or three or four different Congresses before the bill was
finally passed.
On this subject I desire to read briefly from the remarks of
Hon. Mr. Kelley of Pennsylvania, then a member of this House,
who stated the reasons why he favored a reminting law which
should drop the silver dollar out of our coinage; and the reasons he then gave for that measure are precisely the reasons
now urged by gentlemen here for restoring the silver dollar to
wit, because existing conditions are supposed to operate favorably to Wall street, or the " money power."

He urged as a rea-

son for that legislation the fact that the bullion brokers of New
York were making money out of the Government by the coinage of a silver dollar the intrinsic value of which was in excess
of its coinage value. Mr. Kelley said:
It is a bill prepared at the suggestion and under the supervision of the
Treasury Department, and now comes to us revised with much care by the
Committee on Coinage, "Weights, and Measures, exclusive of the chairman,
his absence being accounted for by the reasons I have given.
Let me, Mr. Speaker, hastily point out some of the interests that are on
this floor seeking to protect themselves by preventing the passage of this
bill. One silver bullion dealer of New York, during the last Congress, admitted to the gentleman who is now acting as chairman of the committee
in charge of the bill that nnder one defect in existing laws he was making at
the cost of the Government from seventy-five thousand to one hundred
thousand dollars a year. * * * His profits—and he is but one of those
who are growing fat and greedy upon the defects in our mint laws—arise in
this way: Our country, like every other civilized Government, should procure its own metal out of which to make subsidiary coinage.
Now, sir, every coin of ours that is not gold is subsidiary. Our silver dollar, half dollar, and every other coin that is not gold is subsidiary. As gentlemen seem to express surprise at this proposition I repeat that silver coin
is subsidiary. The half dollar is not worth 50 cents, All other governments p^,y the expense of'minting by the difference between the intrinsic
value of subsidiary coins and the value at which they circulate and at which
the government redeemsthem.
And such was the law of this country until, by a ruling of Mr. Guthrie,
when he was Secretary of the Treasury, the Mint was ordered to receive silver from private individuals and coin it. Now, it so happens that a constit303




5
uent of the gentleman from New York has been taking advantage of that
ruling and deposited silver to he made into half dollars and other silver coins;
and for every $2 worth of silver deposited by him he gets four half dollars
and one 10-cent piece, or the equivalent thereof. He has, as he stated to my
colleague I Mr. Hooper of Massachusettsl and myself, been doing a business
of from eighteen hundred thousand to two million dollars per annum, giving
him as profit an annual income equal to the salary of the President for the
Presidential term. * * *
Again, sir. by a mistake in our law it has become impossible to retain an
American silver dollar in this country except in collections of curiosities.
They would, if coined in considerable numbers, be a source of enormous
profit to the silver-bullion dealer of New York. Let me show you. The silver dollar required by our laws is worth 3} cents more than our gold dollar,
and is worth 7 cents more than two half dollars. Now, sir, let us get back,
as the gentleman desires, to specie payment before we legislate upon the
mint laws, and you will have an interest of from one million to many mil-,
lion dollars a year here, with its lobby in and around the House to prevent
the Government from the possibility of losing a few dollars by substituting
copper-nickel for copper and copper-bronze coinage.
Every dollar we will then coin in silver will put from 3J to 7 cents in the
pocket of the individual broker. Every half dollar for which he may deposit in silver and have it coined will yield him a profit of 2J cents.
Now, sir, is the Government of the United States to be made the prey of
the people of the world in order to give large profits to a few silver bullion
brokers in New York? For there is the whole que stion.—Congressional
Globe, secona session Forty-secona Congress, page 231i.
Now, Mr. Speaker, that speech was made on this floor April
9,1872—a year before the bill demonetizing silver was passed.
W e had no silver in circulation at that time because of the wellestablished law that unless the coinage ratio corresponds to the
market ratio of the bullion, and with great nicety, it is impossible to circulate the two metals together.
Without pursuing further the history of the act of 1873. which
has been so much referred to by gentlemen in this debate as having been passed by stealth, I will, as my time is limited, attach
to my remarks in the shape of an appendix a historical account
of the demonetization of 1873, as placed before the House in a
speech by Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, when that charge was first
made.

I borrow this appendix from the Hon. JOHN SHERMAN,

as appears in a speech made by him in the United States Senate
June 5,1890.
Mr. PENCE.
Mr.SPERRY.
Mr. P E N C &

W i l l the gentleman allow me a question?
Yes, sir.
As the gentleman says he intends to incorporate

as an appendix to his speech something which he is not going
to present before the House, I ask him whether Judge Kellay
of Pennsylvania, after the demonetization of silver, did not say,
303




6
upon this floor, as reported in volume 7 of the CONGRESSIONAL
RECORD, page 605, these words:
In connection with the charge that I advocated the bill which demonetized
the standard silver dollar, I say that, though chairman of the Committee on
Coinage, I was as ignorant of the fact that it would demonetize the silver
dollar, or of its dropping the silver dollar from our system of coins, as were
those distinguished Senators, Messrs. Blaine and VOORHEES. I ao not think
that there were threa members of this House that knew it. * * * The
Committee on Coinage, who reported ,the original bill, were able and faithful and scanned its provisions closely. As their organ I reported it; it contained provision for both the standard gold and silver dollar, and the trade
dollar..
Never haying heard till long after its enactment of the substitution in this
Senate of the section which dropped the standard dollar, I profess to know
nothing of its history: but I am prepared to say that in all the legislation of
this country there is no mystery equal to the demonetization of the standard dollar of the United States. I have never found a man who could tell
how it came about, or why. # * * I wish gentlemen to know what the bill
was; it was a bill to reorganize the mints, and it waa passed without allusion in debate to the question of the retention or abandonment of the standard silver dollar. * # * I was the chairman of the committee that reported the original bill, and I aver upon my honor that X did not know that
it proposed to drop the standard dollar, and I did not learn that it had done
so for eighteen montha alter the passage of the substitute offered by Mr.
Hooper.
I simply ask the gentleman if Judge Kelley did not make that
statement; and I ask him if it was not made just as I read it alter
the demonetization act of 1873 was passed?
Mr. S P E R R Y .

Mr. Speaker, whether Judge Kelley made that

statement or not, I am not advised.
wards was a prosilver man,

I understand that he after*

I have read th*e words of Judge

Kelley as they appear in the Congressional Globe.

X hope the

gentleman has read the words of Judge Kelley, to which he refers, correctly, if he has pretended to have read them at all.
But his question reminds me of a remark of Thomas H, Benton, when there was a resolution presented whioh was undertaken to be injeotedinto one of the platforms about to be framed*
It was refused in one shape and was afterwards sought to be put
in in the shape of a resolution.

Mr. Benton remarked that the

resolution seemed to him to carry a stump speech in its belly.
[Laughter.] It will, however, go into the RECOUP as a part of
my remarks; and I do not think it will dp harm to the facts of
the discussion, either as claimed by him or by me.
But, Mr. Sceaker, however that may be, what I have quoted
m




7
sthe language of Judge Kelley is unquestionably true, that the
silver dollar was worth a premium, and because of that fact it
was not circulating in this country, and because it would not
circulate it was dropped out of our coinage for the reason that
the Government was a loser on every dollar that it issued. Now,
if it be true, as Judge Kelley said, that a single broker made
seventy-five to one hundred thousand dollars a year under a freecoinage system which showed him a margin of profit of 5 cents
on the dollar, will the gentleman tell me how much the bullion
brokers of New York and the bullion producers of Colorado
will make when they are allowed to bring their products to the
mints in silver bullion and take out dollars, worth only 55 cents
on the dollar, as bullion?

[Applause.]

But what I want to emphasize in that connection, and all I
wish to emphasize, is this: That it is the history of every people
and the history of all time that free coinage with unlimited tender must be accompanied in its ratio with an exact correspdndence in value to the commercial ratio of the metal out of which
the coinage is made.

And I refer gentlemen to the debates

which took place in Congress in 1834, when we rearranged the
ratio between gold and silver and raised it from 15 to 16.
% I suggest to our free-coinage friends in that connection the
fact, as related by Thomas H. Benton in his Thirty Years'
View—and, Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to my free-coinage
friends the fact as he presented it in his work—that they,
the parties, were divided here before the House as to whether
the ratio should be 15£ or 16. With so great an exactness must
you bring your statutory ratio to the market value of the bullion
that the two parties divided in 1834 as to whether that ratio
should be 151 to 1 or 16 to 1.
And yet gentlemen on this floor bring forward their propositions of free coinage on ratios running all the way from 16 to 1
up to 20 to 1, and everyone is invited to take his choice, as
though it would not make the slightest difference what he chose,
provided only he chose something that was agreeable to his
district.

[Laughter and applause.] It reminds me, sir, of the

country schoolmarm—and I think she belonged to Missouri
[laughter]—who presented herself for examination before a com303




8
mittee as a candidate to teach a school, and the committee asked
her if the world was round or flat? Her reply was that upon so
great a question aa that, of course, she should not be expected to
have an opinion of her own.

[Laughter.] She said, " I n dif-

ferent districts in which I have taught I have found a great
diversity of opinion among the people on that subject, and I
have always made it my practice to teach it either way, just as
the parents prefer."

[Laughter and applause.]

So, Mr. Speaker, with our friend from Missouri who leads the
free-coinage debate in this House: He brings to this body an assortment ot ratios and he invites members on the floor to look
over his assortment and pick out the one that in their judgment
will be most acceptable in their district.

But there is one wide

difference to be made between the Missouri schoolmarm and
the Missouri Congressman in that the schoolmarm was right
half the time, and there is not a single one of these ratios brought
forward by the Missouri Congressman that is right any time.
Laughter and applause.] The highest ratio is 20 to 1, which
makes the silver dollar worth about 80 cents.
I have from the Director of the Mint a statement as to the
amount of bullion bought by the Government under the two acts
of 1878 and 1890, and it appears from that statement that the Government has already lost, or that there is a depreciation in value
of the metal, and the people have lost, or somebody has lost, by
this depreciation between the price at which the Government
bought and its bullion price, which I think two or three days
ago was 75 cents an ounce, the sum of $119,274,583.
Is it any wonder, sir, that this great country running upon a
financial system which shows such loss as that, with no gold reserve provided under either the statute of 1878 or 1890, compelled
to go into the market and purchase silver, and powerless to stop
the downward tendency of silver, is it any wonder that the
country should be alarmed at the great exportation of gold going
on since January 1, and begin to suspect not only their currency
system, but even the solvency of the Government itself?
Now, it has been suggested, and that is one of the great arguments that has been offered, sir, that we need more money.

I

will submit a statement prepared by the Secretary of the Treas303




9
ury, showing the amount of money in circulation from 1860 to
1892, inclusive:
Statement showing the amounts of money in the United States, in the Treasury
and in circulation, on the dates specified.
Year.
1860.
1861,
1862,
1863.
1864.
1865.

Amount of
Amount in cir- Population. Money Circulamoney In
tion per
per
culation.
United States.
capita. capita.
$442,102,477
452,005,767
358,452,079
674.867.283
705,588,067
770,129,755
754,327,254
728,200,612
716,553,578
715,351.180
722,868,461
741,812,174
762,721,565
774,445,610
806.024,781
798,273,509
790.683.284
763,053,847
791,253,576
1,051,521,541
1.205.929.197
1,406,541,823
1,480,531,719
1,643,489,816
1,705,454,189
1,817,658,330
1,808,559,694
1,900,442,672
2,062,955,949
2,075,350,711
2,144,226,159
2,100,130,092
2.219.719.198

1866.

1867.
1868.

1869.
1870.
1871.
1872.
1873.
1874.
1875.
1876.
1877.
1878.
1879.

1880.
1881.
1882.

1883.
1884.
1885.
1886.

1887.

1888.

1889.
1890.
1891.
1892.

$435,407,252
448,405,767
334,697,744
595,394,038
669,641,478
714,702,995
673,488,244
661,992,069
680,103,661
664,452,891
675,212,794
715,889,005
738,309,549
751,881,809
776,083,031
754,101,947
727,609,388
722,314,883
729,132,634
818,631,793
973,382,228
1,114,238,119
1,174,290,419
1,230.305,696
1,243,925,969
1,292,568,615
1,252,700,525
1,317,539,143
1,372,170,870
1,380,361,649
1,429,251,270
1,500,067,555
1,603,073,338

31,443,321
32,064,000
32,704,000
33,365,000
34,046,000
34,748,000
35,469,000
36,211,000
36,973,000
37,756,000
38,588,371
39,555,000
40,596,000
41,667,000
42,796,000
43,951,000
45,137,000
46,353,000
47,598,000
48,866,000
50,155,783
51,316,000
52,495,000
53,693,000
54,911,000
56,148,000
57,404,000
58,680,000
59,974,000
61,289,000
62,622,250
63,975,000
65,520,000

$14.06
14.09
10.96
20.23
20.72
22.16
21.27
20.11
19.38
18.95
18.73
18.75
18.79
18.58
18.83
18.16
17.52
16.46
16.62
21.52
24.04
27.41
28.20
30.60
31.06
32.37
31.50
32.39
34.39
33.86
34.24
32.83
33.88

$13.85
13.98
10.23
17.84
19.67
20.57
18.99
18.28
18.39
17.60
17.50
18.10
18.19
18.04
18.13
17.16
16.12
15.58
15.32
16.75
19.41
21.71
22.37
22.91
22.65
23.02
21.82
22.45
22.88
22.52
22.82
23.45
24.47

NOTE.—The difference between the amount of money in the country and
the amount in circulation represents the money in the Treasury.
As a matter of fact we never had so much money in circulation as we have now.

In 1873 we had 8751.881,809.

In 1892 we

had $1,603,073,338, or, stated per capita, in 1873 we had $18.04 per
capita and in 1892 we had over $24.47 per capita.

Now, if it be

true, as has been argued by different men upon this floor, that
abundance of money makes high prices, I beg that some of these
gentlemen who hold to that view will tell us, if abundant money
makes high prices, why it is that prices have been continually
falling, while our money, per capita and in total, has been constantly rising since 1873.
As a matter of fact it is impossible to prove that because the
gold dollar buys more of certain commodities to-day than it did
903




10
formerly, that therefore the gold dollar has appreciated.
are other considerations to be taken into account.

There

There is tiie

fact that prices have declined in silver-using countries and in
gold-using countries alike.

If the argument were true that sil1

ver would make good prices, then it ought to be true that in
silver-using countries prices have not fallen.
Upon the other hand, it is true that all over the world in the "
last twenty years, and perhaps longer, most of the commodities
which a parson needs have fallen.

Wheat, cotton, and all the

products of machinery, by reason of the improvements in machinery, by the reduction in the cost of transportation, by the
reduction in interest charged, have fallen, not only in this country, but in every country. Prices have fallen in accordance with
t.ic law of supply and demand, and not ^because, as gentlemen
have suggested, that we have not sufficient money.
Upon that point I will read briefly from the work of the Hon.
David A.Wells upon Recent Economic Changes, page 115. Speaking of the fall of prices he says:
A further fact of thehighesUmportance, and one that is not disputed, is
that no peculiarity of currency, banking, or standard of value, or form of
government, or incidence and degree ot taxation, or military system, or condition of land tenure, or legislation respecting trade, tariffs, and bounties,
or differences in the relations between capital and labor in different countries, have been sufficient to guard and save any nation from the economic
disturbances or trade depression which has been incident to such changes
in prices.
But, Mr. Speaker, there is one item in the account which has
not fallen in the last twenty years, and that is the wage of the
daily workman.

I will submit as a part of my remarks the re-

port from the Finance Committee of the Senate to the last Congress as to prices and wages, which are stated, not in dollars
and cents, but in percentages.
Relative wages and prices in gold in all occupations, iSiO^Ol.
[Simple average of all the returns, taking the wages of 1860 as 100. Prom
report qf Senate Committee on Finance on wholesale prices, wages, and
transportation, Report 1394, part 1, Fifty-second Congress, second session,
pages 9 and 14.]
Year.

303




Wages.

116.8
115.8
107.8
101.5
101.9

1840
1841
1842
1843
1844

Prices.

87.7
88.0
87.1
86.6
86.5

Prices. Wages.

Year.
1845
1846
1817
1848

i...

102.8
106.4
106.5
101.4
93.7

86.8
89.3
90.8
91.4
92.5

M
Relative wages awi prices in golefin all occupations, ISfo-'w.—Oantlnufifl,
Year.

Prices.
102.3
;05.9
103.7
109.1
112.9
113.1
113.2
112.5
101.8
100.2
100.0
100.6
114.9
102.4
122.5
'100.3
186.3
127.9
115.9
113.2
117.3

1850
1851
16E2
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861

1863
1S63
1864
1865
1866

1867
1868

1869
1870

93.7
90.4
90.8
91.8
95.8
98.0
99.2
99.9
98.5
99.1
100.0
100.8
100.4
76.2
80.8
66.2
108.8
117.1
114.9
119.5
133.7

Year.

Wages.

Prices.

1871
1872.
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880....
1881
1883
1884
1885

l.

1887..
1889
1890..
1891..-

Wages.

122.9
127.2
122.0
119.4
113.0
101.8
104.4
99.9
96.6
106.9
105.7
108.5
106.0
99.4
93.0
91.9
92.6
94.2
94.2
92.3
92.2

147.8
152.2
148.3
145.0
140.8
135.2
136.4
140.5
139.9
141,5
146*6
149.3
152.7
152.7
150.7
150.9
153.7
155.4
156.7
158.9
160.7

From that report, made up with the greatest care, it appears
that the daily wage of the laborer has increased since 1840, and
the monetary system of the country has not, except temporarily
and in a small way, affected the continual rise in daily wages.
Now let me suggest to some of my friends on the other side of
this question, if it be true that gold has appreciated in respect
of certain commodities, it is also true that gold has depreciated
in respect of the amount of labor which it will buy; because you
can not to-day buy as much labor for a gold dollar as you could
in 1873, when silver was demonetized.

Therefore, I say that those

who favor the gold standard can just as well and with as great
propriety, or even greater, claim to this House and to the country that gold has depreciated, as that gold has appreciated.

The

change has been in favor of the man who labors.
Mr. COX.

W i l l the gentleman allow me to ask him a ques-

tion?
Mr. S P E R R Y .
Mr. COX.

W i t h the greatest of pleasure.

You are speaking there of the average day laborer

and his compensation for a day's work.

Will you be kind enough

to state to the House what is the average that you have there,
for a laboring man, for a day's work.
Mr. S P E R R Y .

I have stated that the committee did not re-

port it in dollars and cents.
centage.
303




It is reported as a matter of per-

12
Mr. COX. Will you state to the House the average amount
of compensation that the laborer gets in your State per day?
Mr, SPERRY. I have not seen any authentic statement that
I can now call to mind, and I would not undertake to state it
precisely. Skilled labor, perhaps, $2.50 per day, and unskilled,
perhaps, $1.25—sometimes as low as a dollar.
Mr. COX. That is in your State?
Mr. S P E R R Y / The labor in my State is almost exclusively
white labor.
Mr. COX. I do not suppose the gentleman would make a differance in labor on account of color.
Mr. SPERRY. There might be a difference in the price. I
have understood that in the South labor was very much cheaper
than that; and it was testified before the Ways and Means Committee of the Fifty-first Congress that they could hire abundant
labor in the South at 65 c&nts per day. My impression is you
can not hire labor in my State at that price.
Mr. BAILEY.
Mr. COX.

According to skill, and not color.

Certainly, according to skill, and not color.

Mr. SPERRY.

In 1860, upon the percentage as presented in

the report, labor stood at 100. In 1891, the wages stood at 160
and applying the line of reasoning which even my friend from
Tennessee [Mr. Cox], will apply it to himself, it may be, upon
that item at least, gold has depreciated since 1873; yes, even since
1860, because gold to-day will not buy as much labor at it did
twenty years ago; it is better for the laboring man, and I will
say hereafter, more emphatically than I do now, that the standard which the laboring man ought to have is the gold standard.
Thomas H. Benton, in debate on this subject in 1834, speaking
of gold, says that " h e fully concurred with the Senator from
South Carolina [Mr. Calhoun] that gold, in the United States,
ought to be the preferred metal; not that silver should be expelled, but both retained; the mistake, if any, to be in favor of
gold instead of being against it."
Mr. Benton's best efforts were directed to giving to American
yeomanry the best dollar that could be made, and he recognized
the fact that a false mint ratio undervaluing gold had driven it
from the country.

He counseled, therefore, that the friends of

gold should set to " work at the right place to effect the recov303




13
ery of that precious metal which their fathers once possessed—
which the subjects of European kings now possess—which the
citizens of the young republics to the South all possess—which
even the free negroes of San Domingo possess—but which the
yeomanry of this America have been deprived of for more than
twenty years, and will be deprived of forever, unless they discover the cause of the evil and apply the remedy to its root."
Mr. SIMPSON.

I understand the gentleman to say that re-

turning to the gold standard will not decrease the wages of labor,
because the laborer will be able to purchase more with that dollar, and therefore get more for his labor?
Mr. SPERRY.
Mr. SIMPSON.

I did not say so, but I think that is the fact.
Now, is it not a fact that a man who is en-

gaged in farming is a laborer; and if it is a fact, and I think it
has been clearly proven, that a decrease in the amount of the circulating medium decreases the value of the products of the farm,
does it not decrease the wages the farmer receives for his labor?
I would like the gentleman to explain that.
Mr. SPERRY.

I understand by laborer, not a man only who

labors with his hands, for we all labor, even the gentleman from
Kansas labors at times on the floor of this House, for I have seen
him here when I thought he was laboring hard.

[Laughter.]

But the laborer under the common acceptation of that term is
the man who sells his labor for hire as distinguished from the
employer.

The farmer is a man who is supposed to own his own

farm and is the master of his own time.

A laborer is not the

master of his own time, and too often is not the master of his own
wages.

[Applause.]

Mr. SIMPSON.

I want to ask the gentleman to explain the

farmer's interest as a laborer and not according to his capital.
I want to ask you if it is not a fact that a farmer who labors on
his farm does have his wages greatly reduced if the price of
the products of his farm is reduced by a decrease in the circulating medium, and as the wages of his labor is decreased does
not that affect his interest?
Mr. SPERRY.

If I understand the gentleman from Kansas

correctly, it is this: He wants silver and cheap money in great
abundance in order to benefit some particular class, to wit, the
farming class.
303'




u
Now, if the gentleman wants me to assume what may be the
effect of a certain statute passed under these circumstances I
can not tell him; but I can tell him this: That if it be true that
silver will make wheat higher, it is equally true that silver will
make bread higher; and there are more bread eaters in this
country than wheat-raisers.

[Applause.] And I will answer

the gentleman further in that connection, too.

If the gentle-

man expects that by cheap money and its great abundance he is
to realize more for his wheat, I will say that not only every
laborer who eats bread, many of Whom I am sorry to say hunger
for bread at this time, will not be able to buy more of the bread
he eats because unable to get more for his daily wages at which
he is paid in silver.
Mr. SIMPSON.

[Applause.]
Now, if the gentleman will allow md, I will

say he entirely misconstrues my meaning*

I do not want to es-

tablish cheap money. , I want to keep the contract as it'is, and
not take half of the money out of circulation.

I want to have

sufficient of it to see that the oontract is carried out as made,
and that you shall not, by a return to the single gold standard,
so decrease the currency and so decrease prices as to make
farming more unprofitable, because the gentleman knows that
profitable farming has already ceased.
Mr. SPERRY.

Let me suggest to the gentleman from Kansas

that his conclusions might be correct* if lie only in his premise
made a correct assumption.

Let me tell the gentleman from

Kansas that this is no single-standard affair and decrease of the
currency; and let me tell the gentleman from Kansas that in
1873, when silver was demonetized, up to that time the entire
silver coinage of the country was barely $8,000,000, and to-day, in
round numbers, it is $500,000,000, worth 55 cents apiece*
plause.]

,

[Ap-

.

The gentleman talks about discharging contracts in the way
they were made.
ment of gold.
bonds.

The contracts chiefly were made for the pay-

That is absolutely tru0 of all the outstanding

Now, when the gentleman comes here to say that the

debtor class is to be benefited by enacting into law this cheapmoney craze which is now passing over the country, let me suggestto him that in trying to better the debtors he must, if his
theory holds good, injure the creditors.
833




15
Mr. SIMPSON,
Mr. SPEKRY.

Just one thing more
Just, just one thing more.

If the gentleman

will keep still I will give him something more. [Laughter.] The
bonded railroad indebtedness of this country is over $5,000,000,000. in addition to which there is a current indebtedness and a
floating indebtedness.

The railroads, which the gentleman from

Kansas and all of his kind so much hate, and against which they
have so thoroughly legislated, as far as they could—it is for their
benefit that the gentleman from Kansas stands upon thisfloorto
tell the country that he desires to relieve the debtor class by
issuing cheap money.

He proposes to relieve the railroads of

a large proportion of their live or ten billions of indebtedness,
because they are the largest debtors, and it is hard for them to
carry their burden.
Who owns those bonds?

They are owned by individuals who,

if you consider the equity of the matter, can not as well afford
to lose the money as the railroads can to pay it.

In my own

State we have on deposit in our savings banks $122,000,000. That
is invested in part in railroad bonds and in other part in mortgages upon improved real estate paying rent throughout the
State.
Now, if I understand correctly the argument of the gentleman from Kansas it is, that the men who borrow money from the
savings banks are the debtor class and ought to be relieved;
those who owe the railroad bonds, the men who own the real estate and collect the rents, they are the debtor class, and ought
to be relieved
But who are you going to have contribute to this fund to relieve those debtors?

I have stood at the counters of the savings

banks in my State when the laboring man, his hand calloused
inside with the tools of his trade, has come in to deposit a portion of his weekly stipend as a provision for " a rainy day," or
to provide himself a home in the future.

They are the creditor

class whom you propose to have contribute to the relief of rail-,
road corporations and men who own real estate.
And let me here say that the average of the deposits in our
savings banks is less than $400; there are more than 300,000 depositors, and now the gentleman from Kansas proposes to come
in here with his cheap money and repudiate half the debts in
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16
the country, to the end that the men who owe them, the men
who own improved real estate and the railroads, who have issued
bonds—to the end that they may be relieved; and he proposes to
make the laboring men and women of Connecticut contribute
$60,000,000 out; of their hard-earned savings for such relief!
Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman wants to relieve the debtor
class, and if the debtors want relief, let us pass a bankrupt law,
and then we can get at the individual equities; but let us not pass
a general repudiation law that does not take into account either
the ability or the disposition of any man to pay his debts.
Mr. SIMPSON.

I understood the gentleman to say that the

bonds were payable in gold.
Mr. SPERRY,, What bonds does the gentleman refer to?
Mr. SIMPSON.
Mr. SPERRY.
Mr. SIMPSON.

The United States bonds.
I did not say so.
Neither the United States bonds nor the rail-

road bonds are payable in gold.
Mr. SPERRY.

Neither?

Mr. SIMPSON.

There may be individual cases where rail-

road bonds are payable in gold, but a large majority of them are
not.

As to the United States bonds, thev are payable in "coin,"

and if you take silver out of circulation you deprive the people of
one-half of the resources which they now have to pay those bonds.
Now, in regard to the savings banks which the gentleman speaks
of, does he not know that the average deposit throughout the
country is $93 per capita? And does he not know, further, that
the laboring classes are more interested as investors in real estate,
as owners of their homes, than they are in the $93 that they have
in the savings banks?
Mr. GEAR.

I will say to the gentleman from Kansas that a

large proportion of the railroad bonds—over 80 per cent, I think—
are payable, principal and interest, in gold.
Mr. SPERRY.

When the effort was made on the part of the

Government to refund its bonds the only standard coin in this
country was gold.

W e had no silver.

perhaps some of it in Kansas.

There was silver talk—

[Laughter.] There was talk at

that time on the part of gentlemen who wanted fiat money.

I

believe the gentleman from Kansas [Mr. SIMPSON], who has
interrupted me so often, wants fiat money now.
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17
Mr. SIMPSON.
fiat money.

The gentleman is entirely correct.

I want

I do not understand that there is any other kind of

money than fiat money—money to which its value is given by the
edict of the law.
Mr. S P E R R Y .

A gentleman from Kansas in the last Congress

came before a committee of this House advocating paper money
which should not be even a promise to pay, which should not
even profess to be redeemable, which anybody could obtain who
wanted it—money put out by the Government which should
never bear more than 2 per cent interest, and anybody who tried
to get more than 2 per cent was to be imprisoned.
This money, instead of being a promise to pay, was to declare
on its face "this is a dollar." Such money might be good money
in Kansas; but outside of Kansas, I think not.

It reminded me

of the picture which a boy drew on his slate at school and then
wrote under it, "this is a horse," because nobody would know it
' was a horse without this information.

So no one could recog-

nize the money which the gentleman from Kansas woulh have
unless there were printed right on the face of it "this is a dollar."
The gentleman has said that the bonds of the Government
were not payable in gold.

Technically they were not; equitably

and in good conscience they were, because when the Government tried to place the bonds we had nothing but gold as a
standard of money.

But the talk of cheap money, which was even

then rife in the atmosphere, had so scared the people, who were
hesitating whether they should accept the bonds that Mr. French,
of New York, who, I understand, was .one of a syndicate assisting the Government in refunding the bonds, wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury inquiring whether the bonds were payable
in gold.

I will read the letter of enquiry, and the Secretary's

reply:
N o . 94 BROADWAY, N E W Y O R K , June is, 1877.
DEAR SIR: * * * If we are to have silver dollars with unlimited tender
of freecoinage, then, it is said, assilver coinis receivable for duties, from necessity both interest and principal of the public debt must be paid in silver.
Gold will disappear; the new market will advance the value of silver for a
time to the disappointment of the advocates of depreciation, but when under
the vast supplies of the world silver again declines, we perpetuate a depreciated and fluctuating currency with all attendant evils.
And if, while restoring silver, we still pay gold on the bonded debt, the discrimination continues between bondholders and other creditors, odious and
inviting constant assaults against a " favored class."
There should be one and the same dollar for the bondholder, far„every
303

2




18
other creditor, public or private, and for every workingman—and that the
dollar of uniform, stable value throughout the world, now of the greatest
purchasing power—gold.
And it is the people—the producing class, the workers—who havethe greatest interest in restoring the gold standard, and not bondholders nor mineowners; not merchants, bankers, and middlemen, for all these protect themselves, whatever comes.
We seem to repeat the experience of ten years ago, when it was urged on
technical grounds that 5-20s were payable in paper, whereby our credit was
greatly impeded. It was not until May, 1859, after the passage of the credit
act, that the great advance in United States bonds marked the sound policy "
of that honest measure.
So now, while your proposition limiting the issue will preservo the public
faith, those who wish a depreciated dollar will be satisfied with nothing less.
Therefore, while the public mind is yet unformed, we need an emphatic
declaration which will crystallize honest and intelligent sentiment, that by
noquibble will the Government undertake to repay in silver the sums it now
seeks to borrow in gold.
Then is the success of the 4 per cent loan assured, and with that resumption in 1879.
With great respect,
F. O. PKENCH.
H o n . JOHN SHERMAN, Washington,

J). C>

To the above inquiry the Secretary of the Treasury made the
following reply:
TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

Washington, D. <7., June 19,1877.
SIB: Your letter of the 18th instant, in which you inquire whether the 4
per cent bonds now being sold by the Government are payable principal and
interest in gold coin, is received. The subject, from its great importance,
has demanded and received careful consideration.
Under the laws now in force there is no coin issued or issuable in which
the principal of the 4 per cent bonds is redeemable or the interest payable
except the gold coins or the United States of the standard value fixed by
laws in force on the 14th of July, 1870, when the bonds were authorized.
The Government exacts in exchange for these bonds payment at their face
in such gold coin, and it is not to be anticipated that any future legislation
of Congress or any action of any department of the Government, would
sanction or tolerate the redemption of the principal of these bonds or the
payment of the interest thereon in coin of less value than the coin authorized
by law at the time of the issue of the bonds, being the coin exacted by the
Government in exchange for the same.
The essential element of good faith in preserving the equality in value between the coinage in which the Government receives and that in which it
pays these bonds will be sacredly observed by the Government and the people of the United States, whatever may be the system of coinage which the
general policy of the nation may at any time adopt. This principle is impressed upon the text of the law of July 14,1870, under
which the 4 per 9ent bonds are issued, and requires, in the opinion of the
executive department of the government, the redemption of these bonds
and the payment of their interest in coin of equal value with that which the
Government receives from its issue.
Very respectfully,
JOHN SHEBMAN, Secretary.
FRANCIS O. FRENCH, E s q . ,

303

9* Broadway &ev> York,
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19
Mr. BAILEY. I desire to say to the gentleman that the act
to which he refers was passed in 1870, when silver was worth
•more than gold, and when silver was as much the money of -the
country as gold.
Mr. SPERRY.

The gentleman is quite right.

But most of

the bonds were put out before 1878, the demonetization act having already been passed; specie payments had not been resumed.

Some were put out after that and taken by the pur-

chasers upon the suggestion of the Secretary of the Treasury,
as above stated, that they would be paid in gold.
I will say further to the gentleman from Texas that in every
case those bonds were paid for in gold—the Government received
gold for them.

W e were then trying to get onto a- specie-pay-

ing basis, a gold basis.

W e did get onto a gold basis and we

ought to have stayed there.
If the gentleman from Kansas or the gentleman from Texas
wants bonds paid kind for kind, that will suit me to a letter.
When gentlemen allow the Government or other institutions or
corporations to pay kind for kind, they will pay in gold. .
Mr. BAILEY.

They ought to pay according to the contract.

Mr. BOATNER.

The gentleman from Connecticut should

.understand that those who advocate free coinage do not advocate
" cheap money;

we advocate dollars of equal value.

Now, does

the gentleman advocate the passage of this bill on the ground
that it will make better money than we now have?
Mr. SPERRY.

That is precisely the ground upon which I

advocate the passage of this bill, and the stoppage of the accumulation of any more 55 cent dollars, unless you place behind
those dollars the gold standard which is behind the paper dollar.
In the absence of such a standard behind these two currencies,
the silver dollar is worth intrinsically 50 cents, and the paper dollar is not worth anything; that is the difference.
N
(Here the hammer fell.]
Mr. BAILEY.

I ask unanimous consent that the time of the

gentleman from Connecticut be extended so as to allow him to
conclude his remarks.
Mr. TRACEY. Of course I would be delighted to have the gentleman from Connecticut proceed-without limitation; but it
803




20
seems to me some restriction of time should be fixed, because
there are gentlemen who desire to follow.
Mr. BAILEY.

I will withdraw my request if the gentleman

from New York [Mr. TKACEY] objects.
Mr. TKACEY.

I simply suggest that the time be not exten-

ded indefinitely, so as to interfere with the right of gentlemen
who are to follow.
A MEMBER.

Say fifteen minutes.

T h e S P E A K E R pro tempore (Mr. RICHARDSON).

Unanimous

consent is asked that the time of the gentleman from Connecticut be extended indefinitely.
Mr. TRACEY.

I object.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Objection is made.
Mr. TRACEY.

But I am perfectly willing

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman can not object
conditionally.
Mr. TRACEY.
Mr. COX.

Then I withdraw my objection.

I would be perfectly willing to yield the gentle-

man five minutes of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there further objection to
extending the time of the gentleman from Connecticut indefinitely?

The Chair hears none.

Mr. SPERRY.

Now, will the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr.

BOATNER] proceed with his question?
Mr. BOATNER.

I wish to know whether you desire that

your constituents who have loaned their money to the constat*
uents of the gentleman from Kansas shall be paid in a better
money than they have loaned; and if so, how much better?
Mr. SPERRY.
Mr. BOATNER.

Not at all.
Then, if this money has bsen loaned upon

a bimetallic basis, upon the issue of both gold and silver, on
wliat ground of equity or justice does the gentleman ask that
the lenders of that money shall be repaid in money based exclusively upon a gold standard?
Mr. SPERRY.
public credit.

My first anxiety in this connection is the

W e have been on an exclusively gold basis since

1834, as the gentleman well knows; and my heart's desire and
prayer to God is that no free-coinage men, or not enough of them
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21
at least, may rise up in this House to attack the public credit of
the United States, whioh for the last twenty years has been equal
to the credit of the strongest power in the world.

And when

the gentleman comes here to advocate a dollar worth intrinsically
only 55 cents, which the Government can not under the injunction of the Sherman act maintain at a parity with gold m any
such a quantity as is now being accumulated, I sayfirstof all let
us be patriotic and maintain the public credit by stopping the
further accumulation of dollars of that character.
Mr. BOATN ER.

[Applause.]

W ill the gentleman yield for a further ques-

tion?
Mr. SPERRY.

Wait a moment.

other question yet.

I have not answered your

If the gentleman asks a question he must

take the answer.
My further suggestion is that the money that has been loaned
in Connecticut has been loaned with the conviction and belief,
as they had a right to believe, in the public credit.

It was

loaned either in gold or in money equal to gold in valuation, and
now all we ask is that the legislation of this Congress shall be
such that the two metals, so far as they have been accumulated
in the Treasury of the United States, that the two dollars, the
white and the yellow, shall continue each to the other to be of
equal value.
Mr. BOATNER.

Can the gentleman point to an instance any-

where in any part of the United States, and I might say anywhere in the commercial world as well, where the silver dollar
did not, under the authority of the United States Government,
stand equal with any other dollar; or h L he an instance where
$S
a silver dollar has been sold or offered for sale for less than its
value as one—its par value?
Mr. SPERRY.

I concede to the gentleman from Louisiana

that since the resumption act took effect in 1879, the credit and
resources of this Government have been sufficient to keep its
paper, and its accumulation of silver as well, at par.
will continue so.

I hope it

I hope it will^be able to continue the same con-

dition of affairs under all circumstances.

But the fact is, that

so low has the gold run in the Treasury by exports abroad, and
so timid have our investors become in this country, and in other
303




22
countries as well, investors who would! be glad to come here with
their money and got an investment if they had any assurance of
stability in values—but so timid have they all become, that under
the present Law the Government will not be able to maintain the
parity farther.

Therefore it is, that it is time, in the present

emergency and in view of the depression which pre vails throughout the country, that Congress should stop talking,, and act in a
manner to redeem the public credit.
Mr. BOATNER.

Wherein is the Government credit in de-

fault? Has the gentleman any instance in mind?

Does the gen-

tleman suppose that the United States Government is not able
to take care of the four and a half million or four million ounces
per month on the basis of this issue of legal-tender paper?
Wherein is the ground for this apprehension?
Mr. SPERRY.

Upon the ground that silver has been con-

stantly accumulating; upon the ground that there is no, pro?
vision in either the act of 1878 or 1890 to accumulate or acquire
a sufficient quantity of gold reserve with which to maintain the
parity of the two metals except through the sale of bonds; and
gold-standard man as I am 1 venture to assert that it will be a
very long day off before I will be willing to vote under the cir-:
Gumstances that this Government shall sell bonds for gold and
put the proceeds into the Treasury to buy silver, which would
be tiie effect, I presume, of that policy.
Thus far the country has maintained the parity, as I have asserted before; but the country fears, and every thoughtful man
fears who gives consideration to the subject, and looks six months
ahead, tha$ under the accumulation of silver going on so rapidly,
in connection with the fact that all customs are being paid almost
always in silver, that that condition of affairs can not be main*
tained very much longer.
And as the gold reserves of the Government, Mr. Speaker,
have run down even below the one hundred million mark, I say it
is time that we should put a stop to the further purchase of silver, as the French Govemmentdid fifteen years ago. It would be
poor, statesmanship, I am sure, if we were to wait to make provision for the public credit until the public credit hadbsen lost.
Now, I would suggest to the gentleman from Louisiana also
S03




23
my belief that while the i^epeal of this act would be a great improvement, that it would x'estore credit, there is also supplemental legislation necessary to give sections of the South and
West the relief they so much need, in my judgment.

What

troubles me is to know how in the world it is possible to continue pouring silver into the Treasury here and get any more
money into the States of Louisiana and Kansas.

You must give

up something for it; you must give up cotton
Mr. BOATNER.

W e give up more than any other people for

what we get.
Mr. SPERRY (continuing).

And the same course which the

silver so far purchased has taken when it left the Treasury the
silver that may be purchased hereafter will follow unless there
shall be some change in the law which will divert it into another
channel.
Mr. BOATNER.

I suggest to the gentleman that we never

get anything in the South unless we pay a big price for it.
Mr. SPERRY.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I have asserted that the

value of gold has not appreciated.
say, also, that it has not depreciated,

Upon the other side I may
Both of these are of course

assertions, but I claim that the weight of evidence is in favor of
the statement that gold has not appreciated.

In that connection

I have suggested the fact that a man's wages are higher to-day
in gold than they were in 1873; and that is the best standard, if
you are going to legislate for the public weal,
I do not say for the weal of the wheat-producer in Kansas, but
for the public weal, and there is no part of the public that so
much deserves and requires friendly legislation as that part of
the public who labor by the day for their daily bread.

And paid

in that way, Mr. Speaker, and measured by that standard, it is
the laborer who is benefited chiefly above all others under a
gold standard, because his wages are appreciated and that which
he can buy with a dollar of gold is more than he could buy with
a dollar of silver, except, of course, as you keep the silver at a
parity with the gold.
Now, another suggestion right there.
has appreciated?

Can you say that gold

Is there any way in which you can measure

gold in terms of itself, so as to show whether or not it has appre303




24
ciated?

It is an indisputable fact, which even the most radical

silver men on thefloorof this House will admit, that the interest
paid in gold, upon gold, has fallen constantly for the last twenty
years.

Now, if I own railroad stock which pays $6 a year on a

hundred, it is the $6 a year earning capacity which measures the
value of the stock.

If next year that stock pays $7, its $7 of earn-

ing capacity will fix the value of the stock.
Now, let me suggest to the silver men on this floor that twenty
years ago $100 in gold would bring you $6 of interest.

To-day,

if it is invested in a way so as not in any manner to bring the
subject of credit into the problem, $100 in gold will not bring
you $3 in interest. I do not speak of the present panic, but I speak
of the working of the, money market in its normal condition.
Taking the Government 4 per cent bonds for a series of years
past, and estimating the premium upon which those bonds are
sold, and it is an indisputable fact that those bonds, which everybody believes to be gold bonds, have paid in interest less than 3
per cent for something like ten years past.
Now, I ask some of my silver friends on thefloorof this House,
if gold has appreciated, and if the debt weighs heavily on the
debtor, and if they want to pay it back in kind—I want to ask
them how they account for the fall in the rate of interest, in
view of the other claim they make that the value of gold has
ri3en?

It has not risen, and there is no line of argument you

can invent that will indicate that it has.
I make one other suggestion* and then I will give way to my
friend from Tennessee [Mr. Cox], for I am afraid I am now consuming his time.

That suggestion is this: Gentlemen have ap-

peared here in behalf of free silver, to say that debts are so great
that we ought to have relief in a cheaper money.

Now, just'

bear in mind in that connection that one man's debt is another
man's asset.

The five billions of debt in railroad bonds is five

billions of assets in the hands of savings banks, life-insurance
companies, other banks, trust companies, and individuals, whoever they may be, who happen to hold the bonds.
It is exceedingly dangerous legislation, therefore, for anyone
to undertake to come before a people like this, covering the territory that we do, and with the interests that we have, and pass
803




25
a general act of partial repudiation, upon the argument so often
put forward in this House that in that way you will relieve the
debtor.
And right in that connection let me say also that gold is the
lightest burden to anybody who has a debt to contract to-day,
because the interest is least.
Mr. Speaker, I have already consumed something more than
the time that wa£ alloted to me, and thanking the House for its
attention, I will take occasion possibly to extend my remarks
in the RECORD, but further than that I am done.

[Applause.]

EXTENDED REMARKS.

My purpose in extending these remarks in the RECORD is to
present to the House some authorities which I had prepared to
sustain the points which I made in oral argument, but which,
by reason of the limited time allowed for discussion, I was unable to lay before the House.
The question of coinage and currency is strictly a commercial
question, and it ought to be so considered.

The claim so often

made that America can establish an American system of finance
\shieh shall differ from the rest of the world is untenable and
impossible of accomplishment even if it were desirable. It might
as well be said that we can establish an American system of arithmetic which shall not accord with well-established arithmetical
laws known to all the rest of the world.
It is to be regretted, also, that pending the discussion of this
bill so many gentlemen have attempted to raise an issue between
the rich and poor.

The claim so often made by free silver advo-

cates that they represent the people as against the " money
power" and the "shylocks of Wall street" and "Lombard
street" has no foundation in fact, is out of place in a discussion
of this kind, and its effect upon that part of the community who
are in sympathy with the coinage views of those who make such4
assertions is vicious and every way deploi'able.
The ratio of the mint should be the commercial ratio of the market. Our standard of value should be the standard of value recognized by other nations of the earth.

Our people should have a

stable currency which is equal to the best currency which any
803




26
nation possesses.

Such, were the views held by statesmen of the

past generation when this question came before Congress in an
effort to change the ratio, which finally culminated in an act
passed in 1834,

The line of argument pursued at that time was

clear, business-like, and convincing.
The position taken by free-silver advocates at the present time
upon all their main propositions is so utterly discordant and out
of harmony with all previous history of the Democratic party,
and advocates of sound money of all parties, that I feel justified
in quoting at considerable length from that fearless defender of
the people and advocate of sound money, Hon. Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri.

The following is from his Thirty Years' View,

volume 1, chapter 55:
la the next place, Mr. B. believed that the quantity of specie derivable
from foreign commerce, added to the quantity of gold derivable from our
own mines, were fully sufficient, if not expelled from the country by unwise
laws, to furnish the people with an abundant circulation of gold and silver
coin for their common currency without having recourse to a circulation of
small bank notes.
The truth of these propositions Mr. B. held to be susceptible of complete
and ready proof. He spoke first of the domestic supply of native gold, and
said that no mines had ever developed more rapidly than these had done, or
promised more abundantly than they now do. In the year 1834 they were a
spot in the State of North Carolina; they are now a region spreading into
six States. In the year 1824 the product was $5,000; in the last year the
product, in coined gold, was 8808,000; in uncoined, as much more; and the
product of the present year computed at two millions, with every prospect
of continued and permanent increase. The probability was that these mines
alone, in the lapse of a few years, would furnish an abundant supply of gold
to establish a plentiful circulation of that metal, if not expelled from the
country by unwise laws.
But the great source of supply, both for gold and silver, Mr. B. said, was
in our foreign commerce. It was this foreign commerce which filled the
States with hard money immediately after the close of the Revolutionary
war, when the domestic mines were unknown; and it is the same foreign
commerce which, even now, when federal laws discourage the importation
of foreign coins and compel their exportation, is bringing in an annual supply of seven or eight millions. With an amendment to the laws which now
discourage the importation of foreign coins, and compel their exportation,
there could be no delay in the rapid accumulation of a sufficient stock of the
precious metals to supply the largest circulation which the common business of the country could require.
In the third place, Mr. B. undertook to affirm, as a proposition free from
dispute or contestation, that the value now set upon gold, by the laws of the
United States, was unjust and erroneous; that these laws had expelled gold
from circulation; and that it was the bound en duty of Congress to restore
that coin to circulation by restoring it to its Just value.
That gold was undervalued by the laws of the United States and expelled
from circulation was a fact, Mr. B. said, which everybody knew; but there
was something else which everybody did not know, which few, in reality,
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27
had an opportunity of knowing, but which. was necessary to he known to
enable the friends of gold to go to work at the right place to effect the recovery of that precious metal which their fathers once possessed—which the
subjects of European kings now possess—w hich the citizens of the young
republics to the south all possess— which even the free negroes of San Doiningo possess—but which the yeo manry of this Americaliavebeen deprived
of for more than twenty years, and will be deprived of forever unless they
discover the cause of the evil and apply the remedy to its root.
It is to that p l a n Referring to the issue of paper money by the United States
Bankthat we trace the origin of the erroneous valuation of gold, which has banished that metal from the country. Mr. Secretary Hamilton, in his proposition for the establishment of a mint, recommended that the relative value
of gold to silver should be fixed at 15 for 1; and that recommendation became the law of the land and has remained so ever since. At the same time
the relative value of these metals in Spain and Portugal and throughout
their vast dominions in the New World, whence our principal supplies of
gold were derived, was at the rate 16 for 1, thus making our standard 6 per
cent below standard of the countries which chiefly pro duce gold. It was also
below the English standard, and the French standard, and below the standard which prevailed in these States before the adoption of the Constitution,
and which was actually prevailing in the States at the time that this new
proportion of 15 to 1 was established.
Mr. B. was ready to admit that there was so me nicety requisite in adjusting the relative value of two different kinds of money—gold and silver for
example—so as to preserve an exact equipoise between them, and to prevent
either from expelling the other. There was some nicety, but no insuperable
or even extraordinary difficulty, in making the adjustment. The nicety of
the question was aggravated in the year 1792 by the difficulty of obtaining
exact knowledge of the relative value of these metals, at that time, in France
and England* and Mr. Gallatin has since shown that the information which
was then relied upon was clearly erroneous., The consequence of any mistake in fixing our standard was also well known in the year 1792.
Mr. Secretary Hamilton, in his proposition for the establishment of a mint,
expressly'declared that the consequence of a mistake in the relative value
of the two metals would be the expulsion of the on© that was undervalued.
Mr. Jefferson, then Secretary of State, in his cotemporaneous report upon
foreign coins, declared the same thing. Mr, Robert Morris, financier to the
Revolutionary Government, in his proposal to establish a mint, in 1783, was
equally explicit to the same effect.
The delicacy of the question and the consequence of a mistake were then
fully understood forty years ago, when the relative value of gold and silver
was fixed at 15 to l. But, at that time it unfortunately happened that the
paper system,, then omnipotent in England, was making its transit to our
America, and everything that would go to establish that system, everything that would go to sustain tho new-born Bank of the United States—
that eldest daughter and apem gregis of the paper system in America—fell in
with the prevailing current and became incorporated in the Federal legislation of the day.
Gold, was well known, it was the antagonist of paper; from its intrinsic
value, the natural predilection of all mankind for it, its small bulk, ind the
facility of carrying it about, it would be preferred to paper, either for traveling or keeping in the house; and thus would limit and circumscribe the
general circulation of bank note3, an£ prevent all plea of necessity for isS3
G




28
•ulng smaller notes. Silver, on the contrary, from its inconvenience of
transportation, would favor the circulation of hank notes. Hence the birth
of the doctrine, that If a mistake was to be committed it should be on the
side of silver.
Mr. Secretary Hamilton declares the existence of this feeling when, in his
report upon the establishment of a mint, he says:
"It is sometimes observed that silver ought to be encouraged rather than
gold, as being more conducive to the extension of bank circulation from the
greater difficulty and inconvenience which its greater bulk, compared with
its value, occasions In the transportation of It."
This passage in the Secretary's report proves the existence of the feeling
in favor of silver against gold, and the cause of that feeling. Quotations
might be made from the speeches of others to show that they acted upon
that feeling; but it is due to Gen. Hamilton to say that he disclaimed such
a motive for himself, and expressed a desire to retain both metals in circulation. and even to have a gold dollar.
The proportion of 15 to 1 was established. The eleventh section of the act
of April, 1702, enacted that every 15 pounds weight of pure silver should be
equal in value, in all payments, with 1 pound of pure gold; and so In proportion for less quantities of the respective metals. This act was the death
warrant to the gold currency. The diminished circulation of that coin soon
began to be observable; but it was not immediately extinguished. Several
circumstances delayed, but could not prevent, that catastrophe.
1. The Bank of the United States then issued no note of less denomination than $10, and but few of them.
2. There were but three other banks in the United States, and they issued
but few small notes; so that a small note currency did not come directly
into conflict with gold.
3. The trade to the lower Mississippi continued to bring up from Natchez
and New Orleans for many years, a large supply of doubloons, and long
supplied a gold currency to the new States In the West.
Thus, the absence of a small note currency, and the constant arrivals of
doubloons from the lower Mississippi, deferred the fate of the gold currency;
and it was not until the lapse of near twenty years after the adoption of the
erroneous standard of 1792 that the circulation of that metal, both foreign
and domestic, became completely and totally extinguished in the United
States. The extinction is now complete, and must remain so until the laws
are altered.
In making this annunciation, and In thus standing forward to expose the
error and to demand the reform of the gold currency, he ^Mr. B.) was not
setting up for the honors of a first discoverer or fi rst inventor. Far from it.
He was treading in the steps of other and abler men who had gone before
him. Four Secretaries of the Treasury—Gallatin, Dallas, Crawford, Ingham—had, each in their day, pointed out the error m the gold standard and
recommended its correction. Repeated reports of committees in both
Houses of Congress had done the same thing.
Of these reports he would name those of the late Mr. Lowndes, of South
Carolina; of Mr. Sanford, late a Senator from New York; of Mr. Campbell
P. White, now a Representative from the city of New York. Mr. B. took
pleasure in recalling and presenting to public notice the names of the eminent men who had gone before him in the exp loration of this path. It was
due to them, now that the 'good cause seemed to be in the road to success,
to yield to them all the honors of first explorers; it was due to the cause
also, in this hour of final trial, to give it the high sanction of their names
and labors.
Mr. B. did not think it necessary to descant and expatiate upon the merits
and advantages of a gold currency. These advantages had been too well
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known, from the earliest ages of the world, to he a subject of .discussion in
the nineteenth century: but as It was the policy of the paper system to disparage that metal, and as that system in its forty years* reign over the
American people had nearly destroyed a knowledge of that currency, he
would briefly enumerate its leading and prominent advantages:
1. It had an intrinsic value which gave it currency all over the world to
the full amount of that value, without regard to law or circumstances.
2. It had a uniformity of value, which made it the safest standard of the
value of property which the wisdom of man had ever yet discovered.
3. Its portability, which made it easy for the traveler to carry it about
with him.
4. Its indestructibility, which made it the safest money that people could
keep in their houses.
5. Its inherent purity, which made it the hardest money to be counterfeited
and the easiest to be detected, and therefore the safest money for the people to handle.
6. Its superiority over all other money, which gave to its possessor the
choice and command of all other money.
7. Its power over exchanges, gold being the currency which contributes
most to the equalization of exchange and keeping down the rate of exchange
to the lowest and most uniform point.
8. Its power over the paper money, gold being the natural enemy of that
system and, with fair play, able to hold It in check.
9. It is a constitutional currency and the people have a right to demand it
for their currency as long as the present Constitution is permitted to exist.
Mr. B. said that the false valuation put upon gold had rendered the Mint
of the United States, so far as the gold coinage is concerned, a most ridiculous and absurd institution. It has coined, and that at a large expense to
the United States, 2,262,717 pieces of gold worth 811,852,890; and where are
these pieces now? Not one of them to be seen. All isold and exported, and
so regular is this operation that the Director of the Mint, in his latest report to Congress, says that the new-coined gold frequently remains in the
Mint uncalled for, though ready for delivery, until the day arrives for a
packet to sail to Europe. He calculates that two millions of native gold
will be coined annually hereafter, the whole of which, without a reform of
the gold standard, will be conducted like exiles from the national Mint to
the seashore and transported to foreign regions, to be sold for the benefit of
the Bank of the United States.
Mr. B. said this was not the time to discuss the relative value of gold and
silver,nor to urge the particular proportion which ought to be established
between them- That would be the proper work of a committee. At present it might be sufficient, and not irrelevant, to say that this question was
one of commerce—that it was purely and simply a mercantile problem—as
much so as an acquisition of any ordinary merchandise from foreign countries could be. Gold goes where it finds its value, and that value is what the
laws of great nations give i t In Mexico and South America— the countries
which produce gold, and from which the United States must derive their
chief supply—the value of gold ia 16 to 1 over silver; in the island of Cuba It
is 17 to 1; in Spain and Portugal it is 16 to 1; in the West Indies, generally,
It is the same.
It is not to be supposed that gold will come from these countries to the
United States if the importer is to lose one dollar in every sixteen that he
brings, or that our own gold will remain with us when an exporter can gain
a dollar upon every fifteen that he carries out. Such results would be contrary to the laws of trade, and therefore we must place the same value upon
gold that other nations do if we wish to gain any part of theirs or to regain
any part of our own. Mr. B. said that the case of England and France was
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no exception to this rule. The y rated gold at something less than 16 to t
and still retained gold in circulation, but it was retained by force of peculiar
laws and advantages which do not prevail in the United States.
In England the circulation of gold was aided and protected by four subsidiary laws, neither of which exist here; one which prevented silver from
being a tender for more than 40 shillings; another which required the Bank
of England to pay all its notes in gold; a third which suppressed «the small
note circulation; a fourth which alloyed their silver 9 per cent below the
relative value of gold.
In France the relative proportion of the two metals was also below what
it was in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and South America, and still a plentiful
supply of gold remained in circulation; but this result was aided by two
peculiar causes: first, the total absence of a paper currency; secondly, the
proximity of Spain and the inferiority of Spanish manufactures,which gave
to France a ready and a near market for the sale of her fine fabrics, which
were paid for in the gold of the New World. In the United States gold
would have none of these subsidiary helps: on the contrary it would have
to contend with a paper currency, and would have to be obtained, the product of our own mines excepted, from Mexico and South America, where it is
rated as 16 to 1 for silver. All these circumstances, and many others, would
have to be taken into consideration in fixing a standard for the United
States.
Mr. B. repeated that there was nicetv, but no difficulty, in adjusting the
relative value of gold and silver so as to retain both in circulation. Several
nations of antiquity have done It; some modern nations also. The English
have both in circulation at this time. The French have both, and liave had
for thirty years. The States of this Union also had both in the time of the
confederation, and retained them until this Federal Government was established, and the paper system adopted. Congress should not admit that it
cannot do for the citizens of the United States what so many monarchies
have done for their subjects. Gentlemen, especially, who decry military
chieftains, should not confess that they themselves can not do for America
what a military chieftain did for France.
Mr. B. made his acknowledgments to the great apostle of American liberty [Mr. Jefferson] for the wise, practical idea that the value of gold was a
commercial question, to be settled by its value In other countries. He had
seen that remark In the works of that great man, and treasured it up as
teaching the plain and ready way to accomplish an apparently difficult object; and he fully concurred with the Senator from SouthCarolina [Mr. Calhoun] that gold, in the United States, ought to be the preferred metal; not
that silver should be expelled, but both retained; the mistake, If any, to be
in favor of .gold, instead of being against It.
THE MARKET RATIO CONTROLS THE MINT RATIO.

It will bo seen by the above position of Mr. Benton that lie
maintained that the mint ratio should correspond with the commercial ratio; that in adjusting the ratio this country should be
in accord with other great countries; he suggested the impossibility of fixing any mint ratio which would allow the two metals
to circulate for any considerable length of the time under the
provisions of free coinage, and in view of the mistake so liable
to be made, and in order to be on the safe side, he maintained
that as gold was the better currency the mistake, if any was to
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be made, should be made in favor of gold, so that the American
people might have gold money.
An ounce of gold will buy in the market to-day nearly 28
ounces of silver.

The coinage ratio is 1 to 1G.

The free-

silver advocate insists that it should be lawful for the silver
bullion broker and the silver-bullion producer to bring his silver
bullion to the Government Mint, where the Government should
impress its stamp upon it, and deliver it back in a form—dollars—to carry a statutory and debt-paying value nearly double
the intrinsic value of the bullion when brought to the Mint.
The ultimate loss accruing from that palpable fraud must sooner
or later fall upon the people among whom such a coin circulates,
and yet the advocates of that theory claim to be the friends of
the people!

The mere statement of such a proposition would

seem to be fatal to its advocacy by anybody.
Upon the other hand, ho wever, very distinguished men claim,
not only that such a policy enacted into law would be wise, but
that the mere Government edict under which such coins circulate would enable both gold and silver to circulate freely and
concurrently under the Mint stamp without regard to the intrinsic value of the bullion contained in the two different classes
of coin.
If the experience of men proves anything, and if any historical record can be relied upon, it is that free coinage of gold and
silver with unlimited tender of each can not exist for any length
of time unless the Mint ratio corresponds with the commercial
ratio.

In other words, the bullion value of the two coins must

correspond exactly with the value set upon them by the Mint,
The International Monetary Conference, Paris, 1878, Forty-fifth
Congress, third session, Senate Executive Document No. 58, collated a long list of authorities upon that point and published the
same in the appendix to their report, from which the following
quotations are selected:
The debate and legislation of 1717, and the advice of Newton,
[Extract from reports made by Sir Isaac Newton, master of the mint, concerning the state of the gold and silver coins.]
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Pages 318, 319:
In Sweden gold is lowe st in proportion to silver, and this hath made that
kingdom, which formerly was content with copper money, abound of late
with silver, sent thither (I suspect) for naval stores.
503




32
In the end of King William's reign, and the first year of the late Queen,
when foreign coins abounded in England, I caused a great many of them to
be assayed in the mint and found by the assays that fine gold was to fine silver in Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, Italy, Germany, and the northern
kingdoms, in the proportions above mentioned, errors of the mint excepted*
In China and Japan 1 pound weight of fine gold is worth but 9 or 10 pounds
weight of fine silver; and in East India it may be worth 12; and the low price
of gold in proportion to silver carries away the silver from all Europe.
So, then, by the course of trade and exchange between nation and nation in
all Europe fine gold Is to fine silver as 14$ or 15 to 1, and a guinea, at the
same rate, is worth between 20s. 5d, and 20s.
except in extraordinary
cases, as when a Plate fleet is just arrived in Spain, 'or ships are lading here
for the East Indies, which cases I do not here consider. And it appears by
experience, as well as by reason, that silver flows from those places where
its value Is lowest in proportion to gold, as from Spain to all Europe, and
from all Europe to the East Indies, China, and Japan, and that gold Is most
plentiful in those places in which its value is highest in proportion to silver, as in Spain and England.
It is the demand for exportation which hath raised the price of exportable
silver about 2d, or 3d. in the ounce above that of silver in coin, and hath
thereby created a temptation to export or melt down the silver coin rather
than give 2d. or 3d. more for foreign silver; and the demand for exportation
arises from the higher price of silver in other places than in England in proportion to gold; that is, from the higher price of gold in England than in
the other places in proportion to silver, and, therefore, may be diminished
by lowering the value of gold in proportion to silver. If gold in England or
silver in East India could he brought down so low as to bear the same proportion to one another in both places, there would be here no greater demand for silver than for gold to be exported to India (see pages 266 and 778);
and if gold were lowered only so as to have the same proportion to the silver
money in England which it hath to silver In the rest of Europe there would be
no temptation to export silver rather than gold to any other part of Europe*
And to compass this last, there seems nothing more requisite than to take oft
about lOd. or 12d. from the guinea, so that gold may bear the same proportion
to the silver money in England, which it ought to do by the course of trade
and exchange in Europe; but if only 6d. were taken oft at present, it would
diminish the temptation to export or melt down the silver coin, and, by
the effects, would show hereafter, better than can appear at present, what
further reduction would be most convenient for the public.
[Extract from the writings of Sir James Steuart, illustrating the monetary
situation of England, 1759-1773.]
An inquiry into the principles of political economy, by Sir James Steuart, of
Coltness, Bart. (Volume 2, chapter 7, page 313.)
Page 323:
z
*
#
9
c
c
The defects in the British coin are these:
First. The proportion between the gold and the silver In it is found to be as 1
to 15.2, whereas the market price (1759) may be supposed to be nearly as 1 to
14*.
Secondly. Great part of the current money is worn and light.
Thirdly. Prom the second defect nroceeds the third, to wit, that there are
several currencies in circulation which pass for the same value without
being of the same weight.
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Fourthly. From all these defects re suits the last and greatest inconvenience, to wit, that some innovation must be made in order to set matters on
a right footing.
Trie aim of England's m oneiary legislation, 1773-1799.
[Extract from a treatise of the coins of the realm, in a letter to the King.
Oxford, 1805. By Charles, Earl oi Liverpool. 4to, 266 pages.]
Page 341:
A difficulty then existed, and Continues to exist, which must necessarily
be removed before any plan can be adopted for the improvement of the silver coin. I have already observed that gold and silver, in reference to each
other, are estimated at your Majesty's mint at a different value or price than
these metals are generally sold for at the market. As long as this difference
subsists both these metals will not be brought in a sufficient quantity to the
mint to be coined; that metal only will be brought which is estimated at the
lowest value with reference to the other; and coins of both metals can not be
sent into circulation at the same time without exposing the public to a traffic
of one sort of coin against the other, by which the traders in money would
make a considerable profit, to the great detriment of your Majesty's subjects.
And this mischievous practice, and the frauds committed in carrying it on,
are the more to be apprehended in this country, where the mint is f r e e that is, where every one has a right to bring gold and silver to the mint to
be converted into coin, not at the charge of the person who so brings it, but
of the public—for since the 18th Charles II, chapter 3, the charge of coining
gold and silver has been borne by the public, and, contrary to the practice of
most other countries, no seigniorage has been taken. To prevent this evil
it is necessary to determine whether tnere must not be a standard or
superior coin, made ot one metal only; and whether the coins made of other
metals must not be made and take their value with reference to this standard coin, and become subservient to it—and, in such case, of what metal
this standard coin, to which the preeminence and preference are to be given,
should be made.
[Extract from Mr. Jefferson's notes on the establishment of a money unit,
and of a coinage for the United States J
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Page 441:
The proportion between the values of gold and silver is a mercantile problem altogether. It would be inaccurate to fix it by the popular exchanges
of a half Joe for $8, a Louis for 4 Frenchcrowns, or5 Louis for $23. The first
of these would be to adopt the Spanish proportion between gold and silver;
the second the French, the third a mere popular barter, wherein convenience
is consulted more than accuracy. The legal proportion in Spain is i6 for 1,
in England 15J for 1, in France (uncertain in the United States in the printed
The Spaniards and English are found in experience to retain
copy) 15 for
an overproportion of gold coins and to lose their silver. The French have
a greater proportion of silver. The difference at market has been on the decrease. The financier states it at present at 14} for 1.
Just principles will lead us to disregard legal proportions altogether: to
inquire into the market pri' e of gold in the several countries with which we
shall principally be connected in commerce, and to take an average from
them. Perhaps we might with safety lean to a proportion somewhat above
par for gold, consider ing our neighborhood and commerce with the sources
of the coins and the tendency which the high price of gold in Spain has to
303—3




34
draw thither all that of their mines, leaving silver principally for our and
other markets. It is not impossible that 15 for 1 may be found an eligible
proportion. I state it, however, as conjectural only.
[Extract from report of Alexander Hamilton ontfce establishment of a mint.]
Pages 458, 463, 464, 465:
*

*

*

-

*

#

*

•

The difference established by custom in the United States between coined
gold and coined silver has been stated upon another occasion to be nearly
as 1 to 16.6. This, if truly the case, would imply that gold was extremely
overvalued in the United States; for the highest actual proportion in any
part of Europa very little, if at all, exceeds 1 to 15, and the average propor*
tion throughout Europe is probably not more than about 1 to 14.8; but that
statement has proceeded upon the idea of the ancient dollar.
One pennyweight of gold of 23 carats fine, at 6a.
and the old Seville
piece of 386 grains and 15 mites of pure silver, at 7*.
furnish the exact
ratio of 1 to 15.6262. But this does not coincide with the real difference between the metals in our market, or, which is with us the same thing, in our
currency. To dotermine this, the quantity of fine silver in the general mas3
of the dollars now in circulation must afford the rule. Taking the rate of
the late dollar of 874 grains, the proportion would be as 1 to 15.11. Taking
the rate of the newest dollar, the proportion would then be as 1 to 14.87. The
mean of the two would give the proportion of 1 to 15, very nearly—less than
the legal proportion in the coins of Great Britain, which is as 1 to 15.2, but
tomewhat more than the actual or market proportion, which is not quite 1
80 15.
•
*
*
*
*
*.
*
One consequence of overvaluing either metal, in respect to.the other, is the
banishment of that which is undervalued. If two countries are supposod, in
one of which the proportion of gold to silver is as 1 to 16, in the other as 1 to
15, gold being worth more, silver less, in one than in the other, it is manifest that, In their reciprocal payments, each will select that species which it
values least to pay to the otherwhere it is valued most. Besides this, the
dealers in money will, from the same cause, often find a profitable traffic in
an exchange of the metals between the two countries. And hence it would
come to pass, if other things were equal, that the greatest part of the gold
would be collected in one and the greatest part of silver in the other.
The course of trade might in some degree counteract the tendency of the
difference in the legal proportions by the market value: but this is so far
and go often influenced by the legal rates that it does not prevent their producing the effect which is inferred. Facts, too, verify the inference. In
Spain and England, where gold is rated higher than in other parts of Europe,
there is a scarity of silver, while it is found to abound in France and Holland, whererit is rated higher in proportion to gold than in the neighboring
nations. And it is continually flowing from Europe to China and the^Easfc
Indies, owing to the comparative cheapness of it in the former and dearosas
pf it in the latter.
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

But it is to be suspected that there is another consequence more serious
than the one which has been mentioned. This is the diminution of the total
quantity of specie which a country would naturally possess.
It is evident that as often as a country which overrates either of the
metals receives a payment in that metal it gets a less actual quantity than"
it ought to do or than it would do if the rate were a iust one.
*

*

303




*

*

*

*

*

35
In establishing a proportion between the metals there seems to be ati option of oiife or two things— .
To approach, as nearly as it can be ascertained, the mean 01* average proportion in What may be called the commercial world; or
To retain that which now exists in the United States!
As far as these happen to coincide they will render the course to be ptu>
sued more plain and more certain.
To ascertain the first, With precision* would require better materials than
lire possessed, Or than could be obtained* without to incohvehicnt delay.
Sir Isaab Nekton, in a representation to the treasury of Great Britain, in
the year 1717, after stating the particular proportion^ in the different countries of Burble, Concludes thus: "By the ct>ui*se of trade and exchange between nation and nation, in ail Europe, fin& gold is to fine silver as 14|, or 15
to 1."
There can hardly be a better rule in any country for the legal than the
market proportion, if this can be supposed to have been produced by the free
and steady course of commercial principles. The presumption in such a
case is that each metal finds its true level, according to Its intrinsic utility
in the general system of money operations.
tExtract from report on CuiTency, made to th$ House of Representatives 6f
the United States, February 24, 1820, by tVIliiam H. Crawford, Secretary
bf the Treasury.]
*

*

*

*

*

•

*

Pages 518, 519:
In an inquiry into the state of the currency, the Consideration of the coinage is necessarily involved^ The principles upon which the coinage of the
United States has been established are substantially correct. The standard
fineness of the gold coinage corresponds with the coinage of England and
Portugal. The standard of the silver coinage differs but little from that of
Spain. The American dollar is intrinsically worth about 1 per cent less than
the Spanish milled dollar. This difference, if the Spanish dollar had not
been made a legal tender, might have secured to the nation a more permanent usfc of its silver coinage. American dollars would not be exported as
long as Spanish dollars could be obtained for that purpose at a reasonable
premium. If this latter coin was not a legal tender, the banks might afford
to Import It, and might sell, at a fair premium, the amount which might be
required of them for the China and East India trade.
*'
*
*
*
*
e
q
It is believed that gold* When compared with silver, has beeil for many
years appreciating in value, and now everywhere commands In the money
markets a higher value than that which has been assigned to it in States
where its relative value is greatest. If this be correct, no injustice will result from a change in the relative legal value of gold and silver, so as to
make it correspond with their relative marketable value. If gold, in relation
to silver, should be raised 5 per cent, 1 otrnce of it would be equal to 16.75 or
15| ounces of pure silver. This augmentation in its value would c&USd it to
be imported in quantities sufidcient to perform all the functions of currency.
[Extract from report of the Committee on the Currency on the expediency
' of increasing the relative value of the gold hereafter to be coined at the
mint of the United States.]
FEBRUARY 2,1821.—Read, and committed to a Committee of the "Whole
House.




36
Page 556:
In the United States, before the establishment of the present Government,
it has heretofore been ascertained by a committee of Congress that, by custom, the value of gold has been considered as equivalent to about fifteen and
six-tenths of its weight in silver. (See page 441.) This, without doubt, arose
from finding this to be the average of the different values affixed to the gold
in different foreign countries.
Why it was thought proper, on establishing the mint of the United States,
to reduce this value to 15 for 1 Is not now material to inquire. It is sufficient to know from unhappy experience that Its tendency Is to rid us of a
gold currency and leave us n o t i n g but silver.
The merchants, if they have occasion to import specie and can not obtain
silver, are compelled to import gold at a loss of from 2 to 10 per cent. If
they have a remittance to make they will, if possible, exchange silver for
gold, as thereby they will gain from 2 to 10 per cent, according to the value
of gold in the country to which the remittance is to be made.
[Twenty-first Congress, first session, 135.]
[Extract from report from the Secretary of the Treasury (in compliance
with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th December, 1828) respecting the
relative values of gold and silver, etc.]
MAT 4,1830.—Read and ordered to be printed, and that 1,000 additional
copies be sent to the Senate.
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Pages 569, 570, 571, 575, 578, 580, 591:
The history of coinage proves that little reliance can be placed 6n artificial regulations of relative values of the standard measure of property as a
means of maintaining a regular currency of uniform value. Some remarkable instances, as noticed by Lord Liverpool, occurred in England in the
reign of James I, and subsequently.
Gold being estimated too low at the mint, compared with silver, was freely
exported, which caused incessant complaints. To remedy this evil King
James raised the value of gold in his coins by successive proclamations; but
he at lastraised it too high; and during the remainder of his reign, and that
of Charles I, the silver coins were exported until the complaints were as
great for want of silver as they had been before for want of gold. About the
middle o{ the seventeenth century, during a short period, according to the
same author, the relative values at which the precious metals were estimated in the coins appear to have been in equilibrium with the market prices,
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
It seems very clear from these facts, to which many others of later datemight
be added, that, however exactly the proper equilibrium of values of gold and
silver may be adjusted at the mint, the balance is liable to be disturbed by
causes which can neither be anticipated nor controlled by political power. If
the regulation be founded on the most exact calculation of relative values
for the time being, the vibrations of the values of gold and silver must alternately cause the expulsion of each; and where one metal is more essential
to public convenience than the other, the adjustment which exposes that
under any circumstances to general exportation or melting may become a
greater evil than a regulation which constantly excludes from circulation
the less desirable coin. These difficulties had long been a matter of great
concern in England, although it was not well settled in public opinion which
metal was the best suited for the currency of that country.
*

*

808




*

*

*

*

*

37
It remains to be considered whether gold or silver is the most convenient
currency for the United States. It has already been observed that prior
to the year 1831 gold and silver generally bore the same relation in the market of the United States which they did in the Mint regulation. Silver sometimes commanded a premium for the India trade. But, at no time since the
general introduction of bank paper, has gold been found in general circulation. It may not be necessary here to Inquire minutely into the causes
which prevented the ratio of gold and silver in Europe from affecting the
price of gold in the United States prior to 1820. The fact that gold did not
circulate in the United States at a time when it commanded no premium, is
sufficient to prove that other causes than an erroneous mint regulation have
excluded, and may still continue to exclude it from circulation. These are
to be found partly in the operations of our banks,
*

»

*

*

#

*

#

The proposition that there can be but one standard in fact is self-evident.
The option of governments charged with this duty is therefore between having property measured sometimes by gold and sometimes by silver, and
selecting that metal which is best adapted to the purpose for the only standard. Why the latter course has not been universally adopted it is not easy
to explain, unless it may be attributed to that prevalent delusion which
seeks to secure the possession of gold and silver by restraining their exportation, and avoiding the payment of debts rather than improving the public
economy by giving every facility to it. It would seem strange, however,
that while every individual who had a deposit of money in bank, or in his
chest (unless he is sufficiently deranged to think of hoarding it), would be
wholly indifferent whether it were gold or silver. Governments should persevere in maintaining a different theory.
But such has been the fact. The history of coinage abounds with mint
regulations to keep gold and silver together, and statutes prohibiting, under
severe penalties, the exportation of either; all of which have disappointed
every expectation of their projectors. The adoption of one metal as a standard measure of property is recommended by its simplicity. No change in
the mint regulations can ever be required, and it removes every pretext for
dishonest or unwise governments to debase their coins. All other metals
may be imported as freely as before, and, like other articles of merchandise,
applied to the payment of debts.
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

In conclusion, should it be determined to maintain both gold and silver
as standard measures of property, without changing the ratio, it will be
advisable to discontinue the gold coinage whenever the premium for gold
shall exceed 2 per cent. The mint may be employed in coining silver; and
an assay of gold bullion will, at a small expense, answer every purpose now
derived from coining it. But if it be deemed expedient to change the ratio,
the extent of the alteration is a matter of considerable importance.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Although it can not be expected that an alteration in the erroneous relative legal value of the gold and silver coins of the United States will, whilst
paper chiefly of a local circulation continues to be their general currency,
be productive of any great advantage, still the change will do some good,
and can be attended with no injury. The present rate was the result of information, clearly incorrect, respecting the then relative value of gold and
silver In Europe, which was represented as being at the rate of less than 15
to 1, when It was in fact from 15.5 to 15.6 to 1. It would be better, at all
events, to discontinue altogether the coinage of gold than to continue the
present system.
303




38
[Extracts from the reports of Mr. C.P. White, from the Select Committee of
the House on Coins, etc.]
*

[Extract from the report of June S , 1832, page 7.]
O
*
*
*
*
*

*

Page 6"4:
The committee think that the desideratum in the monetary system Is thq
standard of uniform value; they can not ascertain that both metals have
ever circulated simultaneously, concurrently, and Indiscriminately, in any
country where there are banks or money dealers; and they entertain the
conviction that the nearest approach to an invariable standard is its establishment in one metal, which metal shall compose exclusively the currency
for large payments.
IS BIMETALLISM POSSIBLE?

• W i t h such authorities before us it would sedm to be idle to
talk about ratios in the present unsettled condition of the silver
bullion market.

In 1S34; when the ratio was fixed at 16 to 1, sil-

ver was overvalued about 3 cents on the dollar, and the result
was that silver disappeared from circulation, and from that date
until 1878 the coinage of the United States was almost exclusively gold, excepting the fractional silver.
A t the ratio of 16 to 1 a silver 4ollar is worth at this time about
55 cents, and at the ratio of 20 to 1, which is the highest ratio
suggested under the pending resolution, a silver dollar at the
present market price of bullion would be worth about 81 cents.
Free coinage of silver, therefore, means silver monometallism.
The advocates of the free coinage of silver may claim to be bimetallists; but they know? and everybody else knows, that bimetallism is absolutely impossible under any ratio at the present
time.

The $500,000,000 of gold now circulating in the country

would disappear as in a night, with no hope of return, so long as
such silver policy continued.
Congress has already gone top far in the attempt to force a
cheap silver dollar into circulation.
It is the bullion in the coin which gives it value, not the mint
Stainp.

The United States recognizes this fact in respect of our

gold coin; why should we not in respect of our silver coin also?
It is provided by t&e United States Revised Statutes, edition of
1878, section 3505, that—
Any gold coins pf the United States, if reduced in weight by natural abrasion not more than one-half of 1 per cent below the standard weight
pye^crjbod by law, after a circulation of twenty years, as shown by the date
of coinage, and at a ratable proportion for any period less than twenty years,
shall be received at their nominal value by the United States Treasury and
303




39
Its offices, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe for the protection of the Government against fraudulent abrasion or
other practices.
That is to say, gold coin becomes demonetized, ceases to be
legal tender, and passes at bullion value only if it shall become
light weight to the extent of one-half of 1 per cent in twenty
years'wear; and yet it is seriously contended here that we ought
to pass a free-coinage silver statute under which every silver dollar would be 45 per cent light weight the moment it left the mint.
The fact is, we can have but one standard.
is impossible*
possibility.

A double standard

International bimetallism is an international im-

Bimetallism with free coinage and unlimited tender

never yet existed for any considerable length of time in any
country.
silver.

From 1792 to 1834 our metal currency was exclusively
From 1834 to 1878 our metal currency was almost ex-

clusively gold, and our experience is the experience of all other
nations who have tried bimetallism with free coinage.
It has been several times claimed on the floor of this House
that France had succeeded from 1803 to 1873 in maintaining
bimetallism, meaning by that the free and unlimited coinage Of
- both metals with unlimited tender and the concurrent circulation of both metals among the people.

Such assertions are

easily made, but they have no foundation to rest upon.
In referring to that statement so frequently repeated on the
floor of the House, the New York Evening Post, under date of
August 12,1893, said:
We find it necessary, therefore, to reprint what Chevalier, the French
economist, Says on this point in hl& celebrated treatise on money, Chevalier, it should be added, was the great champion of silver in his day. He
says:
"In the year XI (1803), when the law of seventh Germinal was enacted,
which established for a temporary standard the ratio of 1 to 15J between the
two metals, this ratio actually existed in the commercial world;, but little
by little it changed, and soon gold came to be worth ordinarily a little more
thanl5| times as much as silver—it has sometimes been worth a little aboye
16 times as much. This discrepancy, which has usually been about U per
cent (that is, one-half of that which manifested Itself from lT28tol785), would
have had no effect if the provision of Gaudin had been correct. On the contrary. it had a very considerable effect; it sufficed to retire gold from circulation.
UA few years after th& passage of the law of the year XI gold became so
Scarce that people had to buy it of the money-changers when they wanted
to carry that kind of cash on their Journeys. In fact, the circulation of the
two metals side by side, which Gaudihflatteredhimself that he should estab803




40
Etsh by means of the coinage ot pieces denominated S francs and 40 francs,
O
had ceased to exist shortly after the year XI, and twenty-five years after
that date the circulation consisted of silver only." (La Monnaie, page 216.)
Oceans of testimony in support of the foregoing statement of Chevalier
can be obtained.
Afterwards, on August 14,1893, the same paper, referring to
the same subject, published the following editorial:
THE EXPEDIENCE OF FRANCE.

In his speech in the House on Friday Mr. BLAND quoted the British gold
and silver commission of 1883 to prove that the bimetallic law of France at
the ratio of 15J to 1 kept the market ratio steady at that ratio for the period
of seventy years, from 1803 to 1873. This is one of the fictions of the silverites from which no amount of refutation will suffice to loosen them. But we
will try to shake them once more. We might ask, as a preliminary question, why the spell was broken in 1873. The argument, based upon the supposed fact that silver and gold ratio was steady for the seventy years in
question, is that there was a peculiar force in the French law causing that
steadiness. Why did this magic cease to work in 1873? France did not close
her mint to silver until after the market ratio had changed. It was nothing
but the change of market ratio, which had begun to drain her of goldrthat
drove France to stop the coinage of silver. The bimetallists themselves admit this when they throw upon Germany the blame of forcing the hand of
France by selling silver in 1873 and later.
So it appears, even according to their own showing, that the French bimetallic law of 1873 was good only for fair weather. When a strain came,
like the selling of silver by a neighboring country, the bimetallic law gave
way. So the real question at issue is, how much strain such a law could
possibly endure. If we admit all that they claim for the experience of
France, the sum total of their gain is that a bimetallic law has a tendency
to hold the market ratio at a particular level, but that this tendency may be
overcome by the conditions of supply and demand.
Even this is more than we can concede. And first let us glance at the report of the British commission of 1888. This commission consisted of men
of a high order of intelligence, but, as it happened, it did not embrace a single person who could be called an expert. Not one of the members had any
special familiarity with the subject in hand, while all of them had general
familiarity with it. Accordingly they were in the mood to accept as true
any scrap of misinformation that had passed for a long time unchallenged.
Such a scrap of error was the statement that France had had the two metals
in concurrent circulation for seventy years, from 1803 to 1873, at the ratio of
15$ to 1. They took this for granted and proceeded to advance certain a priori arguments to account for the remarkable steadiness of the market ratio.
Among other things they said:
u The fact that the owner of the silver could in the last resort take it to
those mints and have it converted into coin which would purchase commodities at the ratio of 15J of silver to l o f gold would, in our opinion, be
likely to affect the price of silver in the market generally, whoever the purchaser and for whatever the country it was destined. It would enable the
seller to stand out for a price approximating to the legal ratio and would
tend to keep the market steady at about that point."
When their final report was published Mr. Robert Giffen, the statistician
of the British Board of Trade, who is a real expert in monetary science,
took up this paragraph, so fraught with mischief, and showed that it was
founded upon an entire misapprehension, for the reason that France did not
have the two metals in concurrent circulation during the period under con803




41
sideration, but had had them alternately, first one and then the other. He
produced and published the market reports of Paris for each month from
1820 to 1847, during all of which time there had beena premium on gold ranging from £ per cent to 2per cent. Nobody would pay a debt in gold when i
per cent could be saved by paying it in silver. On every debt of 1,000 francs
from 5 to 20 francs could be saved, according to the premium of the day, by
paying in silver. The literature of the period is fuln proofs that gold was
not in circulation at this time, although it was coined more or less at the
French mint for money-changers and hoarders.
After 1847 a change took place, due to the gold discoveries in California
and Australia. Silver went to a premium in France, and was exported and
meltedto such an extent that the country was left with an insufficient supply of small change, and was obliged to adopt a token coinage by debasing
thefinenessof all coins smaller than 5 francs to .835 instead of .900. After
1867 there was another change. Gold went to a small but increasing premium, which became so excessive in 1873 that the coinage of franc pieces
was limited by law, and stopped altogether in 1876, in order to prevent the
exportation of gold. In short, the facts sh ow that France did not have the
double standard in practice during the period in question anymore than we
in America had it. Mr. Giffen showed conclusively, too, that the French law
of 1803 had no tendency to hold the two metals together. It should be remarked that as no reason has been assigned by the bimetallists for the spell
coming to an end in 1873, there is as little reason for putting its beginning in
1803. The ratio of 15£ to 1 was adopted by France in 1785, and was continuous from that time, and was merely reenacted in 18031
The work referred to in the above article is The Case Against
Bimetallism, by Robert Giffen, 1892.

In an appendix to that

work the author gives a table showing the premium on gold in
Paris each month from September, J820, to December, 1847, and
the premium varied regularly, up or down, nearly every month.
I add, one other authority:
It comes out very clearly that one feature of the French system has been
that, since 1803, France has sometimes had a currency approaching to monometallsm, if not actually monometallic; and it has happened that whenever
the compensatory action of the law of thefixedratio has been called into play.
Its result was to confine the currency almost entirely to that metal which
was the cheapest for the time being. Thus, from 1816 to 1820 gold was practically the standard, and from 1821 to 1850, silver, and from 1820 to 1847 there
ruled a premium on gold varying from a little below 1 to 2 per cent.—The
Industrial Competition of Asia, by Clarmont J. Daniel, F. S. S., late of Her
Majesty's Indian civil service, page 135.
By reference to the table ot commercial ratios given in the
appendix it will be seen that during the seventy years when it
is claimed that France maintained bimetallism the commercial
ratio varied but a trifle over a unit from maximum to minimum.
The ratio was 15.41 in 1803 and 15.57 in 1870, and during that
time the lowest was 15.01 in 1814 and the highest was 16.25 in
1813.

The ratio has risen from 15.57 in 1870 to 23.72 in 1892, and

to 28.52 for the first seven months in 1893.
303




42
It is quite a different matter, therefore, to undertake to maintain bimetallism for seventy years with a commercial ratio
which does not vary a unit and a half in the extreme during all
that time, and attempting bimetallism now when the commercial ratio varies more than two units a year.
Even If the increased production is kept in view, it Is not easy to understand why* with the Increased purchasing toy the United States to the
amount of six millions sterling per annum, and the simultaneous large increase of the Indian imports of silver, which averaged from August, 1890,
when the Sherman act came into force, to March, 1893, upwards of 46,500,000
Otincesj the price should he Od. per ounce lower than it was in the beginning
of 1890. It has, indeed, been argued that the recent fall in the price of silver
was due to the blow which the passing of that act gave to the hopes of those
who desired the free coinage of silver. But against thi3 it Is to be observed
that the price of silver in Londonrose during the time that the Sherman act
was passing through Congress, and continued to rise for some weeks after
it became law.
Whatever be the cause, the fact that, although the United States Government has under that act made purchases varying from 34 to 42 per cent of
the estimated production of the world, and India has increased and not
diminished her imports of the metal, the price of silver has fallen to Its
present low level, is beyojid question and of grave moment.
Supposing even that no change were made in the currency arrangements
of the United States, the experience of the past would forbid the conclusion
that thfc price of sliver Would be stationary at its present level. It would be
imprudent to act on the assumption that no further fall is possible or even
probable.—Report of the committee appointed to inquire into the Indian currency, Herschell Report, London, 1893, page 9.
In 1837, when the new rupee was introduced into Bombay, Mr. Bruce, of
the civil Service, and a member of the mint committee, thus wrote to that
body:
" I take the liberty of drawing your attention to the inconvenience which
the public have for some years experienced from the disappearance of all
gold from the circulation, and of submitting to your consideration the expediency of revising the principles by which the coinage of that metal is at
present regulated; that is to say, of raising the existing mint proportion
between its value and that of the silver coin, without which, as it appears to
me, gold can never again be expected to form any part of the currency of
this presidency. The present mint regulations must of necessity be tantamount to a perpetual banishment of gold from the currency.
" Mr. Bruce then goes on to argue that the exchange rate for the gold and
silver money of the East India Company's currency should be assimilated
to the commercial rate, but he stops short of saying how this should be
done."—The Industrial Competition of Asia, byClarmont J.Daniell,pages273,
274.
Between 1769 and 1833 the currency of gold mohurs and rupees was remodeled four times. Almost as soon a legal rate was settled it was upset by the
evolution of a different commercial rate. From 1793 to 1833 tho gold coin of
India was undervalued in the silver coin, if judged by the contemporary European price of one metal in the other, which perhaps accounts for the almost complete disappearance of gold money from circulation.
"At the beginning of this century, and previously, the East India Company
used to export gold to England, while the undervaluation at the mint prevented the gold coinage from being replenished; at the same time tho im303




43
poj-tations of silver "went on increasing, and in 1835 the company, giving up
the attempt to keep two kinds of full-value coin in circulation together at a
fixed rate of exchange, abandoned gold and made silver, which had become
the predominant currency, the standard of value and money of account for
India."
Note on page 302.—"Remarks on a Gold Currency for India," by Col. Ballard, R. E., mint master, Bombay, 1868.—The Industrial Competition of Asia,
by Clarmont J. Daniell, page 302.
"At the time when gold and silver money were both in use in the East India
Company's territories, attempts were made from time to time, by recoining
the gold and silver coins in conformity with what appeared to be their market value in one another, to make them exchange at a fix ed rate, but it was
never successful for a long time together."—Ibid., page 299.
Not only is bimetallism impossible, but experiments in bimetallism aro expensive.

An estimate by tbe Director of the Mint

shows that the United States have lost in depreciation of silver
bullion nearly $8,000,000 a year since they inaugurated the bimetal policy in 1878; and the Secretary of the Treasury shows
in a recent lettsr that it would cost $112,866,321 to rccoin our
outstanding silver and bring it up to an approximate parity with
gold.
All highly civilized countries have abandoned the attempt to
maintain a double standard.

Not only is bimetallism a thing of

the past, but the preference is universally for the gold standard,
and this has been especially noticeable in the past twenty years.
The coinage of full legal-tender silver was suspended in England
in 1816*; in Portugal in 1854; in Germany in 1871 (proclaimed
in 1873); in Belgium in 1873; in the Scandinavian Union—Norway, Sweden, and Denmark—in 1873; in the Netherlands in
1877; in Finland in 1877; in the states composing the Latin
Union—Finance, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece—in
1878; in Austria-Hungary in 18J92; and on private account in
India in June, 1893.
Not that the use of silver has ceased in these countries, nor is
• The date usually given for the adoption of the gold standard by England
is 1816. Dr. Soetbeer, however, in Geld und Munzwesen, as tending to
Show an earlier date, quotes the Stat. 14, George III, c. 42 (1774), which provided: "That no legal tender in payment of money made in the silver coin
of this realm, of any sum exceeding the sum of £35, at any time, shall bp reputed in law or allowed to be legal tender, within Great Britain and Ireland,
for more than according to its value by weight, after the rate of 5*. 2d. for
each ounce of silver."
This act was redacted by act 38, George HI, c. 59 (1798). By act 56, George
ITT, c . 68 (1810), legal tender in silver coin was limited to two pounds sterling,
and the shilling was debased from 60 to 66 shillings to the pound troy.
303




44
it desirable that it should, but bimetallism has caased.

In clos-

ing these remarks under this heading I can not do better than
borrow the language of a distinguished writar on finance, whose
name is familiar to everyone conversant with the subject.
Mr. Horace White, in an addro3s on " The Gold Standard,"
before the Congress of Bankers and Financiers, at Chicago, June
20,1893, sums up the whole bimetallic situation in his opening
paragraph, a& follows:
The most impressive fact in the world of finance is the dominance of the
gold standard. A year or two ago Roumanla passed under its sway, to-day
it is Austria, next year or soon it will be Russia, by and by it will be India,
and meanwhile it has lost no ground that it has ever held. Three international conferences have been assembled to stay this conquering march,
while none has been called to promote or assist it. Yet the movement has
been as little impeded as that of an ocean steamer would be by the action of
a debating society in its own cabin. Is all this due to human perversity, or
has it a rational cause founded in the needs of mankind ?
AS TO THE FALII OF PRICES AND RISE OF GOLD.

Another claim that prices for commodities have declined, and
that therefore gold has appreciated in recent years, and that the
adoption of the gold standard would still further depress prices
and still further appreciate gold and work to the detriment of
debtors and the laboring classes and in favor of the rich is utterly unfounded in fact.

To say that prices of certain commod-

ities have declined in terms of gold does not prove by any manner of means that such decline is due to an appreciation in the
value of gold, or that gold has, in fact, appreciated.
There are a great many considerations to be taken into the
question of declining prices.

Price3 of commodities, agricul-

tural products and manufactures alike, have declined in recent
years, but they have declined in gold-using countries and in silver-using countries alike, and gold itself, measured in terms of
its own interest or earning capacity, has suffered as heavy a decline as tha average decline in other commodities.
Prof. Marshall repeats in various forms liis argument (Qustions 9755,9750,
9775) that the relative values of gold and silver do not lower the value of
wheat relatively to other commodities. He contends that the importation of Indian wheat into England is due exclusively to the development of
the railway system and the lowering of freights and to a series of very fa*
vorable harvests; that if the cause of this exportation had been the rate of
exchange we should have found Indian wheat coming a long time ago.
In 1876 the price of silver was low, but India exported then only one million
sterling in value of wheat as against eight millions now. " The difficulty,"
303




45
to use Prof. Marshall's words, i.e., the competition of Indian with English
wheat, "exists without any reference to silver, and would he the same if
India had a gold currency."
This way of putting the case of course neglects for the moment any consideration of the tendency which a gold currency if used in India might
have, for more reasons than one, to raise the price of Indian productions.
Using the argument merely to prove that it is not the metal out of which
the coin of India is fabricated which bonuses her exports, it is unanswerable.
Mr. W. Fowler, expresses a similar opinion (Questions 83S8,9077), that" price
depends much more upon the supply and demand of the article than upon any
condition of money," and tnat "prices, which are the governing factor in
exports and imports, have much less to do with the question of the money
than we suppose in our ordinary ideas about these things."—The Industrial
Competition of Asia, by Clarmont J. Daniell, F. S. S., late of Her Majesty's
Indian civil service, page 340.
The question which next naturally suggests Itself is, "What have been the
price movements of such commodities as have not in recent years experienced in any marked degree a change in their conditions of supply and demand? Do they exhibit any evidence of having been subjected to any influence attributable to the scarcity of gold?
The answer is that not only can no results capable of any such generalization be affirmed, but no one commodity can even be named in respect to
which there is conclusive evidence that its price has been affected in recent
years by influences directly or mainly attributable to any scarcity of gold
* for the purpose of effecting exchanges.
in the first place all that large class of products or services which are exclusively or largely the result of handicrafts; which are not capable of rapid
multiplication, or of increased economy in production, and which can not
be made the subject of international competition—have exhibited no tendency to decline In price, but rather the reverse. A given amount of gold
does not now buy more, but less, of domestic service and of manual and professional labor generally than formerl j.—Recent Economic Chcyiges, David A*
Wells, pages 191,192.
Note to the above: "There Is no feature in the situation which the commissioners have been called to examine, so satisfactory as the immense improvement which has taken place in the condition of the working classes
during the last twenty years."—Report of the Royal {British) Commission on
the Depression of Trade, 1888.
Instead of an alleged lowering of^the price of labor, we have to report, taking a wide extent, rather a rise in wages.—Report of Factory Inspectors, Germany, 1886.
Now, while such res ults [fall in prices] are not in accordance with what
might have been anticipated from and can not be satisfactorily explained by
any theory of the predominating and depressing influence of a scarcity of
gold on prices, they are exactly the results which might have been expected
from and can be satisfactorily explained by the conditions of supply and demand—conditions so varying with time, place, and circumstance as to require in the case of every commodity a special examination to determine
its price experience, and which experience, once recognized, will rarely or
never be found to exactly correspond with the experience of any other commodity; the leading factor occasioning the recent decline in the prices of
sugars having been an extraordinary artificial stimulus; in quinine the
changes in the sources of supply from natural to artificially cultivated trees;
in wheat, the accessibility of new and fertile territory, and a reduction of
freights; in freights, on land, the reduction in the cost of iron and steel, and
on the ocean new methods of propulsion, economy In fuel and undu% multiplication of vessels; in iron and steel, new processes and new furnaces, at303




4
G
fording a larger and better product with ioss labor in A given time; in c6tt^in varieties of wool, changes in fashion, and in others an increase of production in a greater ratio than population and their consuming capacity; in
ores and coal, the introduction of the steam drill and more powerful explosive agents; in cheese, a disproportionate market price for butter; in cotton
cloth, because the spindles Which revolved 4,000 times in a minute in 1874
made 10,000 revolutions in the same time in 1885; ill "gum arable" and
"senna," a War in the Soudan; in Wines, a destruction of the Vines by disease; in American hog products, a plentiful supply ttf hogs, consequentupon
an abundant corn (maize) crop, etc.
And yet all these B diverse factors of influence evolve and harmonize
O
under, and at the same time demonstrate, the existence of a law more immutable than any other in economic science, namely, that When production lb creases in excess of current market demand, even to the extent of an
inconsiderable fraction, or is cheapened through any agency, prices wiil decline; and that when, on the other hand, production is checked or arrested
by natural events—storms, pestilence, extremes of temperature; or by artificial interference, as war, excessive taxation, or political misrule or disturbances—prices will advance; and between these extremes of influence
prices will fluctuate in accordance with the progressive changes in circum_ stances and the hopes and fears of producers, exchangers, and consumers.—
JSecent Economic Changes, David A. Weil3, paged 202,203.
The monetary experience of the United States since 1879 has been so especially remarkable, and has sUch bearing on the economic problem of the rem-,
tion of money supply to prices, as to entitle it to c&teiided notice. The following table shows the changes in the circulating inedia of the United s t a t e s bullion, coin, and paper—since January 1,1879 (when the country resumed
specie payments), and January 1,1889— a period of ten years:
Circulation.

Jan. 1, 1879.

Jan. 1, 1889.

Gold coin and bullion
Silver dollars
Silver bullion
Fractional silver
National-bank notes
Legal-tender notes
Total currency issues

1278,310,126
22,495,550
9,121,417
71,021,162
323,791,674
346,631,016
1,051,420,945

$704,608,1G9
315,186,190
10,865,237
76,889,983
233,600,027
316,681,016
1,6S7,890,622

-

•Increase.

1

Total.
•$426,298,043
•292,690,640
•1,743,820
. •5,863,821
t90,131,647

-^Decrease.

Of this large increase of $636,469,677, $578,637,368, in coin and paper, were in
the hands of the people; and $57,832,309, in bullion, coin, and paper, in the
National Treasury.
It thus appears that, While there has been an increase in ;the population
of the United States during the period of ten years under consideration of
about 30 per cent, the increase in the precious metals and paper available
for circulation during the same time was 60.05 per cent; while of coin and
paper in active use among the people and banks the increase was 69.9 per
cent, or much more than double the rate of increase in population. Now,
as during this same period there was a great and universal decline In the
prices of commodities in the United States (as elsewhere), the interesting
question arises, How do these experiences harmonize with the theory that
the voluine of circulating medium controls prices, and that, the movement
of the precious metals puts down prices in the event of a reduction of the
supply and puts them up in the event of an increase of supply?
Notft, further, that the increase of gold and silver coin and bullion in the
United States during the ten years from 1879 to 1889 Was $720,000,000, while
803




47
the paper circulation diminished. Nor can it he maintained that the fall in
the value of silver bullion has affected this circulation since, for aU purposes of internal circulation, silver and its paper representatives have had
the same efficiency and exchangeable value as existed before the depreciation of silver bullion. The availability of silver coin for tho settlement on
.the part of the United States of international balances has been alone affected; and this, so long as there has been an adequate supply of gold, Is an
immaterial factor. It would, therefore, seem that the above exhibit fur*
nishes the most complete refutation of the theory that changes in the supr
pliesof the precious metals account for the fall in the prices of commodities.—Recent Economic Changes, David A. Wells, pages 231,232,223.
THE GOLD STJPPIIT.

Another claim often made in debate upon this floor in the
past week is that there is not sufficient gold in the world to
supply the money needed to effect the exchanges if all nations
should adopt the gold standard.

The first weakness of that ar-

gument is, so far as the United States is concerned, that whatever supplies of gold other nations have, we are certainly in
condition to supply ourselves with all that we need.

First, our

immense and varied natural resources; the great variety and
extent of our home manufactures; our cotton and food supplies,
so much needed abroad, put us in position to demand from other
nations in trade balances whatever gold we may need in the
future.
And another point not to be lost sight of, and perhaps the
strongest in our favor, is that of the one hundred and thirty
millions of gold output jannually in. the world the United States
produces upwards of one-quarter, and has produced it in those
proportions for many years past.

All we need is such laws as

will permit gold to circulate among us.
then supply us.

The Jaws of trade will

If anyone has any fear that the adoption of a

gold standard by this country, and the few remaining countries
which have not as yet adopted it, would result in a contraction
of currency because of a scarcity of gold, an examination of the
authorities, historical and statistical, can not but convince any
investigator that such a fear is unwarranted.
The recent closing of the Indian mint to the further coinage
of silver seems to have emphasized this fear among those who
look upon India as a great silver-using country, embracing 255,000,000 of people, and the idea of their being supplied with a
gold currency in the present "scramble for g o l d " among Eu803




48
ropean nations seems to be one which is peculiarly exciting to
the free-silver advocate.

But there is authority for saying that

India has already sufficient gold for her own monetary purposes
if the gold standard should be finally adopted, as it undoubtedly
will be.

India was on a gold basis up to 1835, when gold was

demonetized in British India by the East India Company (by act
of Parliament, September 6,1873), but from that time forward
India has lost none of her gold.

It is still in existence as bullion

or ornament or plate, not to mention a very considerable amount
of gold coin still passing current in different provinces.

Upon

that point I quote from the following authorities:
Jfet imports of gold and silver into India from 1859 to 1893, as furnished by the
Director of the Mint.
Pounds sterling.
Gold
Silver
Total, thirty-three years

kmm.

Dollars.

125,900,000
230,418,000

612,721,549
1,121,329,197

356,324,000

1,734,050,746

It has been objected1 that the natives of India are accustomed to silver;
that the transactions are small in amount, so that silver is better suited to
their use than gold, and that they will not willingly give up the rupee. The
answer to this is, that it is not proposed to substitute the gold sovereign for
the rupee as currency in ordinary use, and that the case would in this respect resemble that of many of the countries above referred to, where the
standard is gold, but the ordinary currency is silver or paper.
Moreover, gold has never been entirely out of use in India. It is true that
in India silver has for the last thirty or forty years been more exclusively
used than in many of the countries referred to. But, though gold coins have
not been in use as legal tender, and no fixed ratio has been established between gold and silver coins, there is no part of India in which gold coins are
not well known and procurable, and recognized as a form of money, the
value of the chief gold coins being regularly entered in the " Prices current."
Until 1835 or thereabouts gold coins constituted a recognized part of the
Indian currency, and they were received by the government in payment of
its demands till December, 1852; and as late as 1854-'55 gold coin to the value
of £412,000, was sent by the government from India to London. The value of
the gold imported into India in the eight years from 1862-'63 to 1869-70, was
no less than £50,000,000.
Sir Charles Trevelyan, writing in 1864 in support of a proposal to make
sovereigns legal tender in India, referred to the large importation of gold
since 1860 as indicating "the determination of the people to have gold," and
added that it "shows that the Government would be cordially seconded by
them in any attempt to introduce a gold currency on a sound footing." The
Secretary of State, Sir Charles Wood, when replying in the same year,
wrote:
4 4 It is obvious, from the information collected by Sir Charles Trevelyan,
.that there is a very general desire for the introduction of gold coins in
303




49
India," and " that the people, even in the upper and remote parts of India,
are well acquainted with the sovereign."
There is little question but that these observations areas applicable at the
present time as when originally made.
It may be added that the value of the net imports of gold into India since
1880 has amounted to more thanRx. 44,000,000 ($308,428,000coinage value), and
it might be expected that much of the uncoined gold now in India, which
must be very considerable, would be brought to the mints if a gold coinage
were introduced on a proper basis.—Report of the committee appointed to inquire into the Indian currency. The flerschol Report, London, 1893, page 28.
Dual currencies of gold and silver, exchanging with one another at their
market valuation, have be3n commonly In use in India for many centuries,
and are so to this day. It is only in British territory, and since the year 1835,
that gold has been demonetized.—The Industrial Competition of Asia, by Clar*
mont I. Daniell, page 295.
That this gold treasure, of the value of £270,000,000, Is much more than the
country will require for its gold currency need scarcely be stated. In former
years the gold currency of India was not less than one-seventeenth part of
the value of the whole circulation, and that the proportion was larger there
can be little doubt. During the first thirty-two years of this century the
East India Company coined gold and silver money in about the proportion
of 1 to 17, but there was at the same time in the company's territories a large
circulation of gold coins provided by the mints of native powers—so large
that up to that time about half the revenue used to be taken in gold.
The currency of India at this day Is estimated to amount to two thousand
eight hundred and eighty-nine millions of rupees, and if one-tenth of this
value is taken as the amount of gold coin which the people would use, or,
say, thirty millions of sovereigns, this sum would be found sufficient for all
purposes to which a gold currency in India is at present likely to be applied.
Thus it is clear that India can not only provide all the gold required for
her own currency without drawing a single ounce of metal from the West,
but also retain gold to the value of more than two hundred and forty millions for the indulgence of that propensity on the part of the people to hoard
the precious metals, which those who are opposed to the use of gold money
in India predict will be fatal to its circulation.—lb id., page 282.
Apprehensions have been expressed in many quarters that the introduction of a gold standard in India would Involve a serious disturbance of existing contracts and financial obligations, and a dangerous derangement of the
cost of trade: We desire, however, to have it clearly understood that, if it
were decided to adopt a gold standard in India, we should propose a rate for
the transfer from silver to gold which did not greatly differ from the market
ratio of the day. We are of opinion that in such case the adoption of a gold
standard would not have any serious effect In lowering prices, or reducing
the rate of growth of th© land revenue, and that it would not materially
affect either the opium revenue or the burden of our gold or silver debt.—
Correspondence between the Government of India and the Secretary of State.
London, 1893, page 12.
The following is from Trade, Population, and Food, by Stephen
Bourne, page 208.

The author, after discussing the statistical

aspect and trade requirements of gold at considerable length,
concludes as follows:
Do not these several observations justify the conclusion that, though at
particular times and places there may be a temporary deficiency of supply,
so far from there being any scarcity of gold, there never was a period in the
303
i




50
world's commerical history when the existing quantity was so large as it is
at present, In proportion to the necessity for its use or the purposes it has to
serve?
Also from the same author:
Shortly to recapitulate the several phases of this question which have thU3
passed under observation, we may observe:
That basing our calculations upon the best estimates which can be obtained of the annual production of gold and silver, and comparing the assumed stock of gold With the movements of bullion and merchandise
throughout the world, there appears no reason to suppose that the existing
supply is not amply sufficient for all the purposes of trade as at present carried on,
2. That the general fall of prices in recent years has neither been so regular
nor so closely connected with the sUpply of gold and silver as to prove that
alterations in the purchasing power of the sovereign have been due wholly
or chiefly to an appreciation of gold.
3. That the variations iu the value of gold itself as shown by the fluctuation in the price of the funds, and the rates of interest charged for the use
of money, prove that it has no constant or unalterable value.
4. That in addition to the well-known effects on the value of silver arising
from the growing yield of the American mines and the decrease in its use
from its demonetization by Germany, there are others resulting from the
increased quantity of gold, the facilities for economizing its use, and it's
natural superioity to silver, sufficient to account in some measure for the
depreciation of the inferior metal.
5. That the coincidence of tho fall in the price of silver with the contraction and depression of trade renders it probable that in this is to be found
the most potent cause of depreciation, and that the revival of trade will in
all probability be accompanied by a restoration of its value.
6. That it is not likely that any agreement to establish a fixed ratio in the
value of silver to gold could ever be permanently maintained or not be liable \
to disruption at any moment from causes incapable of regulation or control.
7. That it is a fallacy to suppose that the extent of trade, and consequently
the value of the medium through which its transactions are settled, depends
so much upon the quantity of money in existence as upon the assiduous and
judicious employment of productive power, the thrift by which its products
are accumulated, and the wisdom which governs their consumption or expenditure.— Trade, Population, and Food, Stephen Bourne, pages 232,233.
No one doubts that the amount of gold in the civilized countries of the
world has largely increased in recent years. According to Dr. Soetbeer, the
monetary stock of gold and gold reserve in the treasuries and principal
banks of civilised countries has shown anin crease for every decade since 1850,
and at the end of 18S5 was nearly four times what it was in 1850; BO that, instead of there being a reduced supply of gold, as compared with thirty-five
years ago, there is a greatly increased supply.
Prof. Xiaughlin estimates this increase to have been "from 3447,000,000 In
1870-'80 to $836,000,000 in 1885." In 1871-'74 there was, according to the same
authority, "51 in gold for every $3.60 of the paper circulation of the banks of
the civilized world; in 18® there was f1 of gold for every 52.40, the total note circulation increasing duringthe same time to the extent of $464,000,000, or 29 per
cent." In 1870-74 the gold reserves amounted to 28 per cent of the total note
circulation and 64per cent of all the specie reserves; in 1S85 "the gold bore
a larger ratio to a larger issue of paper, or <1 per cent of the total noto circulation and 71 percent of the specie reserves. This," as;Pro*. Laughlin
303




51
remarks, "is a very significant showing. "What it means, beyond a shadow
of doubt, is that the supply of gold is so abundant that tho character and
safety of the not© circulation have been improved in a signal manner."
The investigations of Mr. Atkinson have also led him to the conclusion
that, while the population of the world since 1849 has increased about 40 per
cent, the concurrent increase in the volume of the money metals has been
fully 100 percent, and that the value of the gold added to the circulation during that period was more than double that of the silver added.
Since 1873-'74 Germany has radically modified her metallic circulation, giving preference to and using additional gold, and the United States and Italy
have resumed specie payments. But the supply of gold has been sufficient
to give these nations all the gold that they required, without apparently affecting the requirements of other countries. Again, it is not disputed that
tho rate of interest and discount has declined in all these countries, like Germany, the United States, Scandinavia, Holland, and Italy, which,-in recent
years, tyave increased their demand and use of gold for coinage; whereas a
scarcity of money resulting from a scarcity of gold ought to have produced
3'ust the contrary effect.
The present annual production of gold is enormous compared with any
period antecedent to 1850. Between 1820-1830 its average annual production
was 5>10,000,000; between 1831-1840 it was 814,151,000, and between 1840-1850,
$38,194,000. It was at Its highestfigure—$170,000,000to $180,000,000—in 1852;
averaged $101,000,000 from 1881 to 1885, and (according to the estimates of the
Director of the United States Mint) was $103,000,000 in 1885 and 599,000,000 in
1836.
The production of silver has largely increased in recent years ($39,000,000
in 1850, $64,000,000 in 1873, and $135,000,000 in 1887), and no evidence can be produced to show that there has been any actual diminution in its aggregate
use by reason of its so-called "demonetization" in any country.—Economic
Changes, David A. "Wells, pages 208, 209, 210, 211.
For the settlement of international balances—a large function of gold—it
is certain that every ounce of this metal, through the great reduction in the
time of ocean transits, is at tho present time capable of performing far more
Service than at any former period; the time for the transmission of coin and
bullioh having been reduced in recent years between Australia and England
from ninety to forty dkys, and from New York to Liverpool from twelve or
fifteen to eight or nine days. Such ah increase of rapidity in doing Work is
bertainly equivalent to increase in quantity.—Ibid., page 213.
The evidence, therefore, seems to fully warrant the following conclusions:
That the tendency of the iige is to use continually less and less of coin in the
transaction of business; and that '* so far from there being any scarcity of
gold, there never was a period in the world's commercial history when the
existing quantity was so large as at present in proportion to the necessity
tor its use or the purposes it has to serve."
The present and rapidly increasing indifference of the business public,
alike in Europe and the United States, whose interest in this subject is
mainly practical, is also significant, as indicating that the importance formerly conceded to the gold-scarcity theoryhas not been confirmed byexperience.™75tU, page 21S.
The magnitude of the gold production since 1850 is the marked characteristic of this period. The annual yield of gold in past centuries has been
insignificant in comparison with the annual production in the years following the discoveries in Australia and California. Some years before the
Hussian mines had been increasing the supply; but from a production of
about $15,000,000 a year in 1840, the supply ro»e to more than $150,000,000 a
year soon after 1850. This phenomenon, moreover, was accompanied by an
increase in the production of silver of from 25 to 50 per cent a year.
303




52
The comparative extent of the new gold production maybe seen by Chart
IX, previously mentioned, which gives the yield from the mines in the years
since the discovery of America. The sudden and remarkable ascent of gold
product on the chart after 1850 is all the more noticeable because of the comparison with previous years. In fact, the gold production is the striking
feature in this portion of our monetary history.—History of Bimetallism in
the United States, byLaughlin,page 112.
Setting before us as an object to discover the reasons for the fall in the
value of silver in 1870—which has been the beginning of modern bimetallic
discussions—we shall confine ourselves to the effect which the great production of gold has had upon the value of silver. And to this end we must bear
In mind what has been said in the last section in regard to the prejudice for
gold. Then there must be taken with this preference for gold the possibility
of satisfying the demand. The amount of gold produced, therefore, is an important part of our problem. We should then proceed to get some idea of
this amount.
We find ourselves, in the period following 1850, confronted with an enormously increased production of gold. How enormous it was I do not think
has been generally recognized in our monetary discussions, particularly of
late in those dealing with the appreciation of gold. It seems almost Incredible to say that in the twenty-five years following 1850 as much gold was
given forth by the mines as had been produced to that time since the discovery of America by Columbus; and yet it is literally true.
Years.
1493-1850
1851-1875

Qold.
83,314,553,000
3,317,625,000

Silver.
S7,358,450,000
1,395,125,000

The facts may be more conveniently seen in their proper relations in
chapter 10, which represents, first, by square areas the total quantities of
gold and silver produced since the discovery of America down to 1850. During this time of three hundred and fifty-seven years it will be seen that more
than twice as much sliver as gold, in respect to value, was produced. And
we have already seen that in this period there occurred two great falls in
the value of silver, or at least an almost continuous fall of silver (see chapter 4). But what is remarkable is that while gold to an amount so much
more than enough for the ordinary uses of commerce was produced from
1493 to 1850 that it fell in Its purchasing power, in the twenty-five years succeeding 1850 an amount equal to the product of the previous three hundred
and fifty-seven years was suddenly added to the existing stock of the world.
This was an amount far more than was necessary for the growth of trade
and population in those twenty-five years, and, as Prof Jevons has
shown, it resulted in a loss of its purchasing power of from 9 to 15 per cent.
The wonder is that its value did not fall more, and it would have fallen
more if it had not been for the influences which, as we shall later see, widened the field for its use. * • *
Now, what was the effect upon the relative values of the two metals ot
suddenly doubling the quantity of gold, without anything like a proportional
increase of silver? First of all, gold fell in value, both in regard to silver
and to all commodities. The ratio between gold and silver, which had risen
from 1 to 15 to 1 to 16, now showed the effect of the cheapening in gold by dropping to 1 to 15.3 for a time. This was the first effect. But a second effect soon
became visible. The cheapened gold began to drive out silver from the currencies of the United States and Europe, because at former ratios, fixed
303




53
fore the gold discoveries, gold was overvalued at the mints, and so by
Gresham'^law came into circulation as the sole medium of exchange.
But the matter worthy of most attention is that this exchange of gold for
silver was seen and watched, not only without opposition, but even with
satisfaction. Had there been a similar flow of silver into the place of gold,
there would have been no such complacency. Here again is the preference
for gold which we find so constantly present. The effect of this movement was, of course, to prevent gold from falling in value as much as it
would otherwise have done, and to withdraw the previously existing demand from silver for use a3 a medium of exchange in Western commercial
nations. The very cheapness and abundance of gold increased the demand
for itTfor use as a medium of exchange, and ipso facto diminished the demand for silver.
The world could choose between the two. There was silver enough; but
as soon as gold became plentiful there was no doubt for a moment which
metal was preferred. It was in the same spirit in which the modern world
made choice between the railway and the stage coach as a means of transportation. Wherever choice was possible, the best and most convenient
means of locomotion was taken.—Ibid, pages 115,116,117.
The following clipping is from an article which appeared in
the New York Evening Post of August 21,1893, by the above
author:
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT CRISIS—THE SUPPLY OF GOLD. .,

Calm reflection upon facts constantly overlooked may lead us to believe
that the consensus of opinion among the large commercial states of Europe
in favor of the gold standard is not based on flimsy ground. From 1493 to
1850 the world's production of silver was 87,353,450,000, and of gold $3,314,553,000—or more than twice as much silver as gold. From 1851 to 1891 the
world's production of silver was $2,967,444,000, and of gold 85,072,410,000—or
nearly twice as much gold as silver. In the United States alone the gold production has been about twice as large as silver; from 1792 to 1891 that of silver was 51,073,172,000, and that of gold 51,904,881,769. The 55,072,410,000 of gold
produced in the forty years since 1850 has filled the channels of circulation
in Europe and America, and permitted the disuse of silver.
The resumption of gold payments by the United States in 1879, and the
adoption of the gold standard by Germany, Denmark, Scandinavia, Italy,
and Austria-Hungary, have not required, at the outside, more than 51,000,000,000 or 81,500,000,000, leaving more than 53,000,000,009 for general uses, exclusive of the stock existing in 1850, which is about as much more. Never
before have the paper currencies of the world been better secured by gold
reserves. There is in sight to-day more than 5500,000,000 in gold in thereserves of the banks of Europe alone. In view of these facts, it does not seem
wise to feel any doubt of the ability of the United States, with its untold resources and exportable products, to keep intact its small reserve of 5100,000,000, or double that sum, which it should be.
Nor, in view of these fact3, should too much weight be assigned to the
argument that general prices Have fallen because of the demonetization
of flilver in 1873; the less so when it is remembered that Germany took to
herself only about 5400,000,000 of gold and discarded the same amount of
silver. In short, apart from the action of Germany, silver is as much used
now in ail the other States of Europe as in 1873. If the giving up of silver
by Germany lowered the level of prices for the world, then the action of
this country in buying as much silver as Germany discarded ought to have
restored the former level. That it did not shows how untenable is the posi303




54
tlon that prices have fallen because silver was demonetized or that prices
can he regulated by legislative action in increasing or diminishing either
gold or silver. In short, prices can never be fixed by the mere quantity of
metallic money in the country. They depond much more on conditions of
credit and banking. If this is properly understood it will, be possible to see
how debts can be paid without the infusion of more silver into our currency
as easily as ever before. The only means of paying debts, In fact, are salable
goods, for they can always be changed Into a means of payment.
The increased output of gold in the United States for the first
six months of 1893 amounts to $1,100,000, and it is estimated by
competent authority that the increased output for the world for
the year 1893 over that of 1892 will amount to at least $8,000,000.
The following is taken from the editorial columns of the Washington Post, August 18,1893:
OUR GOLD PRODUCT.

The chief risk of dependence on gold as a standard is that the supply may
not bo sufficient, but the gold fields of South Africa, now being developed,
promise to bring relief in that direction.—Philadelphia Ledger.
But what about our own gold fields? Wherever gold has been produced before in years gone by prospecting has been renewed with most encouraging
results. New discoveries have been made in Oregon and other Western
States that are reputed to be very valuable. Even in Colorado, the very heart
of the silver industry, the outlook for gold is brightening daily. Says the
Denver Republican of August 14:
"Already there has been a notable increase in the gold output. The gold
deposits at the Denver mint in July exceeded by $60,000 the deposits in any
previous month in the history of the mint. It shows that Colorado miners
are not completely at the mercy of the men who are endeavoring to strike
down silver as a money metal. There are promising gold districts in both
Gunnison and Pitkin Counties. Telluride is one of the best gold camps in
the Rocky Mountains, and during this summer a large amount of work has
been done there in the development of gold claims, which, during the time
of active silver mining, were more or less neglected. Gilpin County keeps
up its reputation as a gold producer, and the camp on Yankee Hill near the
edge of Clear Creek Comity Is a very promising place."
The San Francisco Examiner of the 11th instant reports that gold is coming down from the mountains at the rate of $1,500,000 a month; that "the
corner of the hard times " has been turned; that money enough is to be had
for saving the bulk of the fruit crop, and that wheat is rushing to market,
every cargo shipped yielding §50,000 to 8100,000 in " English gold " as soon aa
it is cleared.
There is no cause of alarm because of a probable scarcity of gold for a currency reserve. What the country does not produce the Government can
easily buy.
IN CONCLUSION.

A s to the direful calamity which the advocates of free silver
promise us will surely befall the country if we adopt the gold
standard by passing the pending bill—the scarcity of money, the
fall of prices, commercial depression and increase of poverty—
I quote once more from that old stalwart, hard-money, gold203




55
standard Democrat from Missouri—of a past generation, Hon.
Thomas H. Benton:
A measure of relief was now at hand, before which the machinery of distress was to balk and cease its long and cruel labors: it was the passage of
the bill for equalizing the value of gold and silver and legalising the tender
of foreign coins of both metals. The bills were brought forward into the
House by Mr. Campbell P. White, of New York, and passed after an animated
contest, in which the chief question was as to the true relative value of the
two metals, varied by some into a preference for national bank paper. Fifteen andfive-eighthsto 1 was the ratio of nearly all who seemed best calculated, from their pursuits, to understand the subject.
The thick array of speakers was on that side, and the eighteen banks of
the city of New York, with Mr. Gallatin at their head, favored that proportion. The difficulty of adjusting this value, so that neither metal should
expel the other, had been the stumbling block for a great many year3, and
now this difficulty seemed to be as formidable as ever. We find calculations were gone Into; scientific light was sought; history was rummaged
back to the times of the Roman Empire; and there seemed to be no way of
getting to a concord of opinion either from the lights of science, the voice
of history, or the result of calculation.
The author of this View had (in his speeches on the subject) taken up the
question in a practical point of view, regardless of history and calculations
and the opinions of bank officers; and looking to the actual and the equal
circulation of the two metals indifferent countries, he saw that this equality
and actuality of circulation had existed for about three hundred years in
the Spanish dominions of Mexico and South America, where the proportion
was 16 to 1. Taking his stand upon this single fact as the practical test that
solved the question, all the real friends of gold currency soon rallied to it.
Mr. White gave up the bill which he had first introduced, and adopted the
Spanish ratio. Mr. Clowney of South Carolina, Mr. Gillet, and Mr. Cambreeng of New York, Mr. Ewing of Indiana, Mr. McKim of Maryland, and the
other speakers, gave it a warm support. Mf. John Quincy Adams would
vote for it though he thought that gold was overvalued; but if found to be
so, the difference could be corrected hereafter. The principal speakers
against it and in favor of a lower rate were Messrs. Gorham, of Massachusetts, Selden of New York, Binney of Pennsylvania, and Wilde of Georgia.
And eventually the bill was passed by a large majority—145 to 36, In the
Senate it had an easy passage. Mr. Calhoun and Webster supported it; Mr.
Clay opposed it; and on the final vo to there were but 7 negatives: Messrs.
Chambers of Maryland, Clay, Knight of Rhode Island, Alexander Porter
of Louisiana, Silsbee of Massachusetts, Southard of New Jersey, Sprague
ot Maine.
The good ©fleets of the bill were immediately seen. Gold began to flow
into the country through all the channels of commerce; old chests gave up
their hoards; the mint was busy, and in a few months, and as if by magic, a
currency banished from the country for thirty years, overspread the land,
and gave joy and confidence to all the pursuits of industry. But this joy
was not universal. A large interest connected with the Bank of the United
States, and its subsidiary and subaltern Institutions, and the whole paper
Bystem, vehemently opposed it, and spared neither pains nor expense to
check its circulation and to bring odium upon its supporters.
People were alarmed with counterfeits. Gilt counters were exhibited in
the markets, to alarm the ignorant. The coin itself was burlesqued, In
mock imitation of brass or copper, with grotesque figures, and ludicrous inscriptions—the "wholehog" and the "better currency," being the favorite
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devices. Many newspapers expended their daily wit in its stale depreciation.
The most exalted of the paper money party would recoil a step when it was
offered to them, and begged for paper. The name of "Gold humbug" was
fastened upon the person supposed to have been chiefly instrumental in
bringing the derided coin into existence; and he, not to be abashed, made it3
eulogy a standing theme—vaunting its excellence, boasting its coming abundance, to spread over the land, flow up the Mississippi, shine through the
interstices of the long silken purse, and to be locked up safely in the farmer's trusty oaken chest.
For a year there was a real war of the paper against gold. But there was
something that was an overmatch for the arts or power of the paper system
in this particular, and which needed no persuasions to guide it when it had
its choice; it was the instinctive feeling of the masses which told them that
money which would jingle in the pocket was the right money for them—that
hard money was the right money for hard hands—that gold was the true
currency for every man that had anything true to give for it, either in labor
or property; and upon these instinctive feelings gold became the avidious
demand of the vast operating and producing classes.—Benton's Thirty Tears'
View, volume 1, chapter 58.
The extent of suffering which follows in the wake of a cheap
and unstable currency can not be overestimated. ,It stops all
development and curtails all existing enterprises; it reduces the
income of capital and the wages of labor; it increases the cost of
living; it displaces confidence with suspicion, turns all merchandising into speculation, and destroys public and private credit.
There can be no public credit, nor private credit, nor individual
prosperity unless the money of the realm, which measures all
services, all wages, all property, shall be free from suspicion and
of sound and stable value.

APPENDIX.
The pending bill and order of the House for its consideration.
A bill (H. R. 1) to repeal apart of an act, approved July 14,1890, entitled "An
act directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes
thereon, and for other purposes."
Be it enacted, etc., That so much of the act approved July 14,^1890, entitled
"An act directing the purchase of silver bullion and issue of Treasury notes
thereon, and for other purposes," as directs the Secretary of the Treasury
to purchase from time to time silver bullion to the aggregate amount of
4,500,000 ounces, or so much thereof as may be offered in each month at the
market price thereof, not exceeding $1 for 371.25 grains of pure silver, and to
issue in payment for such purposes Treasury notes of the United States, be,
and the same is hereby, repealed; but this repeal shall not impair, or in any
manner affect, the legal-tender quality of the standard silver dollars heretofore coined; and the faith and credit of the United States are hereby pledged
to maintain the parity of the standard gold and silver coins of the United
States at the present legal ratio or such other ratio as may be established by
law.
SS
O




57
The Order.
Ordered by the Rouse, That H. R. No. 1 shall he taken up for immediate consideration and considered for fourteen days. During such consideration
night sessions may be held, for debate only, at the request of either side.
The daily sessions to commence at 11 a. m. and continue until 5 p.m. Eleven
days of the debate on the bill to be given to general debate under the rules
of the last House regulating general debate, the time to be equally divided
between the two sides as the Speaker may determine. The last three days
of debate may be devoted to the consideration of the bill and the amendments herein provided for, under the usual five-minute rule of the House,
as in Committee of the "Whole House. General leave to print is hereby
granted.
Order of amendments: The vote shall be taken first on anamendmentproviding for the free coinage of silver at the present ratio. If that fail, then a
separate vote to be had on a similar amendment proposing a ratio of 17 to 1;
if that fails, on one proposing a ratio of 18 to 1; if that fails, on one proposing a ratio of 19 to 1; if that fails, on one proposing a ratio of 20 to 1. If the
above amendments fail, it shall be in order to offer an amendment reviving
the act of the 28th of February, 1878, restoring the standard silver dollar,
commonly known as the Bland-Allison act; the vote then to betaken on the
engrossment and third reading of the bill as amended, or on the bill itself if
all amendments shall have been voted down, and on the final passage of the
bill without other intervening motions.
The law of July 14,1890, commonly called the Sherman law.
[Fublic-NO. 214.]
An act directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of Treasury
notes thereon, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to
purchase, from time to time, silver bullion to the aggregate amount of
4,500,000 ounces, or so much thereof as may be offered in each month, at the
market price thereof, not exceeding $1 for 371.25 grains of pure silver, and to
issue in payment for such purchases of silver bullion Treasury notes of the
United States to be prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury, in such form
and of such denominations, not less than $1 nor more than $1,000, as he may
prescribe, and a sum sufficient to carry into effect the provisions of this act
is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
SEC. 2. That the Treasury notes issued in accordance with the provisions
of this act shall be redeemable on demand, in coin, at the Treasury of the
United States, or at the office of any assistant treasurer of the United
States, and when so redeemed may be reissued; but no greater or less amount
of such notes shall be outstanding,at any time than the cost of the silver
bullion and the standard silver dollars coined therefrom, then held in the
Treasury, purchased by such notes; and such Treasury notes shall be a-legal
tender in payment of all debts, public and private, except where otherwise
expressly stipulated in the contract, and shall be receivable for customs,
taxes, and all public dues, and when so received may be reissued; and such
notes, when held by any national banking association, may be counted as a
part of its lawful reserve. That upon demand of the holder of any of the
Treasury notes herein provided for the Secretary of the Treasury shall,
under such regulations^ as he may prescribe, redeem such notes in gold or
silver coin, at his discretion, it being the established policy of the United
States to maintain the two metals on a parity with each other upon the
present legal ratio, or such ratio as may be provided by law.
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Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall each month coin 2,000,000
ounces of the silver bullion purchased under the provisions of this act
into standard silver dollars until tho 1st day of July, 1S91, and after that
time he shall coin of the silver bullion purchased under the provisions of
this act as much as may be necessary to provido for the redemption of the
Treasury notes herein provided for, and any gain or seigniorage arising
from such coinage shall be accounted for and paid into the Treasury.
SEC. 4. That the silver bullion purchased under the provisions of this act
shall be subject to the requirements of existing law and the regulations of
, the mint service governing the methods of determining the amount of pure
silver contained, and the amount of charges or deductions, if any, to be
made.
SEC. 5. That so much of the act of February 28,1878, entitled " An act to
authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar and to restore its legaltender character," as requires the monthly purchase and coinage of the
same into silver dollars of not less than $2,000,000 nor more than $1,000,000
worth of silver bullion, is hereby repealed.
SEC. 6. That upon the passage of this act the balances standing with the
Treasurer of the United States to the respective credits of national banks
for deposits made to redeem the circulating notes of such banks, and all deposits thereafter received for like purpose, shall be covered into the Treasury as a miscellaneous receipt, and the Treasurer of the United States shall
redeem from the general cash in the Treasury the circulating notes of said
banks which may come into his possession subject to redemption; and upon
the certificate of the Comptroller of the Currency that such note3 have been
received by him and that they have been destroyed and that no new notes
will be issued in theirplace, reimbursement of their amount shall be made
to the Treasurer, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury
may prescribe, from an appropriation hereby created, to be known asnational-bank notes redemption account; but the provisions of this act shall
not apply to the deposits received under section 3 of the act of June 20,1S74,
requiring every national bank to keep in lawful money with the Treasurer
of the United States a sum equal to five percent of its circulation, to be
held and used for the redemption of its circulating notes; and the balance remaining of the deposits so covered shall, at the close of each month, be reported on the monthly public debt statement as debt of the United States
bearing no interest.
SEC. 7. That this act shall take effect thirty days from and after its passage.
Approved July 14,1890.
The act of February 28% 1878, commonly called the Bland-Allison act,
An act to authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar, and to restore
its legal-tender character.
Beit enacted, etc., That there shall be coined, at the several mints of the
United States, silver dollars of the weight of 412$ grains troy of standard
silver, as provided in the act of January 18,1837, on which shall be the devices
and superscriptions provided by said act; which coins, together with all silver dollars heretofore coined by the United States, of like weight and fineness, shall be a legal tender, at their nominal value* for all debts and dues,
public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. And the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to purchase, from time to time, silver bullion at the market price thereof, not less
than 82,000,000 worth per month nor more than S4,000,000worth per month, and
cause the same to be coined monthly, as fast as so purchased,, into such
dollars; and a sum sufficient to carry out the foregoing provision of this
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act is hereby appreciated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise
appropriated. And any gain or seigniorage arising from this coinage shall
be accounted for and paid into the Treasury, as provided under existing
laws relative to tho subsidiary coinage: Provided, That the amount of money
at any one time invested in such silver bullion, exclusive of such resulting
coin, shall not exceed five million dollars; Andprovided further, That nothing
in this act shall be construed to authorize the payment in silver of certificates of deposit issued under the provisions of section 254 of the Revised
Statutes.
SEC. 2. That immediately after the passage of this act the President shall
invite the governments of the countries comprising the Latin Union, so
called, and of such other European nations as he may deem advisable, to
join the United States in a conference to adopt a common ratio between gold
and silver, for the purpose of establishing, internationally, the use of bimetallic money and securing fixity of relative value between those metals,
such conference to be held at such place, in Europe or the United States, at
such time within six months, as may be mutually agreed upon by the executives of the governments joining in the same, whenever the governments
so invited, or any three of them, shall have signified their willingness to
unite in the same.
The President shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
appoint three commissioners, who shall attend such conference on behalf
of the United States, and shall report the doings thereof to the President,
who shall transmit the same to Congress.
Said commissioners shall each receive the sum of $2,500 and their reasons*
ble expenses, to be approved by the Secretary of State, and the amount necessary to pay such compensation and expenses is hereby appropriated out
of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
SEC. 3. That any holder of the coin authorized by this act may deposit the
same-with the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of the United States, in
sums not less than $10, and receive therefor certificates of not less than $10
each, corresponding with the denominations of the United States notes.
The coin deposited for or representing the certificate shall be retained in the
Treasury for the payment of the same on demand. Said certificates shall
be receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues, and, when so received,
may be reissued.
SEC. 4. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this
act are hereby repealed.
Relating to the act of 1873 demonetizing sliver.
[Extract from speech of Hon. A. S. Hewitt, of New York, in tho House ol
Representatives, August 5, 1876.]
On April 25,1870, the Secretary of the Treasury transmitted the following
letter to Hon.JOHIT SHEEMACT, chairman of the Finance Committee of the
Senate:
" TREASURY DEPARTMENT, April 25,

isio.

" SIB : I have the honor to transmit herewith a bill revising the laws relative
to the Mint, assay offices, and coinage of the United States, and accompanying
report. The bill has been prepared under the supervision of John Jay Knox,
Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, and its passage is recommended in the
form presented. It includes in a condensed form, all the important legislation
upon the coinage, not now obsolete, since the first mint was established, in
1792; and the report gives a concise statement of the various amendments
proposed to existing laws and the necessity for the change recommended.
There has been no revision of the laws pertaining to the Mint and coinage




60
since 1837, and It is believed that the passage of the inclosed bill will conduce
greatly to the efficiency and economy of this important branch or the Government servica
" I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"GEO. S. BOUTWELL,
"Secretary of the Treasury
The report and the bill were referred on April S3,1870, to the Finance Committee of the Senate, and subsequently, on May 2,1870,500 additional copies
were ordered to be printed for the use of the Treasury Department. The report says:
" The method adopted in the preparation of the bill was first to arrange in as
concise a form as possible the laws nowin existence upon these subjects, with
such additional sections and suggestions as seemed valuable. Having accomplished this, the bill, as thus prepared, was printed upon paper with wide
margin, and in this form transmitted to the different mints and assay offices,
to the First Comptroller, the Treasurer, the Solicitor, the First Auditor, and
to such other gentlemen as are known to be intelligent upon metallurgical
and numismatic subjects, with the request that the printed bill should be returned with such notes and suggestions as experience and education should
dictate. In this way the views of more than thirty gentlemen who are conversant with the manipulation of metals, the manufacture of coinage, the execution of the present laws relative thereto, the method of keeping accounts, and
of making returns to the Department, havo been obtained with but little expense to the Department and little inconvenience to correspondents. Having received these suggestions, the present bill has been framed, and it is believed to comprise within the compass of eight or ten pages of the Be vised
Statutes every important provision contained in more than sixty different
enactments upon the Mint, assay offices, and coinage of the United States,
which are theresult of nearly eighty years of legislation upon these subjects."
The amendments proposed by the bill were as follows:
PROPOSE© AMENDMENTS.

"The new features of the bill now submitted are chiefly: The establishment of a mint bureau at the Treasury Department, which shall also have
charge of the collection of statistics relative to the precious metals; the consolidation of the office of superintendent with that of the Treasurer, thus
abolishing the latter office and disconnecting the Mint entirely from the
office of assistant treasurer; the repeal of the coinage charge, and authorizing the exchange of imparted for refined bars; a reduction in the amount of
wastage, and the tolerance (deviation in weight and fineness) in the manufacture of coin; requiring the token coinage to be of one material of uniform
value, and to be redeemed under proper regulations when issued in excess,
and the expense of its manufacture to be paid from specific appropriations,
and not from the gain arising in its manufacture, as heretofore; an entire
change in the manner of issuing the silver (subsidiary) coinage: discontinuing the coinage of the silver dollar; limiting the amount of silver to be used
as alloy, so as to make the gold coinage of uniform color; the destruction of
the dies not in use annually; requiring vouchers to pass between the different officers of the Mint in all transfers of bullion or coin; requiring Increased
bends from officers of the Mint, and authorizing each officer to nominate
his subordinate before appointment; and also making it an offense to increase or diminish the weights used In the Mint."
The report of Mr. Knox called special attention to the discontinuance of
the silver dollar as a standard, as may be seen from the following paragraph
on page 11:
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" S I L V E R DOLLAR—ITS DISCONTINUANCE A3 A STANDARD.

•'The coinage of the silver-dollar piece, the history of which is here given,
is discontinued in the proposed bill. It is by law the dollar unit and, assuming the value of gold to be fifteen and one-half times that of silver, being about the mean ratio for the past six years, is worth in gold a premium
of about 3 per cent (its value being 103.12) and intrinsically more than 7 per
cent premium in our other silver coins, its value thug being 107.42. The
present laws consequently authorize both a gold-dollar unit and a silverdollar unit, differing from each other in intrinsic value. The present golddollar piece is made the dollar unit in the proposed bill and the silver-dollar piece is discontinued. If, however, such a coin is authorized, it should
be issued only as a commercial dollar, not as a standard unit of account,
and of the exact value of the Mexican dollar, which is the favorite for circulation in China and Japan and other Oriental countries."
The appendix to the report contained a copy of the English coinage act of
1870, and four tables giving (1} the existing coinage, including the silver
dollar; (2) the proposed coinage in which the silver dollar was omitted: (3)
a metric system of coinage suggesting the issue of a subsidiary silver coinage
consisting of two half-dollars constituting in weight and fineness an exact
equivalent to the French five-franc piece, and a quarter-dollar and dime with
proportionate weight and fineness, which proposition was finally adopted;
(4) a table giving a comparison of coinage existing and proposed. A note at
the foot of this table states that the silver dollar, half-dim® and three-cent
piece are omitted in the proposed bill. Subsequently, on June 25,1870, the
Secretary of the Treasury transmitted to the House of Representatives a
letter of the then Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, together with copies
of the correspondence of the Department with the officers of tbe different
mints, assay offices, and other experts in reference to tho bill and report
previously submitted.
The bill in its original form, which was transmitted to the correspondents
throughout the country for consideration and comment, contained the following section, as appears from the manuscript copy at the Treasury Department:
"SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That of the silver coins [the weight of
the dollar shall be 334 grains] (now 4121 grains) the weight of the half-dollar
or piece of 50cents shall be 192 grains; a&d that the quarter-dollar and dime
Land half-dime] shall be, respectively, one-half and one-fifth [and one-tenth]
of tho weight of said half-dollar. That the silver coin issued in conformity
with the above sections shall be a legal tender in any one payment of debts
for all sums (.not exceeding 55, except duties on imports] less than $1."
If th© words inclosed in [brackets] of tbe section as here given are excluded
and the words in italics Included, the section will conform precisely to the
section which was transmitted to Congress and which passed the Senate on
January 9,1871.
The dollar of 384 grains was proposed in the rough revision of the bill for
the purpose of obtaining an expression of opinion in reference to the proposed omission of the dollar piece and the words "except duties on imports " inserted for the reason that a regulation or usage at the customhouse in New York limits the payment of silver coins to the fractional parts
of a dollar, except when the payment to be made is f6 or less. Several gentlemen in their criticisms upon the rough revision of the bill referred to this
section.
Hon. James Pollock, the Director of the Mint at Philadelphia, said:
" SEC. 11. The reduction of the weight of the whole dollar is approved, and
was recommended in my annual report of 1861." (Page 10.)
Mr. Bobert Patterson, of Philadelphia* sent to Mr. Knox same notes on
803




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the bill suggesting amendments. He called attention to one of these in the
following words:
" The silver dollar, half-dime, and three-cent piece are dispensed with by
this amendment. Gold becomes the standard money, of which the gold dollar is the unit. Silver is subsidiary, embracing coins from the dime to halfdollar; coins less than the dime are of copper-nickel. The legal tender is
limited to ^necessities of the case; not more than a dollar for such silver or
15 cents for the nickels."
Mr. Franklin Peale, formerly melter and refiner and chief coiner of the
mint at Philadelphia, recommended the discontinuance of the three and one
dollar gold pieces, and supplying the place of the latter with a proper silver
coin to be used as change. Dr. H. K. Linderman, the present Director of the
Mint^ said:
" Section 11 reduces the weight of the silver dollar from 412£ to 384 grains. I
can see no good reason for the proposed reduction in the weight of this coin.
It would be better, in my opinion, to discontinue its issue altogether. The
gold dollar is really the legal unit and measure of value. Having a higher
valuo as bullion than its nominal value, the silver dollar long ago ceased to
be a coin of circulation; and /being of no practical use whatever, its issue
should be discontinued."
Mr. James Ross Snowden, formerly Director of the Mint, said:
" I see that It is proposed to demonetize the silver dollar. This I think unadvisable. Silver coins below the dollar are now not money In a proper
sense, but only tokens. I do not like the Idea of reducing the silver dollar to
that level. It is quite true that the silver dollar, beinfr more valuable than
two half-dollars or lour quarter-dollars, will not be used as a circulating
medium, but only for cabinets and perhaps to supply some occasional or local
demand; yet I think there is no necessity for so considerable a piece as the
dollar to be struck from metal which is only worth 94 cents. When we speak of dollars let it be known that we speak of dollars not demonetized and reducedbelow their intrinsic value, and thus avoid the introduction of contradictory and loose ideas of the standards of value."
Mr. George F. Dunning, formerly superintendent of the United States assayoface in New York, proposed, that the law In regard to the silver coinage
should be in the following language:
"SEO.11. Andbeit further enacted, That the silver coins of the United States
shall bo a dollar, a half-dollar, a quarter-dollar, a dime or tenth of a dollar,
and a half-dime or twentieth of a dollar; and the standard weight of the silver coins shall be in the proportion of 384 grains to the dollar, and these
coins shall be a legal tender in all payments not exceeding §5."
The officers of the San Francisco branch mint made the following suggestions:
"Section 11. Would not the proposed change in the weight of the silver
dollar disturb the relative value of all our coinage, affect our commercial
conventions, and possibly impair the validity of contracts running through
a long period? Might not the dollar be retained as a measure of value, but
the coinage of the piece for circulation be discontinued?"
Mr. E. B. Elliott, of the Treasury Department, gave a complete history of
the silver dollar, and suggested the Issue of a commercial dollar of ninetenths fineness, and containing of pure silver just 25 grams, in place of the
then existing silver dollar of 412f grains, the proposed silver dollar being almost the exact equivalent of the silver contained in the older Spanish-Mexican pillared dollar, established in 1704 by proclamation of Queen Anne as a
legal tender of payment and accepted as par of exchange for the British colonies of North America at the rate of 54 pence sterling to the dollar, or 4$
dollars to the pound sterling.
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On December 19,1870, the bill was reported from the Finance Committee of
the Senate and printed with amendments.
On January 9,1871, in accordance with previous notice, the bill came before
the Senate, and was discussed during that day and the following day by Senators SHERMAN, Sumner, Bayard, STEWART of Nevada, Williams, Casserly,
MORRILL, and others, and passed the Senate on the 10th by a vote of 36 yeas
to 14 nays.
On January 13,1871, on motion of Hon. William D. Kelley, the Senate bill was
ordered to be printed. On February 25,1871, Mr. Kelley, the chairman of the
Committee on Coinage, "reported the bill back with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, when it was again printed and recommitted. Mr. Kelley again on March 9,1871, introduced the^bill in the Forty-second Congress,
when it was ordered to be printed, and referred to the Committee on Coinage, when appointed.
On January 9, 1872, the bill was reported by Mr. Kelley, chairman of the
Coinage Committee, with the recommendation that it pass. The bill wa-s
read and discussed at length by Messrs. Kelley, Potter, Garfield, Maynard,
Dawes, HOLMAN, and others. Mr. Kelley, in the opening speech, said:
"The Senate took up the bill and acted upon it during the last Congress,
and sent it to the House; it was referred to the Committee on Coinage,
Weights, and Measures, and received as careful attention as I have ever
known a committee to bestow on any measure.
C

¥

*

#

P

#

U

"We proceeded with great deliberation to go over the bill, not only section
by section, but line by line, and word by word; the bill has not received the
same elaborate consideration from the Committee on Coinage of this House,
but the attention of each member was brought to it at the earliest day of this
session; each member procured a copy of the bill and there has been a thorough examination of the bill again."— Congressional Globe, volume 100, page
322.
Mr. Kelley on the same day also said:
"There are one or two things in this bill I will say to the gentleman from
New York, with his permission, which I personally would like to modify;
that is to say, t would like to follow the example of England and make a
wide difference between our silver and gold coinage. •
*
would have liked to have made the gold dollar uniform with the French
system of weights, taking the gram as the unit." (Page 323, volume 100.)
On January 10,1872, the bill after considerable discussion was again recommitted, and on February 9,1872, it was again reported from the Coinage Committee by Hon. Samuel Hooper, printed and recommitted, and on February,
13,1872, reported back by Mr. Hooper with amendments, printed, and made
the special order for March 12,1872, until disposed of.
On April 9, 1872, the bill came up in the House for consideration. Mr.
Hooper in a carefully prepared speech of ten columns, explained the provisions of each section of the bill. In this speech (page 2308, volume 102, of the
Congressional Globe) he says:
"SectIonl6 reenacts the provisions of theexisting laws defining the silver
coins and their weights, respectively, except in relation to the silver dollar,
which is reduced in weight from 412J to 384 grains, thus making it a subsidiary coin in harmony with the silver coins of less denomination to secure
its concurrent circulation with them. The silver dollar of 412J grains, by
reason of Its bullion or intrinsic value being greater than its nominal value,
long since ceased to be a coin of circulation, and is melted by manufacturers
of silverware. It does not circulate now in commercial transactions with
any country, and the convenience of these manufacturers in this respect can
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64
better be met by supplying small stamped bars of the same standard, avoiding the useless expense of coining the dollar for that purpose."
Mr. Stoughton, of the Coinage Committee, also made a speech of seven columns, in which he says:
"The silver coins provided for are the dollar, SS4 grains troy, the half-dollar, quarter-dollar, and dime, of the value and weight of one-half, one-quarter, and one-tenth of the dollar, respectively, and they are made a legal tender for all sums not exceeding $5 at any one payment. The silver dollar,
as now issued, is worth for bullion 3} cents more than the gold dollar and
71 cents more than two half-dollars; having a greater intrinsic and nominal value, it is certain to be withdrawn from circulation whenever we return to specie payment, and to be used for Only manufacture and exportation
as bullion."
The latter, in commenting upon the bill, says:
"Mr. Speaker, this is a bill of importance. When it was before the House
in the early part of this session I took some objections to it which I am inclined now to think, in view of all the circumstances, were not entirely well
founded, but after further reflection X am still convinced that it is a measure which it is hardly worth while for us to adopt at this time. * • * This
bill provides for the making of changes in the legal-tender coin of the country and for substituting as legal-tender coin of only one metal instead as
heretofore of two. I think myself this would be a wise provision, and that
legal-tender coins, except subsidiary coin, should be of gold alone; but why
should we legislate on this now when we are not using either of those metals as a circulating medium?
"The bill provides also for a change in respect of the weight and value of
the silver dollar, which I think is a subject which, when we come to require
legislation about it at ail, will demand at our hands very serious consideration, and which, as we are not using such coins for circulation now, seems
at this time to be an unnecessary subject about which to legislate." (Page
2310, volume 102.)
Mr. Kelley also said:
" I wish to ask the gentleman who has just spoken [Mr. Potter] if he
knows of any government in the world which makes its subsidiary coinage
of full value. The silver coin of England Is 10 per cent below the value of
gold coin, and, acting under the advice of the experts of this country, and
of England and France, Japan has made her silver coinage within the last
year 12 per cent below the value of gold coin, and for this reason: It is impossible to retain the double standard. The values of gold and silver continually fluctuate. You can not determine this year what will be the relative
values of gold and silver next year. They were 15 to 1 a short time ago;
they are 16 to 1 now.
"Hence all experience has shown that you must have one standard coin
which shall be a legal tender for all others, and then you may promote your
domestic convenience by having a subsidiary coinage of silver, which shall
circulate in all parts of your country as legal tender for a limited amount
and be redeemable at its face value by your Government. But, sir, I again
call the attention of the House to the fact that the gentlemen who oppose this
bill insist upon maintaining a silver dollar worth 3J cents more than the
gold dollar and worth 7 cents more than two half dollars, and that so long as
those provisions remain you can not keep silver coin in the country."
On May 27,1872, the bill was again called up by Mr. Hooper for the purpose
of offering an amendment in the nature of a substitute, and the bill as
amended passed that day—yeas 110, nays 13.
Just previous to the passage of the hill Mr. McNeely, of the Coinage Committee, said:
303




65
"As a member of the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures/having carefully examined every section and line of this bill and generally understanding the subject before us, I am satisfied that the bill ought to pass."
(Page 3883, volume 104.)
The substitute reported by Mr. Hooper and passed by the House, so far as
it refers to silver coinage, was identical with the bill previously reported
from the Coinage Committee by him. It was also identical with the bill introduced by Mr. Kelley, with the single exception of the provision authorizing the coinage of a silver dollar weighing384 grains. The bill of Mr. Kelley, so far as it related to the silver coinage, was identical with the bill which
was prepared at the Treasury Department, and which had passed the Senate, excepting that the latter bill made the silver coin a legal tender for all
stuns less than 51, while the bill of Mr. Kelley made the silver coins a legal
tender for $5 in any one payment.
The bill was again printed in the Senate on May 29, 1872, and referred to
the Finance Committee. Senator SHERMAN, in reporting it back on December 16,1872, said:
"This bill has, in substance, passed both Houses, except that the Senate
bill enlarged and increased the salaries of the officers of the Mint; it was
passed by the Senate at the session of the last Congress, went to the House,
and now, somewhat modified, has passed the House at this Congress, so that
the bill has practically passed both Houses of Congress. The Senate Committee on Finance propose a modification of only a single section; but as
this is not the same Congress that passed the bill in the Senate, I suppose it
will have to go through the form of a full reading unless the Senate are willing to take it on the statement of the committee, the Senate already having
debated it and passed it." (Page 203, volume 106, third session Forty-second
Congress.)
After further debate, on motion of Mr. Cole, the bill was printed in full
with amendments.
On January 7,1873, it was again reported with amendments and again
printed for the Information of the Senate. It passed that body on January
17,1873, after a discussion occupying nineteen columns of the Congressional
Globe. In the course of the debate Senator SHERMAN said:
"This bill proposes a silver coinage exactly the same as the French and
what are called the associated nations of Europe, who have adopted the international standard of silver coinage; that is, the dollar [two half-dollars]
provided for by this bill is the precise equivalent of a 5-franc piece. It contains the same number of grams of silver, and we have adopted the international gram instead of the grain for the standard of our silver coinage. The
trade dollar has been adopted mainly for the benefit of the people of California and others engaged in trade with China.
" That is the only coin measured by the grain instead of by the gram. The
intrinsic value of each is to be stamped upon the coin. The Chamber of
Commerce of New York recommended this change, and it has been adopted,
I believe, by all the learned societies who have given attention to coinage,
and has been recommended to us, I believe, as the general desire. That is
embodied in these three or four sections of amendment to make our silver
coinage correspond in exact form and dimensions and shape and stamp
with the coinage of the associated nations of Europe, who have adopted an
international silver coinage." (Page 672, volume 106, third session, Fortysecond Congress.)
The bill was sent to the House, and on January 21,1873, on motion of Mr.
Hooper, it was again printed with amendments, and subsequently committees of conference were appointed, consisting of Messrs. Hooper, Houghton,
%nd McNeely, of the House, and Senators SHERMAN, Scott, and Bayard, of
the Senate. The reports of the committees of conference were agreed to,
303 5




66
and the hill became a law on February 12,1873, substantially as originally
prepared at the Treasury.
The bill as prepared at the Treasury omitted the silver-dollar piece, and
the report stated the fact of its omission three different times and gave the
reasons therefor. The silver-dollar piece was omitted from the bill as it
first passed the Senate. It was also omitted from the bills reported by Mr.
Kelley; but in the bills reported by Mr. Hooper a new silver dollar was proposed equal in weight (S84 grains) to two of the half-dollars then authorized.
^The Senate substituted a trade dollar weighing 420 grains ill place of the
dollar of 384 grains, in accordance with the •wishes of the dealers in bullion
upon the Pacific coast, that being considered by them as the most advantageous weight for a coin to be used for shipment to China and japan.
The weight of the subsidiary silver coin was increased about one-half
percent in value, making the half dollar, quarter dollar, and dime, respectively^ of tho weight of i2i grams,
grams, and
grams, or precisely ohehalf, one-quarter, and one-tenth, respectively, of the weight of the French
5-franc piece. All of said coins were made a legal tender in nominal value
for any amount not exceeding 55 in any one payment. The bill Was read in
full in the Senate several times, and the record states on Januarys), 1872, that
it was read in the House. It was undoubtedly read at other times. The bill
was printed separately eleven times, and twice in reports made by the
Deputy Comptroller of tho Currency, thirteen times in all, by order of Congress. it was considered at length by the Finance Committee of the Senate
and the Coinage Committee of the House during five different sessions, and
the debates upon the bill in tho Senate occupied sixty-six columns of the
Globe and in the House seventy-eight columns of the Globe.
; The Secretary of the treasury called the special attention of Congress to
tho bill in his annual reports for 1870,1871, and 1872. In his report of 1872
he says:
'
"In the last ten years the commercial value of silver has depreciated about
3 per cent as compared with gold, and its use as a currency has been discontinued by Germany and by some other countries. The financial condition
of the United States has prevented the use of sliver as currency for more than
ten years, and I am of opinion that upon grounds of public policy no attempt
should be made to introduce it, but that the coinage should be limited to
commercial purposes, and designed exclusively for commercial uses with
other naticfns.
"The intrinsic value of a metallic currency should correspond to its commercial value, or metals should be used for the coinage of tokens redeemable by the Government at their nominal value. A3 the depreciation of silver is likely to continue, it is impossible to issue coin redeemable in gold
without ultimate loss to tho Government; for when the difference becomes
considerable the holders will present the silver for redemption and leave it
in the hands of the Government to be disposed of subsequently at a loss.
" Therefore, in renewing the recommendations heretofore made for the passage of the mint bill, I suggest such alterations as will prohibit the coinage
of silver for circulation in this country, but that authority be given for the
coinage of a silver dollar that shall be as valuable as the Mexican dollar, and
to be furnished at its actual-cost.'*
As a final answer to the charge that the bill was passed surreptitiously, I
append, first, a copy of the section in reference to the Issue of silver coins as
printed in the report of the Treasury Department and as passed by the Senate; second, a copy of the section as reported by Mr. Kelley; third, a copy
of the section as reported by Mr. Hooper; fourth, a copy of the section as
finally passed by the Senate and agreed upon by the conference committee.
The following section was printed in the two reports of John Jay Knox,
Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, to Congress; also in Senate bill 859,
303




67
Forty-first Congress, second session, April 28,1S70; in Senate bill 859, December 19,1870, and January 11,1871, third session Forjty-firsji Congress, as rep o r t e d b y M r . SHERMAN:

'

" SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That of tho silver coins the weight of
the half-dollar, pr piece of 50 cents, shall be 192 grains; and that of the
quarter-dollar and dime shall bo respectively, one-half and one-fifth of the
weight of said half-dollars; that the silver coin issued in conformity with
the above section sjiall be a legal tender in any one payment of debts for all
gums less than $1."
The following section was printed in Senate bill 85D, Forty-first Congress,
third session, February 25, 1871, and House bill No. 5, Forty-second Congress,
first session, March 9,1871, as reported by Mr. Kelley:
•'SEC. 15. And be it f urther enacted, That of the silver coins the weight of
the half-dollar, or piece of 50 cents, shall be 192 grains; and the quarter-dollar and dime shall be, respectively, one-half and one-fifth of the weight of
said half-dollar; which coins shall be a legal tender at their denominational
value for any amount not exceeding $5 in any one payment."
The following section was printed ip House pill No. 2934, May 29, 1872;
House bill No. 1427, February f?, 1872, and February 13,1872, Forty-second
Congress, second session, as reported by Mr. Hooper:
"SEC. 10. That the silver coips of the United States shall be a dollar, a
half-dollar or fifty-cent piece, a quarter-dollar or twenty-five-cent piece, and
a dime or ten-cent piece; and the weight of the dollar shall be 3S4 grains;
the half-dollar, quarter dollar, and the dime sha}l be, respectively, one-half,
one-quarter, and pne-tonth of the weight of said dollar; which coins shall be
a legal tender, at their denominational value, for any amount not exceeding $5 in any one payment.''
The following section was printed in House bill No. 2934, December 16,1872,
January 7,1873, and January 21,1873, Forty-second Congress, third session,
a s r e p o r t e d b y M r . SHERMAN:

"That the silver coins of the United States shall be a trade dollar, a halfdollar or fifty-cent piece, a quarter-dollar or twenty-five-cent piece, a dijne
or ten-cent piece; and the weight of the trade dollar shall be 420grains tpoy;
the weight of the half-dollar shall be 12} grains [grams]; tho quarter-dollar
and the dime shall be, respectively, one-half and onp-fifth of the weight of
said half-dollar; and said coins shall be<&legal tender at tjiieir noipinal value
for any amount not exceeding $5 in any one payment."
The following section was pontainedin all of the different bills and the
coinage act of 1873:
" SEO. 1 . And be it further enacted, That no coins, either of gold, silver, or
8L
minor coinage, shall hereafter be issued from the Mint other than those.of
the denominations, standard^, and weights herein set forth."
Copies of the different bills may be obtained at the document room of the
Senate.
Statement showing the monthly receipts from customs qt New York since January, 1889, and the percentage of each bind of money received.
[United States Treasurer's Report, 1892, page 50.]

Months.

J889.
January
February
March
808




Total
receipts.

SI4,037,625
"12,954,640
13,422,511

Gold
coin.

United
Gold Silver United
Silver certifi- (certifi- States States
coin. cates. cates. notes. Treasury
notes.

Per ct. Per ct. Perct. Per ct. Per ct. Perct.
10.6
83.0
6.2
0.1
0.1
9.4
85.1
5.3
0.1
0.1
9.2
87.5
3.1
0.1
0.1

68
Statement showing the monthly receipts from customs, etc.—Continued.
Total
receipts.

Months.

$11,962,153
11,096,791
10,697,716
13,791,000
13,324,514
12,015,653
12,201,906
11,175,885
10,997,977

April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
1890.
January
February
March
April
M ay
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

—

1891.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July.August
September
October
November
December
1892.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November.
December

;
-

-

1893.
January
February—
March
April
May
June
July




Gold
coin.

United
Gold Silver United States
Silver certifi- certifi- States Treascoin. cates. cates. notes. ury
notes.

Per ct. Per ct. Per ct. Per ct. Per ct. Per ct.
8.3 . . . . . . . .
2.7
88.8
0.1
0.1
5.9
81.5
12.3 . . . . . . . .
0.1
0.2
74.5
6.5
18.8
0.1
0.1
85.6
3.8
10.4
0.1
0.1
2.9
10.3
0.1
86.5
0.2
7.9
_
2.1
0.1
89.7
0.2
2.0
7.3
0.1
90.5:
0.1
1.3
5.8
0.1
92.6
0.2
2.0
5.3
0.1
92.4
0.2

223,480
888,075
569,867
617,857
671,516
492,128
173,016
978,335
767,331
093,081
154,328
704,055

0.1
0.1
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.3

0.0
0.1
0.1
0. 1
0.1
0.0
0.1
0.0
0.1
0.0
0.1
0.1

92.5
95.0
95.7
95.4
93.6*
94.5
95.3
91.7
85.5
80.9
80.4
87.8

2.8
1.8
1.4
1.6
2.5
2.7
2.0
1.7
1.4
1.3
1.7
1.9

4.6
3.0
2.7
2.7
3.6
2.7
2.5
3.0
1.9
2.1
2.9
3.0

3.5
11.0
15.5
14.6
6.9

16,794,456
12,280,373
10,520,414
7,711,917
7,419,775
9,131,418
11,303,169
10,460,330
9,961,740
9,337,291
8,502,785
9,314,666

0.1
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.2
ftl
0.1

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.0

88.5
81.0
64.9
47.0
27.8
12.3
14.9
32.6
11.7
19.8
43.5
65.3

2.1
6.6
16.5
20.0
26.8
14.0
8.5
5.2
4.4
4.4
2.8
3.1

4.1
5.0
6.0
7.2
15.0
44.6
49.0
50.5
55.3
44.0
31.3
14.8.

5.2
,7.3
12.4
25.6
30.2
28.9
27.4
31.5
28.4
31.6
22.3
16.7

11,960,445
11,628,815
10,871,923
8,879,912
8,103,436
9,591,270
12,295,908
13,175,485
11,335,347
10,341,120
9,951,385
10,570,853

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.1
0.2
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0,0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0.

66.1
25.8
18.7
14.9
9.9
8.0
13.8
12.1
3.6
6.6
7.8
4.4

4.3
9.3
5.7
6.9
13.0
15.9
15.5
10.4
10.9
6.4
6.3
9.2

15.0
36.2
42.5
46.4
40.6
26.8
28.4
25.6
45.8
51.9
52.8
46.4

14.5
28.6
33.0
31.6
36.4
49.1
42. 2
51.9
39.7
35.0
33.0
40.0

15,291,892
12,439,280
12,805,673
9,717,539
9,967,707
9,337,798
10,220,733

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.0
12.5

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

8.9
9.2
7.8
2.9
0.0
0.0
4.6

15.8
20.7
15.7
23.3
37.8
12.0
12.3

42.1
33.3
28.0
41.0
26.2
53.0
55.6

33.2
36.8
48.5
32.7
35.9
35.0
15.0

09
Statement showing amount of gold coin and bullion in the Treasury, and of gold
certificates outstanding, from latest returns received at the end of each month.
[United States Treasurer's Ileport, 1892, page 85.]
Date.

Total gold in Gold cer- Gold certifiTreasury, coin tificates in cates in
and bullion. Treasury circulation.
cash.
$325,641, 856.12
326,456, 697.81
326,700, 938.96
328,203,900.80
321,297, 376.96
303,501, 319.58
300,759, 572.98
304,048, 189.30
305,871, 772.02
308,509, 615/21
310,979,791.06
313,818,941.47

$25,043,518 1130,986,592
24,802,813 130,210,717
26,586,125 128,826,517
20,783,433 136,614,789
27,350,140 129,044,662
37,235,793 116,792,759
34,669,943 118,541,409
39,557,233 123,393,519
42,073,803 116,675,349
34,925,823 120,937,229
30,668,090 123,483,119
31,316,100 122,985,889

316,
318,
320,
320,
321,
321,
316,
310,

454.19
752.14
794.87
411.60
253.10
423.49
823.28
120.43
471.18
603.03
879.85
214.20

20,452,870
28,222, £35
24,614,210
24,142,200
27,473,120
26,162,960
27,577,120
33,005,730
16,058,780
36,482,690
43,755,570
31,384,690

138,657,169
130,604,804
134,938,079
134,642.839
130,788,'399
131,380,019
132,444,749
124,382,539
158,104,739
138,173,979
131,316,499
144,047,279

1891.
January
„,
February—March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
—
December
-

297,567,546.04
296,831,953.14
292,435,218.50
280,633,039.99
255.331.502.93
238,518,121.59
236,828,413.24
240,744,487.66
244.974.790.94
263,774,741.81
271,843,193.35
278,846,749.90

19,892,050
25,155,770
24,050,460
27,309,200
36,777,810
31,606,030
34,004,820
37,721,280
28,332,490
20,790,420
19,202,170
17,472,720

155,839,449
149,119,129
144,317,069
138,890,799
122,124,339
120,850,399
115,715,389
108,273,079
112,451,569
136,100,319
142,649,969
148,106,119

1892.
January
February
March-—
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

282,753, 863.24
282,123, 391.53
280,144, 1.34
273,623, 455.45
271,527, 0S1.86
255,577, 705.23
247,306, 220.66
242,543,695.63
240,605, 908.58
244,261,468.91
247,598,465.89
238,359,801.29

17,486,810
18,150,140
23,673,770
21,931,180
14,470,520
15,363,590
17,738,500
23.847,210
25,345,590
23,18!, 990
19,632,830
24,254,750

163,178,950
160,001,279
154,329,229
153,713,699
157,295,209
141,235,339
136,861,829
128,387,379
121,210,399
120,255,349
123,188,809
117,093,139

January
February
March...
April
May
June
July

228,827,532.53 15,729,770
217,672,947.91 7,782,260
218,378,232.99 5,135,430
202,283,359.08 8,888,310
196,518,609.76 3,324,670
188,455,432.59 1,071,170
93,710
186,813,962.98

120,645,819
114,388,729
111,488,009
105,272,029
101,469,969
92,970,019
87,611,029

January
February..
March
April
May
June -i
July
.
August......
September..
October
November..
December...
1890.
January
February
March
April
May..—
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

303




293,
293,

70
Product of gold and silver in the United Statesfrom 1792-1814, and annually since*
[The estimate for 1792-1873 is by R. W. Raymond, Commissioner, and since
by the Director of the Mint.]
Years.

Gold.

April 2,1792-Jnly 81, 1834
July 31,1834—December 31,1844
1845
184 6
1847
1S48
1849
1850.
185 1
185 2
.
1853
1854......
1855..—.
..........
1856
1857
.
1858
1859
1860

1861
1862

1883
1864
1865...——

1866

-

18G7
1868...
1869.—.
1870
187 1
18721——
1 8 7 3 . — —
1 8 7 4 . . —
1875
1876.—.-1877..,—...1878
1879—

1880

1881

....
—
.
— „
-

—

1882

—

188 3
1884
1835

— — —
—
...

1 8 8 6 . . - — „ - - . _ „ — — — —

1 8 8 7 — . _ „ — . . — — —
1888--— 1889...
189U_—..-.——
1891,.---—....
....—
1892—
. — — — — —
Total...
803




—

Silver.

$14,000,000 Insignificant.
7,500,000
5250,000
1,003,327
50,000
1,139,357
50,000
889,085
50,000
10,000,000
50,000
40,000,000
50,000
50,000,000
50,000
55,000,000
50,000
60,000,000
50,000
65,000,000
50,000
60,000,000
50,000
55,000,000
50,000
55,000,000
50,000
55,000,000
50,000
50,000,000
500,000
50,000,000
100,000
46,000,000
150,000
43,000,000
2,000,000
39,200,000
4,500,000
40,000,000
8,500,000
46,100,000
iij()oo,ooo
53,225,000
11*250,000
53,500,000
10,000,000
51,725,000
13,500,000
48,000,000
12,000,000
49,500,000
12,000,000
50,000,000
16,000,000
43,500,000
23,000,000
36, (foO, 000
28,750,000
36,000,000
35,750,000
33,500,000
57,300,000
33,400,000
31,700,000
39,9O0,000
38,800,000
46,900,000
39,800,000
51,200,000
45,200,000
38,900,000
40,800,000
36,000,000
39,200, C O
O
34,700,000
43,000,000
32,500,000
46,800,000
30,000,000
46,200,000
30,800,000
48,800,000
31,800,000
51,600,000
35,000,000
51,000,000
33,000,000
53,350,000
33,175,000
59,195,000
32,800,000
64,646,000
32,845,000
70,464,000
33,175,000
75,417, C O
O
33,000,000
73,697,000
1,937,881,769

1,146,869,600

Statement of the production of gold and silver in the world since the discovery of America.
[From 1403 to 1885 is from table of averages for certain periods compiled by D^. Adolph Soetbeer. For the years 188G-1892 the produc\
tion is the annual estimate of the Bureau of the Mint.]
Gold.
Period. Annual average of period.
Fino ounces.
1493-1520.
1521-1544.
1545-1500.
1561-1580.
I581-1GOO.
1601-1G20.
1621-1640.
1641-1660.
1661-1080.

1681-1700.
1701-1720.
1721-1740.
1741-1760.
1761-1780.
1781-1800.
1801-1810.

1811-1820.

1821-1830.
1831-1840.
1811-1850.
1851-1855.
1856-1860.
1861-1865.
1866-1870.
1871-1875.
1876-1880.
1881-1885.

1886...




186,470
230,194
273,596
219,906
237,267
273,918
266,845
£81,955
297,709
34(5.035
412.163
613,422
791,-211
665, G66
571,918
571,563
367,957
457,014
652,231
1,760,502
6,410,321
6,483,262
5,919,582
6,270,086
5,501,014
5,543,110
4,794,755
6,127,750

Value.
S3,855,000
4,759,000
5,656, C O
O
4,546,000
4,905,000
5, G62,000
5 , 510,000
*
5,828,000
6,154,000
7,154,000
8,520,000
12,681,000
16,350,000
13,761,000
11,823,000
11,815,000
7, G O 000
O,
9,448,000
13,484,000
36,393,000
132,573,000
134,083,000
122,9S9,000
129,614,000
115,577,000
114,186,000
09,116,000
106,000,000

Percentage of production.

Silver.
Total for the period.

Fino ounces.

Value.

5,221,160 $107,931,000
5,524,656 114,205,000
4,377,544
90,492,000
4,398,120
90,917,000
4,745,340
98,005,000
5,478,360 113,248,000
5,336,900 110,324,000
5,639,110 116,571,000
5,954,180 123,084,000
6,921,895 343,088,000
8,243t 260 170,403,000
.12,208,440 £53,611,000
15,824,230 527,116,000
13,313,315 275,211,000
11,438,970 236,464,000
5,715,627 118,152,000
3,679,568
76,063,000
4,570,444
94,479,000
6,522,913 134,841,000
17,605,018 363,928,000
32,051,621 662,566,000
32,431,312 670,415,000
29,747,913 614,944,000
31,330,430 648,071,000
27,955,068 577,033,000
27,715,550 572,931,000
23,973,773 495,582,000
S, 127,750 106,000,000

Annua1, average of period.
Fine ounces.
1,511,050
2,899,930
10,017,940
9,G2S, 925
13.467,635
13,596,235
12,654,240
11,770,545
10,834,550
10,992,085
11,482,540
13,863,1)80
17,140,012
20,985,591
28,261,779
28,746,922
17,385,755
14,807,004
19,175,867
25,090,342
28,488,597
29,095,428
35,401,972
43,051,583
63,817,014
78,775,602
92,003,044
9 3 , m 000

Total for the period.

By weight. By value.

Coinage
value.

SilGold. ver. Gold. Silver.

Coinage
value.

Fine ounces.

SI, 954,000
3,749,000
12,952,000
12,450,000
17,413,000
17,579,000
16,361,000
15,226,000
14,008,000
14,212,000
14,781,000
17,924,000
22,162,000
27,133,000
36,540,000
87,168,000
22,479,000
19,144,000
24,793,000
32,410,000
36,824,000
37,618,000
45,772,000
55,663,000
81,864,000
101,851,000
118,955,000
120,600,000

42,309,400
69,598,320
160,287,040
192,579, 500
209,352,700
271,924,700
253,084,800
235,530,900
216,691,000
219,841,700
228,650,8C0
277,261,600
342,812,235
419,711,820
565,235,580
287,469,225
173,857,555
148,070,040
191,758,675
250,903,422
142,442,986
145,477,142
177,009,862
215,237,914
316,585,069
393,878,000
460,019,722
$3,27(3,000

$54,703,000
89,986, C O
O
207.210,000
248,900,000
318,251,000
351,579,000
327,221,000
304,525,000
280,166,000
284, 240,000
295,629,000
358,480,000
443,232,000
542,658,000
730,810,000
371,677,000
224,786 000
191,444,000
247,930,000
324,400,000
184,169,000
188,092,000
228,861,000

278,313,000
409,322,000
509,256,000
594,773,000
120,600,000

11.0
7.4
2.7
* o
>
2.0
2.1
2.3
2.7
3.1
3.5
4.2
4.4
3.1
2.0
1.9
2.1
3.0
3.3
6.6
}8.4
l8.2
14.4
12.7
8.1
6.6
5.0
5.2

89.0
92.6
97.3
67.8
98.3
98.0
97.9
97.7
97.3
96.9
96.5
95.8
95.6
93.9
98.0
98.1
97.9
97.0
9G.7
93.4
81.6

81.8

85.6
87.3
91.9
93.4
95.0
94.8

66.4
55.9
30.4
26.7
22.0

24.4
25.2
27.7
30.5
33.5
36.6
41.4
42.5
33.7
24.4
24.1
25.3
33.0
3x2
52.9
78.3
78.1
72.9
70.0
58.6
53.0
45.5
46.8

33.6
44.1
69.6
73.3
78.0
75.6
74.8
72.3
69.5
60.5
63.4
53.6
57.5
66.3
75.6
75.9
74.7
67.0
64.8
47.1
21.7
21.9
27.1
30.0
41.4
47.0
54.5
53.2

M

Statement of the production of gold and silver in the world since the discovery of Arnerica—Continued.
[From 1493 to 1885 is from table of averages for certain periods compiled by Dr. Adolph Soetbeer. For the years 1886-1892 the product!6n is the annual estimate of the Bureau of the Mint.]
Gold.
Period. Annual average of period.
Fine ounces.
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
Total-




Value.

5t 093,984 $105,302,000
5,310,412 109,900,000
5,740,950 118,800,000
5,473,631 115,450,000
5,830,107 120,519,000
6,328,272 130,817,000

Percentage of production.

Silver.
Total for the period.

Fine ounces.

Value.

5,093,984 8105,302,000
5,316,412 109,900,000
5,746,950 118,800,000
5,473,631 113,150,000
5,830,107 120,519,000
6,328,272 130,817,000
397,191,823 8,204,303,000

Annual average of period.
Fine ounces.

Coinage
value.

96,189,000 $124,366,000
109,911,000 142,107,000
125,830,000 162,690,000
133,213,000 172,235,000
144,426,000 186,733,000
152,062,000 196,605,000

Total for the period.

By weight. By value.

Coinage
value.

SilSilGold. ver. Gold. ver.

Fine ounces.

96,189,000 $124,366,000
109,911,000 142,107,000
125,830,000 162,690,000
133,213,000 172,235,000
144,426,000 186,733,000
152,062,000 196,605,000
7,522,507,716 9,726,072,000

5.0
4.6
4.4
4.0
3.9
4.0

95.0
95.4
95.6
96.0
96.1
96.0

45.9
43.6
42.2
39>
39.2
40.0

54.1
56.4
57.8
60.3
GO. 8
60.0

5.0 95.0 45.8 54.2

Value of merchandise imported into and exported Jrom the United States f rom 1843 to 1892, inclusive; also excess of imports or of exports—specie
value.
[Compiled from United States Statistical Abstract, 1892.]
Period—Year ending June 30.
1843, 0 months-1852 ..
1853-1802
1863-1872
1873-1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
188 9
189 0
1891
1892.




Total
Total excess of
exports

-

Exports.

Total exports.

Imports.

Total exports
and imports.

Domestic.

Foreign.

$1,258,331,652
2,373,822,537
2,861,812,207
6,509,165,121
801,223,632
724,964,852
726,682,946
665,964,529
703,022,923
683,862,104
730,282,609
845,293,828
872,270,283
1,015,732,011

$81,421,729
169,375,911
158,225,322
149,733,511
19^15,770
15,548,757
15,506,809
13,560,301
13,160,288
12,092,403
12,118,766
12,534,856
12,210,527
14,546,137

$1,339,753,381
2,543,198,448
3,020,037,529
8,658,899,032
823,839,402
740,513,609
742,189,755
679,524,830
. 716,183,211
695,954,507
742,401,375
857,828,684
884,480,810
1,030,278,148

51,380,127,002
2,905,205,742
3,986,821,828
5,572,700,559
723,180,914
667,697,693
577,527,329
635,436,136
692,319,768
723,957,114
745,131,652
789,310,409
844,916,196
827,402,462

$2,719,880,383
5,448,404,190
7,008,859,357
12,231,599,591
1,547,020,316
1,408,211,302
1,319,717,084
1,314,960,966
1,408,502,979
1,419,911,621
1,487,533,027
1,647,139,093
1,729,397,006
1,857,680,610

20,775,431,634

699,651,087

21,475,082,721

21,071,734,804

42,546,817,525

Excess of
exports oyer
imports.

1,086,198,473
100,658,488
72,815,916
164,662,426
44,088,694
23,863,443
68,5i 8,275*
39,564,614
202,875,686
1.803,246,015
403,347,917

Excess of
Imports over
exports.
$40,373,621
362,007,294
960,784,299

28,002,607
2,730,277

1,399,898,098

Monetary systems and approximate stocks of money in the aggregate and per capita in the principal countries of the world.

Countries.

"United States
"United Kingdom
Prance
Germany
Belgium
Italy_•.
.....
Switzerland
Greece
Spain
Portugal
Austria-Hungary .
Netherlands
Scandinavian Union.. _
Russia.-.*,
Turkey
Australia..—
Egypt
Mexico
Central America
South America . ...
Japan
India
China
Tho Straits
Canada
Cuba, Haiti, etc
Total.




Ratio be- Ratio between
tween
Monetary sys- gold and gold and Populatem.
full legal- limitedtion.
tender sil- tender silver.
ver.
Gold and silver. 1 to 15.98
Gold
Gold and silver T j o 151
Gold
Gold and silver 1 to 15}
....do
1 to 15'
do
1 to
.„.do..
1 to:
„_.do.
1 to:
Gold
do
Gold and silver 1 tolBl
Gold _
Silver
"HoiST
Gold and silver
Gold
do
Silver
1 to 16*
....do
1 to 151
....do
1 to
Gold and silver 1 torn 18
1 to 15
Silver
....do

1 to 14.95
1 to 14.28
1 to 14.38
1 to 13.957
1 to 14.38
1 to 14.38
1 to 14.33
1 to 14.33
1 to 14.38
1 to 14.08
1 to 13.69
1 to 15
1 to 14.88
i to 15
1 to 15.1
l to 14.28
1 to 15.68

Gold.
....do.

1 to 14.95

1 to 151

Stock of
gold.

67,000,000 $604,000, 000
33,000,000 550,000, 000
39,000.000 800,000, 000
49,500,000 000,003, 000
6,100,000 G5,000,000
31,000,000 93,005, 000
3,000,000 15,000, 000
2, £00,000 2,000, 000
18,000,000 40,000, 000
5,000,000 40,000, 000
40,000,000 40,000, 000
4,500,000 25,000, 000
8,600,000 32,000, 000
113,000, 000 250,000, 000
33,000,000 50,000,000
4,000,000 ico, oeo, 000
7,030,000 100,000, 000
11,600,000
5,000, 000
8,000,000
35, 000, 000 45,000,000
40, O O 000 90,000,000
G,
255,0G0,000
400,000,000
4,500,000
2,000,000

16,000,000

20,000,000
3,582,605,000

Stock oi silver.
Countries.

United States
United Kingdom
Franco.
Germany
Belgium
Italy
Switzerland
Greece
Spain
Portugal
Austria-Hungary
Netherlands
Scandinavian Union.,
Russia
Turkey
Australia
Egypt.
Mexico
Central America
South America
Japan
India
China.
Tho StraitsCanada
Cuba, Haiti, etc




Monetary^ system.

Full
tender.

Limited
tender.

Per capita.
Total.

Uncovered
paper.

Sil- PaGold. ver. per.

15 $21.34:
Gold and silver 5538,000,000 $77; 000,000 $615,000,000 £412,000,000 $9.01 &U8
100,000,000 103,000,000 50,000,000 14.47 2.631 1.32
Gold
Gold and silver 650,000,000 50,000,000 700,000,000 8i, 402,000 20.52 17.95 2.09
103,000,000 108,000,000 211,000,000 107,000,000 12.12 4.26 2.1Q
Gold
O,
Gold and silver 43,400,000 6, C O 000 55,000,000 54,000,000 10.66 9.02 8.85
50,200,000 103,471,000 3.01 1.62 5.27
16,000,000 31,200,000
do
11,400,000 3,600,000 15,000,000 14,000,000 5.00 5.00 4.67
-do.
O
O
1,800,000 2,200, C O 4,000,000 14,000, C O .91 1.82 6.36
_do.
120,000,000 38,000,000 158,000,000 100,000,000 2.2! 8.78 5.56
,.do.
10,000,000 10,000,000 45,000,000 8.00 2.00 9.00
Gold .
90,000,000 260,000,000 1.C0 2.25 6.5'J
90,000,000
do.
Gold and silver 01,800,000 3,200,000 65,000,000 40,000,000 5.55 14.42 8.89
10,000,000
27,000,000 3.72 1.16 3.14
10,000,000
Gold
.53
!, 000,000 38,000,000 60,000,000 500,000,000 2.21 1.36 4.42
Silver
1.52
45,000,000 45,000,000
G old and silver
7,000,000
25.00 1.75
7,000,000
Gold ..
14.29 2.14
15,000,000 15,000,000
50,000,000
2,000,000 .43 4.31 .17
50,000,000
Silver.
.1'
500,000
.67
2,000,000
500,000
....do
25,000, C O 600, O O 000 1.29 .71 17.14
O
C,
25,000,000
do
50,000,000 56,000,000 2.25 1.25 1.40
Gold and silver 50,000,000
3.53 .11
900,000,000 28,000,000
000,000,000
Silver
1.75
700,000.000
700,000,000
do
100,000,000
100,000,000
5,000,000 40,000,000 3.56 1.11 8.
5,000,000
Gold .
2,000,000 40,000,000 10.00 1.00 20.00
800,000
1,200,000
....do.

Total
TITEASUUY, DEPARTMENT BUBKAU OF THE MUST, August

3,489,100,000 553,600,000 4,0-12,700,000 2,635,873,000
16, $93..

76
Coinage of nations of the world from 1792 to 1892.
Countries.

Years.

Gold.

1793-1892
1816-1891
1795-1891
1792-1891
1832-1891
183G-1S91
1851-1891
1857-1891
1847-1891
1873-1891
1800-1891

$1,585, 302,060
1,160, 900,074
1,689, 785,518
79, 725,408
115, 538,019
3, 201,484
92, 9(35.850
623, 291FC83
31, 488,365
29, 613,957
965, 411,163
63, 429,611
65, 927,408
550, 418,328
11. 710,832
94, 439,473
192, 677,344
8, 185,138
316,000
1, 930,000
734,365

1882-1888

26,438,817
6,488,301
13,539,113
143,756,546
2,318,381
3,053,464
660,500

$611,358,811
151,925,944
1,025,314,200
1,733,298,368
103.128,149
6,910,027
113,250,035
277,769,824
189,719,348
11.673.564
234,^098,981
111,671,255
38,306,775
1,479,416
1,575,343,309
278,687,921
154,580,160
20,813,755
5,068,732
868,500
15,092,600
2,160,120
2,710,639
11.412.565
9,219,605
42,333,102
373,919
5,719,179
2,495,991

7,564,307,452

United States
Great Britain
France
Mexico
Belgium.
Switzerland
Italy
Germany
Netherlands
Scandinavian Union
Russia J
Japan
:
Chile
Australasia..
India
Austria-Hungary
Spain
Portugal
5
Greece
Servia
Roumania
Bulgaria
Argentine Republic
Brazil
Egypt
Turkey
Central American States.,
Colombia
Venezuela

6,736,784,794

1871-1891
1872-1888
1855-1891
1835-1891
1857^-1891
1876-1891
1854-1891
1867-1885
1882-1885
1879-1884
1883-1885
1849-1891
1830-1891
1844-1891
1829-1877
1868-1891
1874-1891

Total

Silver.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, JBureau of the Mint, August is, 1893.

Table showing the amount of metallic reserve, circulation, and uncovered notes
of the principal European banks.
Names of banks.

Gold.

$334,172,822
Bank of France..
146,087,502
Bank of England
Sixty-six English private banks
Thirty-seven English
j oint stock banks....
•15,579,769
Irish banks
*2-lp 639,847
Scotch banks
163,504,667
Bank of Germany
Other German banks.. •26,597.690
•21,179; 008
Belgium
15.638,064
Netherlands
36,£65,934
Bank of Spain
Bank of Austria-Hun28,804,813
gary
39,815,900
Bank of Italy
Other banks of Italy.. 36,129,600
Imperial bank of Rus190,954,897
sia
•8,287,613
Ottoman Bank
Bank of Roumania . . •15,573,363
2,354,600
Bank of Portugal
NationalBank of Den•14,282,000
mark
National B a n k o f
•424,600
Greece
4,49(3,900
Bank of Sweden
Other banks of Sweden 2,026, £00
•6,716,400
Bank of Norway
13,417,167
Swiss banks
1,659,800
Bank of Servia...
907,100
Bank of Bulgaria
S03




Silver.

Notes.

1893.

$771,722,995 $188,283,177 June 29
124,432,974
June 28
4,379,329
5,889,668
31,639,219
32,895,097
81,751,573 234,857,290
45,538,920
79,003,761
34,932,210 75,133,893
24,940,812 161,825,724

4,379,329

May 27

26,059,450
32,895,097
10,399,aT0
18,941,230
57,824,753
14,765,619
99,918,978

May 27
May 20
May 20
June 24
June 22
July 2
June 25
June 25

80,667,104 193,745,098 84,273,181 June 22
21,527,413 116,014,616 54,671,303 May 10
31,271,404 104,895,500 36,494,496 May 10
696,661,411
4,818,438
25,306,546 9,733,183
4,207,400 53,383,800 46,821,800
20,207,100
984,300
2,605,500
3,683,598
791,300
135,100

May
Feb.
May
May

27
28
8
24

5,925,100 Apr. 30

21,731,800 21,307,200 Apr. 30
10,827,300 5,346,100 Apr. 30
6,236,900 1,604,900 Apr. 30
14,629,400 7,913,000 Apr. 30
31,843,456 4,742,691 May 31
5,106,780 2,655,680 May 8
212,300
Mar. 14

•Includes silver.

77
Highest, lowest, and average price of silver bullion, and value of a fine ounce,
bullion value of a United States silver dollar, and commercial ratio of silver to
gold by fiscal years, 1874 to 1893.

Highest.

EquivaAverage lent value
London of a fine
Low- price per ounce with
ounce exchange
est.
standard at par,
.925.
$4.8665.

Pence. Pence.
57£
59j
55|
58)
50
57;
501
58
55,
52]
m
514
53L
51
52}
pA
m
50

45&
44*
49
Se|

48|
42
42
41f
4H5
42
43f
39
301
324

Pence.,
58.312
56.875
52.750
54.812
52.562
50.812
52.218
51.937
51.812
51.023
50.791
49.843
47.038
44.843
43.675
42.499
44.196
47.714
42.737
38.375
33.060

Equivalent value
of a fine
ounce
based on
average
price of
exchange.

81.27826
1.25127
1.15184
1.20154
1.15222
1.11386
1.14436
1.13852
1.13623
1.11826
1.11339
1.09262
1.03112
.98301
,95741

$1.28247
1.25022
1.15951
1.20191
1.15257
1.11616
1.14397
1.1350S
1.13817
1.11912
1.11529
1.09226
1.03295
.98148
.95617
.93510

1.04195
, .93648
.84123
.72471

1.04780
.93723
.84263
.72037

Bullion
value of a
ComUnited
States sil- merver dollar, cial
at average ratio of
price of silver
silver, ex- to gold.
change at
par.
$0.98865
.96777
.89087
.92931
.89116
.86152
.88509
.8S057
.87880
.86490
.86115
.84507
.79750
.76029
.74008
.72055
.74932
.80588
.72130
.65063
.56052

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

Bureau of the Mint, August 1,1893.
Value of silver coin and bullion imported into and exported from the TTnUed
States from 1813 to 1892, inclusive; also excess of exports.
[Compiled from United States Statistical Abstract, 1892.]
Period—Year
ending June 30.
1843; 9 months1852
1853-1862
1863-1872
1873-1882
...
1883
1884
188 5
1886
1887

1892

r

Total
808




Exports.
Domestic.
$62,832,863
400,451,426
188,187,965
186,073,265
12,702,272
14,931,431
21,634,551
19,158,051
17,005,036
20,635,420
25,284,662
22,378,557
14,033,714
16,765,067

Foreign.

Total exports.

$33,874,235
25,883,707
49,611,875
58,439,564
7,517,173
11,119,995
12,119,082
10,353,168
9,291,468
7,402,529
11,404,586
12,495,372
8,557,274
16,045,492

$96,707,098
426,355,133
237,799,840
244,512,829
20,219,445
26,051,426
33,753,633
29,511,219
26,296,504
28,037,949
36,689,248
34,873,929
22,590,988
32,810,559

Imports. Excess of
exports.

$30,253,698
42,707,040
60,754,850
113,503,974
10,755,242
14,594,945
16.550.626
17,850,307
17,260,191
15,403,669
18. G7Sf2l5
21.032. £'84
18,026,880
19,955,086

$66,453,400
333,628,093
177,044,990
131.008,855
9,464.203
11,456,481
17,203,006
11,660,912
9,036,313
12,634.280
18,011,033
13,840,945
4,564,108
12,855,478

1,022,074,280 274,115,520 1,296,189,830 417,327,708 878,162,092

78
Value of gold coin and bullion imported into and exported from the United
States from 1813 to 1392: also excess of imports or exports.
[Compiled from United State3 Statistical Abstract, 1892.]
Exports.

Total exports.

Domestic. Foreign,

602,569 $25,
264,862 63,
4i2,45S 533,
997,089 156,
679,979 11,
787,753 41,
736,333 8,
186,125 42,
995,8S3 9,
816, J 50 18,
021,953 59,
870,859
423,103 86,
873,976 5P,

£31,0-14,
498,26 i.
236,234;
8,9:20,
35,204,
2,741,
32,766,
5,705,
12,560,
54,930,
13,403,
81,933,
43,321,

1,060,126,391 164,699,090

Sports.

569te,
513! 86,
C51| 98,
6J2 310,
888. 17,

Excess of Excess of
exports imports
over
OT;er
imports. exports.

$±31,752,003

$32,882,623
23,286,742

18,250,640
"22,208,842

850 10,
0 1 12,
65} 18,

327 49t

54,011,550
6,133,261
18,213, §04
33,20?,"414

.49,667, 127
'4,331,149
63,130,037
' 495.873

1,221,825,f§l 820,261,931 597,836,027 193,275,477

401,560,550

•Report of domestic shipments commences with 1862.
Commercial ratio of silver to gold for each yectr since 1637.
[NOTE.—From 1687 to 1832 the ratios are taken from the tables of Dr. A.
Soetbeer; from 1833 to 1878 from Fixley and Abell's tables; and from 1878 to
1892 from daily cablegrams from London to the Bureau of the Mint.]
Ratio.

Ratio.

Year.

14.94
14.94
15.02
15.02
14.98
14.92
14.83
14.87
15.02
15.00
•15.20
15.07
14.94
14.81
15.07
15.52
15.17
15.22
15.11
10.27
15.44
15.41
15.31
15.22
15.29
15.31
15.24

171 4
171 5
1716,...
1717....
1718....
1719....
1720
1721....
1722
1723....
1724....
1725..-.
1726....
1727....
1728....
1729....
1730
173 1
1732.......
1733
1734— —




1735

,

1736——.
1737
1738.......
1739
1740-.—.

15.13
15. IT
15.09
15.13
15.11
15.09
15.04
15.05
15.17
15.20
15.11
15.11
15.15
15.24
15.11
14.92
14.81
14.94
15.09
15.18
15.39
15.41
15.18
15.02
14.91
14.91
14.94

Year.

Ratio-

1741
1742.......
1713
1744——
1745

14.92
14.85
14.35
14.87
14.98
15.13
15.26
15.11
14.80
14.55
14.39
14. H
14.54
14.48

1746.......

1747.......
1748.......
1749..;....
175Q.
1751 .
1752.——
1 7 5 3 —
17;>1—— .
1755
1756.......
1757.......
1758,......
1759.......
1760
176 1
...
176 2
..
1763.......
1764
1765...
.
1766.......
1767..

14.63

14.94
14.87
14.85
14.15
14.14
14.54
15.27
14.99
14.70
14.83
14.80
14.85

Year,
1768....
1769
1770....
1771....
1772....
1773....
1774....
1775....
1770....
1777....
1778....
1779....
1780—.
178 1
1782
178 3
1784....
17S6.._.
1786....

1787

1788..„
1789.......
1790....
1791....
1792....
1793.. „
1794....

ftatio.

79
Commercial ratio of silver to gold for each year sines 1G87—Continued.
Year.
1795.
1796.
1797.
1798.
1799.

15.55
15.63
15.41
15.59
35.74
15.68
15.46
15.26
15.41
15.41
15.79
15.52
35.43
10.08
15.96
15.77
15.53

1800.
3801.
1802.

1803.
1804.
1805.

1808.

1807.
1808.

1809.

1810,
1811.
1812.

16.11

16.25
15.04
15.26
15.28
15.11
15.35
15.33

1813.
1814.
1815.

1816.

1817.
1818.

1819.

1820..
1821..
1822..

1823..
1824..
3825..
1826..

1827-.
1828..

1829..
1830..
183L.
1832..
1833..
183*4. _
1835..
1836..
1837..
1838 „
1839..
3840..
1841..
1842,.
1843..
1814..

15.62
15.95
15.80
15.84
15.82
15.70
15.76
15.74
15.78
15.78
15.82
15.72
15.73
15.93
15.73
15.80
15.72
15.83
15.85
15.62
15.62
15.70
15.87
15.93
15.85

1845
3846
1847
3848
3849
i850
3853
3853
3854
3855
3856
3857.......
1858.......
1859
1860
1861
3862
3863
1864.
1865
18<S6.„ —
1867...-—
3868
3869

Ratio.
35.92
35.90
35.80
35.85
15.73
15.70
15.46
15.59
15.33
35.33
15.38
15.38
15.27
15.38
15.19
15.29
15.50
15.35
15.37
15.37
15.44
15.43
15.57
15.59
15. G
O

1870..
1871.
1872..
1873..
1874..
1875..
1876..
1877..
1878.,
1879..
1880..
1881..
1882..

1833..
1834.,
iS85_.

1886..

1887.,
1888..
1889..
1890..
1891.,
1892.,
1893*,

15.57
15.57
15.63
15.92
16.17
16.59
17.88
17.22

17.94
18.40
18.05
18.16

18.19
18.64
18.57
19.41
20.78
21.13
21.99
22.09
19.75
20.92
23.72
28.52

*For seven months ending July 31, 1893.
Wages andprice of silver bullion per ounce in the United States for ffty calendar
years, 1841 to 1891.
The average of wages from Report on Prices, Wages, and Transportation,
Fifty-second Congress, second session, Senate Report 139, page 14; the price
for silver bullion from International Monetary Conference, Treasury Department, October 12,18S2, page 42.
The average wages paid are expressed by the index number 100 in the year
1860, and in gold.
Average Price
wages, of silver.

Year.
1841
14
&2
1843
184 4
184 5
184 6
184 7
184 8
1819
185 0
185 1
185 2
185 3
1854 185 5
185 6
1857

Percent.
88.0

....

.....

1808

185 9

87.1
86.0
86.5
86.8

89.3
90.8
91.4
92.5
92.7
90.4
90.8
91.8
95.8
,98.0
99.2
99.9
98.5
99.1

100.0

186 0
186 1
1862

1863
1854 . . . . .
1865.........
1866

303




100.8'
100.4
76.2
80.8
66.2

108.8

$1,316
1.303
1.297
1.301
1.298
1.30
1.308
1.304
1.309
1.316
1.337
1.326
1.348
1.348
1.344
1.344
1.353
1.344
1.36
1.352
1.333
1.3!G
1.345
1.345
1.333
1.339

Year.
1867.
1868.
1869.
1870.

1871.
1872.
1873.
1874.
1875.

1876.
1877.
1878.
1879.
1550.
1551.
1832.

1833.
1884,
1S85.
1883.
3887.
18SS.

1889.
3890,

3891.

Average Price
wages. of silver.
Percent.
137.1 $1,328
114.9
1.326
-119.5
1.325
133.7
1.328
1.326
147.8
1.322
152.2
148.3
1.298
145.0
1.278
140.8
1.246
135.2
1.150136.4
1.201
340.5
1.152
1.123
139.9
141.5
1.145
146.5
1.138
149.9
1.136
152.7
1.11
1.113
152.7
1.0645
150.7
.9946
150.9
.97823
153.7
.93897
155.4
156.7
.93512
1.04633
158.9
.98782
160.7

80
Table showing the amount, price paid, and present market value of silver bullion
purchased under the laws of 1878 and 1890, stated separately; also the number of
silver dollars coined since 1878 and their present bullion value.
[Compiled by the Acting Director of the Mint.]
Fine ounces.
Purchased under act of 1878
Purchased under act of 1890

Cost.

Total

...

291,272,019
160,157,168

$308,199,262
149,661,211

451,429,187

..........

457,860,473

Value of same at market price for silver, August 12, at 75 cents
per ounce
J
$338,585,890
Depreciation
119.274,583
Silver dollars coined
419.333,450
Worth at to-day's market price (75 cents per ounce)
243,245,581
Difference between coin and bullion value
176,086,866
The only countries in which the coinage of silver is free are Mexico and
Japan, and one or two of the South American states, which have an irredeemable paper currency.
BUREAU OF THB MINT, August




is, 2663.