pelled by the "Bland" act of February, 1878, to purchase silver at the rate of "not less than $2,000,000 worth per month." This continued without interruption for twelve years (from 1878 to 1890), during which time more than four hundred million silver dollars were coined. The Sherman act, repealing the coining of the Bland dollars, really made matters worse, in some respects, as it authorized the purchase by the Government of not less than 4,500,000 ounces of silver per month, and 168,674,682.53 fine ounces were purchased in four years (1891-1894) at a cost to the Government of $155,931,002.25, under the act of July 14, 1890. The average price paid for this silver was almost 92
12
cents per ounce. At the present market price (55
12
cents per ounce) there is a depreciation in value of $62,316,553.45 on the silver pigs purchased under this act.Notwithstanding these heroic efforts to sustain the price of silver through the compulsory purchase by the Government of such vast quantities of the metal, the flood continued rising higher and higher while the price descended lower and lower, thus proving that silver obeys the law of all commodities, and that any attempt to sustain the price by artificial means, even when backed by such a rich and powerful Government, and carried out on such a great scale, must surely fail.[1]
Coining of Gold.—If the question should now be asked you, "What denomination of gold money of the United States has been most largely coined since the establishment of the Mint in 1792?" you would probably say, "The gold dollar, of course." The answer would be wrong—very wrong. Less than twenty million gold dollars in all have been struck, and their coinage has been entirely discontinued for nearly ten years. If, on the other hand, the question should be asked, "Which denomination of gold money has been coined most sparingly?" you would probably say, "The double eagle." Again the answer would be wrong.
- ↑ Circular No. 143 (dated July 1, 1897), issued by the United States Treasury Department, says (page 63): "The stock of gold and silver in the world in 1873 and 1896 is estimated to have been as follows:
1873. 1896. Gold $3,045,000,000 $4,100,000,000 Silver 1,817,000,000 4,200,000,000" The commercial value of silver in 1896 was less than one half of its value per ounce fine in 1873; notwithstanding this great fall in price, the estimated value of silver in the world in 1896 exceeded the estimated value of gold at that time, while in 1873 the estimated value of silver was only 594 per cent of the estimated value of the gold in the world. Stated in other terms, the gain in estimated value of gold is 34 65 per cent, while the gain in estimated value of silver in the same period is 131 per cent.
