| Year. | Ratio. | Year. | Ratio. | Year. | Ratio. | Year. | Ratio. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1823 | 15.84 | 1836 | 15.72 | 1849 | 15.78 | 1861 | 15.50 | |||
| 1824 | 15.82 | 1837 | 15.83 | 1850 | 15.70 | 1862 | 15.35 | |||
| 1825 | 15.70 | 1838 | 15.85 | 1851 | 15.46 | 1863 | 15.37 | |||
| 1826 | 15.76 | 1839 | 15.62 | 1852 | 15.59 | 1864 | 15.37 | |||
| 1827 | 15.74 | 1840 | 15.62 | 1853 | 15.33 | 1865 | 15.44 | |||
| 1828 | 15.78 | 1841 | 15.70 | 1854 | 15.33 | 1866 | 15.43 | |||
| 1829 | 15.78 | 1842 | 15.87 | 1855 | 15.38 | 1867 | 15.57 | |||
| 1830 | 15.82 | 1843 | 15.93 | 1856 | 15.38 | 1868 | 15.59 | |||
| 1831 | 15.72 | 1844 | 15.85 | 1857 | 15.27 | 1869 | 15.60 | |||
| 1832 | 15.73 | 1845 | 15.92 | 1858 | 15.38 | 1870 | 15.57 | |||
| 1833 | 15.93 | 1846 | 15.90 | 1859 | 15.19 | 1871 | 15.57 | |||
| 1834 | 15.73 | 1847 | 15.80 | 1860 | 15.29 | 1872 | 15.63 | |||
| 1835 | 15.80 | 1848 | 15.85 | |||||||
By the foregoing table it will be seen that in the three hundred and seventy-five years from 1497 to 1872 the maximum separation of the metals was only as 1 to 16.25—notwithstanding the widest divergencies during that long period in the yield of the two metals from the mines. It will be observed that all the later quotations are from the London market, but it is a significant fact that in France, where, by the law of 7 Germinal, An XI, (1803,) free coinage was permitted to both metals, at the ratio of 15½ of silver to 1 of gold, for a period of seventy years, and until the coinage of silver was limited, there was at no time the slightest variance from that relation.
When silver was deprived of the full money function, and all the money-work of society was placed on gold, the metals began to separate. The following table shows the degree of that separation from year to year:
Table showing the ratio of silver to 1 of gold since the demonetization of silver by Germany and the United States, and the closing of all mints of the western world to its free coinage:
| 1873 15.92 | 1882 18.19 |
| 1874 16.17 | 1883 18.64 |
| 1875 16.59 | 1884 18.57 |
| 1876 17.88 | 1885 19.41 |
| 1877 17.22 | 1886 20.78 |
| 1878 17.94 | 1887 21.13 |
| 1879 18.40 | 1888 21.99 |
| 1880 18.05 | 1889 22.10 |
| 1881 18.16 |
The foregoing figures show that it is only since the legislative proscription of silver by Germany and the United States, and the closing of all the European mints to its coinage, that any material change took place in the ratio between the two metals, which conclusively demonstrates that the present divergence in the relative values of the two metals is directly due to the legal outlawry of silver and not to natural causes.
Not only has the concurrent use of the two metals as money had the sanction of all time, but the approval of the greatest minds of history, and, when not blinded by self-interest, the approval of practical and experienced financial minds. So well recognized is this fact that I need only cite a few instances of such approval.
Alexander Hamilton said:
To annul the use of either of the metals as money is to abridge the quantity of circulating medium, and is liable to all the objections which arise from a comparison of the benefits of a full with the evils of a scanty circulation. (Report to Congress, 1791.)