620 APPENDIX. 



COMMERCIAL RATIO AND RATIO OF STOCKS. 



The form in which tables are given in the report of the Director of the Mint 

 for 1898 does not permit me to conveniently continue the calculation of Mr. 

 Waldron, but the totals of production as estimated by the mint from 1493 to July 

 1, 1898, make the total stock at that time 18.72 fine ounces of silver to one of 

 gold. The commercial ratio for 1897, as given in the report (average for the 

 year), was 84.28 to 1, and for nine months of 1898, 35.40 to 1. 



COMMERCIAL RATIO. 



Early Katios. — The commercial ratio of gold to silver, from the time 

 of Herodotus (born 484 b. c.) down to the year 1717, is shown in the following 

 from the letter of Lord Liverpool to the king of Enghind (see "Coinage Laws 

 of the United States, 1894," page 435):— 



In Persia, according to Herodotus 1 to 1 If 



In Greece at same period 1 to 13 



In Greece in the time of Plato 1 to 12 



In Greece it is stated bj"- Xenophon at 1 to 10 



After the plunder of gold from the Temple of Apollo, ac- 

 cording to Menander, it was 1 to 10 



In the reign of Alexander the Great it was 1 to 10 



In Rome, according to Pliny the Elder it was 1 to IQi g 



In Eome, after the tribute from the Etolians 1 to 10 



The plunder of gold from the Gauls by 



Julius Cajsar reduced the proportions to 1 to 7^ 



In the reign of Claudius, Tacitus states it at 1 to 12J 



Until the reign of Alexander Servius it contained. . . . 1 to 12i 



In the reign of Constantino the Great 1 to IJ 



The disorders in the Roman Empire under Arcadus and 



Honorius raised it to 1 to 14§ 



From which it appears that gold, unless when depressed 

 by sudden and unusual occurrences, or enhanced by a 

 dread of public insecurity, may be stated to have been 

 for upward of 900 years in the proportion of. . . . . 1 to 10 or 12 



