The standard money unit of the United States is the gold dollar, weighing 25.8 grains and comprising nine parts of fine gold to one part of alloy. Other gold coins are double eagle ($20), eagle ($10), half-eagle ($5), and quarter-eagle ($2 1/2). All other forms of our money are directly or indirectly convertible into gold. Any holder of gold bullion, nine-tenths fine, can exchange it at the mint or other proper government depository for an equal amount of gold coin without charge. Hence we speak of the free and unlimited coinage of gold, free in this case literally meaning gratuitous; that is, a holder of bullion can present 258 grains of standard gold and receive in return a ten-dollar gold piece.

Inasmuch as the standard coin is made of gold, it necessarily follows that the price of gold cannot vary as long as that standard is maintained. Thus, the miner, who carries standard gold bullion to the mint, finds by a simple calculation (480 ÷ 25.8) that the price of his product is $18.60+ an ounce. This price has not varied in many years, and it cannot vary as long as the present law regarding the standard coin is in operation. By exchanging gold coins for an equal amount of gold bullion of the same fineness, the government maintains a parity between gold coin and gold bullion. In other words, the government adds no value whatever to gold bullion by converting it into coins. It merely changes the bullion into convenient forms for making exchanges, indicates each coin's weight by stating its value, and undertakes to prevent counterfeiting. Since neither the changing of bullion into coin nor the changing of coin into bullion has any effect on the value of gold, there is, as we might expect, a constant flow in both directions: mine owners and gold importers carry their bullion to the mints, while gold exporters change gold coins into gold bars. Thus, the government mints, on the one hand, and the melting pots of private individuals, on the other, perform the valuable service of keeping gold coin and gold bullion equal in value.