Chapter VIII: Part 8

Not only is this encroachment of the commodity demand on the money supply becoming greater year by year, with the growth of population, but the supply of gold from the mines is itself becoming less, having declined from an average of $137,000,000 between 1856 and 1860 (the period of greatest yield from California and Australia), to an average of $107,000,000 for the past ten years. Of the entire gold supply of the world, nine-tenths of it have come from placer mines, readily discoverable and easily worked, because requiring little or no capital. All known fields of those are practically exhausted, and there is no reasonable prospect of the discovery of others. Hardy, adventurous, and skillful miners from the United States, and capitalists from all countries, have ransacked the world in vain for new fields of gold. Why, then, with the knowledge of those facts before us, should we discard from the full money use and function the only metal that gives to the world any prospect of relief from the money famine from which civilization is now suffering and from which, if silver be not speedily restored to its ancient use and function, the world is destined to suffer much more?

If it be conceivable that the demonetization of either metal were necessary, why demonetize that which promises the greater and more steady yield? If for any reason society should decide that one of the metals should be discarded, should it not rather be that one which promises the smaller future yield, than that which promises the larger?

Silver is the money-metal best suited to the mass of the people, and to the variety and character of transactions that constitute the interchanges of daily life. The supplies of both metals if united by law, in the full money function, would have a steadiness of value which can not be attained by either separately.

TREASURY NOTES SHOULD NOT BE REDEEMED IN BULLION

The proposition to redeem the proposed treasury notes in silver bullion or in anything but lawful money of the United States will never meet the approval of the people.

What the people of this country want is money, and what they should have is money. These notes will represent full value received, the evidence of which is the bullion in possession of the Government. When issued, they will enter into circulation. They will have to do the work of money among the people. They will go to make up the volume of the currency. On the basis of that volume each dollar acquires a certain value, and represents a given amount of sacrifice. On that volume, and on those conditions, bargains will be made, prices established, debts contracted, values adjusted, and equities created. If any portion of that money be withdrawn from circulation (for that is what "redemption" means) without an equivalent amount of money in some other form being issued to take its place, the circulation will to that extent be contracted, every dollar in circulation will increase in value, prices will fall, property-values established on the basis of the larger circulation will shrink, and equities will be destroyed.

The redemption of any number of those notes in silver bullion means the withdrawal of many dollars of money from circulation and the destruction of so much of the money of the country. Money is not a thing that can be destroyed with impunity. It should be kept in use among the people. It is to industry what the blood is to the human body; it is the life-giving and life-sustaining medium. The money volume of a country should not be subject to frequent and violent changes. In a new and growing country, it should be characterized by that steady accretion that characterizes the increase in the quantity of blood in the human body as it progresses from infancy to maturity. It is no more unreasoning, empirical, or unscientific to be alternately withdrawing blood from, and injecting blood into, a human body than to be constantly contracting and expanding the money volume of the country. And as activity of circulation of the blood is essential to the health of the body, so activity of circulation in money is indispensable to the well-being of society. The possession of no mere commodity, whatever its value, will compensate a country for the destruction of any considerable portion of its money, upon the entire volume of which vast equities rest.

MONEY SHOULD BE REDEEMABLE IN ALL THINGS.

Money should be redeemed in all things; not in one thing alone. The peculiar characteristic of true money, that which distinguishes it from all other things whatsoever and constitutes it a prime factor in civilization, is that it is at all times redeemable in any thing that is on sale. Being an order for property, it should be redeemed in any form of disposable property which the holder may desire.

A guinea--

said Adam Smith--

may be considered as a bill for a certain quantity of necessaries
and conveniences upon all the tradesmen in the neighborhood.

Any form of money, the condition of whose existence depends on redeemability in one thing alone, can not be money in the full sense, and whenever an urgent demand for real money springs up the other ceases altogether to be money.

The redemption of money should be reciprocal between the Government and the people and between and among all individuals in the community. It should not only be redeemable by the Government by acceptance for taxes but also redeemable by and among the people for all property for sale and services for hire. Its quantity should be so regulated as that its unit (the dollar) should neither increase nor diminish in value, and it should be kept constantly in circulation, and not be permitted to lie uselessly in the Treasury. Any other money than this is to a certain extent counterfeit; it is false money, because when most needed it fails to be money and has to be "redeemed" in something else (gold) which can not be got except at ruinous sacrifice.

It is of the very essence of money--its pith and marrow and protoplasm--that it should be a legal tender, a universal solvent, the ultimate of payment, and redeemable, at the prices ruling, in everything that is on sale. If the volume of such money be properly regulated, while there may from time to time be variations in the prices of particular articles, the general range of prices will be maintained practically undisturbed.

What an absurdity it is for the Government to put its stamp on one thing in order to make it redeemable in another thing imprinted with the same stamp, but which nobody wants except for the purpose of getting a third thing that could have been got just as well without the intervention of the second. As well might he who, wanting water, is given a silver cup wherewith to get it, but on going to the spring is forbidden to drink until he exchanges his silver cup for a gold one.

The real reason why it is insisted that all other things than gold shall be exchangeable into gold is that gold is getting dearer by reason of decreasing supply and increasing populations. The necessity for convertibility into gold implies that, in ordinary times, a range of prices higher than the gold range will prevail, and when, by reason perhaps of increased activity of business, redemption comes to be demanded prices are at once precipitated to those of the gold standard and below, to the great advantage of the creditor classes, who, as owners of bonds, may be considered in the language of the stock exchange "long" on money, and to the equally great injury of the producing class, who, being in debt, may be considered as having sold money "short."

The supreme consideration is that the money of a country shall be so regulated as that prices may not fall from any cause inhering in the money system. The value of money--in other words, the sacrifice necessary to obtain it--should be no greater at one time than at another. In order to effect that object of prime consequence, to maintain the value of money unchanging, there should be no hesitancy whatever in changing the material of which it is made.

Nobody who has reflected on the subject for a moment doubts that what gave "value" or exchangeable power to the greenback was not the promise made on its face, without date, to pay a dollar, but the inscription on its back which declared it a legal tender for all dues and demands, public and private, except duties on imports. It was a misfortune to mankind that the words "promise to pay" were printed on it, because by it millions were led to believe that the "value" or exchangeable power resided in the promise instead of in the legal-tender power conferred upon it.

There is no object in redeeming in gold, except to maintain gold prices, that is to say, the range of prices prevailing in gold-using countries, and as those prices are constantly trending downward, any country that insists on maintaining the gold standard must accept the consequences in a corresponding fall of prices. The advocates of the gold standard, in effect, maintain that no matter to what extreme prices may fall, we must be content--we must bow in humble submission to the inevitable, since, in their view, it is more necessary to maintain the sacredness of the gold standard than to establish justice, promote prosperity, or to maintain equity in all time transactions.

It is in no way necessary, on account of any intrinsic or inherent quality of gold, that should have that particular metal, and that alone, for money.

It is boasted that gold is a universal measure. Why is it universal? Why is gold accepted in every country of the world? Not because the gold is wanted for any quality inherent in the metal, but because it is an order for property in gold-using countries, such as England, France, and Germany, whose trade is largely a foreign trade. At whatever rate gold will exchange in England, it will exchange in all countries having trade relations with England, because it is an order for goods in a country with which they are dealing. Will not the money of this country equally, and for like reasons, whether gold or silver, have acceptability in every country with which the United States have trade relations? Not for any quality inherent in the metal, but because it is an order for property in the United States. Will it not be willingly accepted by those who wish to buy in this country?

POSSIBLE EFFECT OF REDEMPTION IN BULLION.

In order to see the effect of the redemption of these Treasury notes in bullion, we have but to look at the possibilities of the situation. Suppose there were in the Treasury $300,000,000 worth of that bullion, which, by the taking up, little by little, and month by month, of the amount not used in the arts, would be taken by the Treasury at or about par. Then, suppose that for any reason, such as fear of approaching panic or otherwise, $100,000,000 of the Treasury notes were suddenly presented for redemption, and canceled, and the bullion as suddenly put on the market, what would it be worth? What would gold bullion be worth if it had not the privilege of coinage, and if $100,000,000 of it, deprived of the money use, was suddenly put on the market? Can there be a doubt that the abrupt output of so large a quantity would have the effect of immediately and enormously depreciating its value? In the case under consideration, the result would be that the silver remaining in the Treasury would not bring one-fourth the sum necessary to redeem the outstanding Treasury notes, so that not only would a heavy loss result to the Government, but, by reason of the sudden and serious contraction of the money volume, an infinitely greater loss would result to all the people.

But if it be deemed a remote contingency that any extraordinary amount would in that manner be suddenly taken from the Treasury, there is another danger which can not be put aside as improbable, but which, on the contrary, is to be looked for with almost absolute certainty, and to my mind, constitutes an irremovable and insurmountable objection to any system of bullion redemption.

A large number of merchants in London need, monthly, millions of dollars worth of silver to make payments in India. They will naturally want to get it at the lowest price, and it is not to their advantage to intensify the competition for it. On the contrary, it is to their direct advantage to depress the price to the lowest possible point.

As the Treasury of the United States would buy silver at the lowest price, the London merchants would refuse to enter the open market in competition with our Government for its purchase. But no sooner could the silver be stored in the vaults of the Treasury, than the agents of the London merchants would appear, and before any opportunity had offered for a favorable change in the price of the bullion, could present as many millions of these notes as might suit their purpose, and receive bullion therefor. A Secretary of the Treasury who conscientiously believed that it was his duty to maintain the gold standard at all hazards, would naturally feel compelled--certainly it would be in his power--to put out whatever amount of bullion he might deem necessary to accomplish that purpose, even if it all had to go.

Thus the United States Treasury would become the convenient and capacious conduit through which silver should immediately flow from this country to England, depriving our people, notwithstanding the legislative measures for their relief, of practically all use of silver as money, inasmuch as the four and a half-million dollars of Treasury notes would be withdrawn and canceled about as soon as issued.

Thus would our Treasury Department be made practically the purchasing agent in this country of any syndicate or combination of English merchants who might desire silver for the East India trade.

If it be said that no Secretary of the Treasury would attempt thus to defeat the will of the people as expressed in the law, the sufficient reply is that a conscientious man who believes that the honor of the United States is pledged to the maintenance of the gold standard, and that it is indispensable to the prosperity of the people, will exercise all the power vested in him by law to prevent a departure from that standard, and will regard himself as for the time being the savior of the Republic by keeping it from "the edge of so dangerous a peril" as the execution of the people's will.

Certainly no man will deny to the present Secretary of the Treasury entire rectitude of motive in all his conduct. From the well-known fact that since the passage of the limited coinage act of 1878 all our Secretaries have refrained from purchasing more silver than they were compelled to do by the mandatory provision of that law, it is reasonable to infer that none of them, if called upon to execute a law containing a silver bullion redemption clause, such as is suggested, would feel called upon to make a net purchase of more than $2,000,000 worth in each month; and that none of them would hesitate to exchange for Treasury notes all the monthly purchases of bullion in excess of that amount.

A PLANK FROM THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.

I must be pardoned for directing the attention of Senators on this side of the Chamber to a short declaration of the last Republican National Convention:

The Republican party is in favor of the use of both gold and
silver as money.

If party platforms mean anything that clause meant that the Republican party went before the country pledged to the use and to the equal and non-discriminating use of both silver and gold as money. It was well known that throughout the entire West the question of the remonetization of silver was deemed of vital importance, and party orators and the party press, throughout that entire section were severe in their denunciation of the prior administration of its unfriendly attitude toward silver.

I wish in all solicitude and sincerity to advise my Republican friends of the East that this plank in the party platform was construed by the Republicans of the West to mean precisely what it says. They are looking with confidence to this Congress for such action as will fittingly embody in the statutes the principle laid down by the party now in the responsible direction of the Government.

SHALL WE BE FLOODED WITH SILVER?

We are told that if silver is given free access to the mints we shall be flooded with it from all parts of the world. Does anybody show where the flood of silver is to come from? Where are the reservoirs that contain it? Not in England, where it is difficult for the people even to get a sufficiency of it for small change to transact the business of the country: not in Germany, where the scarcity of money was so pressing that the government had to abandon the idea of selling silver. Though the stock in France is large her people will never give it up. Silver has been the "shield and buckler" of the French Republic. All she has is coined at the ratio of 15-1/2 ounces of silver to 1 of gold, and its shipment to this country would involve a loss to France, not only of the 3 per cent. difference between the French relation (15-1/2 to 1) and ours (which is 16 to 1), but of 3 per cent. additional in the cost of gathering and shipping it. And after that could only exchange them for Treasury notes. The silver stock in India and the Orient is performing indispensable duty as money, and no "flood" of it can be expected from that quarter. From time immemorial India has been absorbing all the surplus silver of the world. She has never got so much as to appease her appetite for more. So insatiable is her desire for that metal that she has long been known as the "Sink of Silver." China has not a piece of the metal that she can dispose of. Mexico has no stock whatever of silver on hand, except the limited number of coined pieces forming her moderate money circulation, and not a dollar of it can be spared. No country of Central or South America has any surplus silver. Every piece of coined silver in every country in the world is part of the monetary circulation of that country, and even when of short weight and classified as a mere "token" is passing at par as full valued money. No gain could possibly accrue, therefore, to the owners of coined silver anywhere by shipping it to this country for any purpose, and there is no surplus stock of bullion anywhere.

If anybody doubts this statement let him make the attempt in all the money centers of the world to buy from accumulated stock even $5,000,000 worth of it. He will fail to get it in London, Paris, Berlin, Calcutta, New York, or San Francisco, or in all combined. There is no source from which to get silver except the current supply from the mines, and whatever that is now it is not likely ever greatly to increase. The occupation of mining is not attractive to many, and in the nature of the case the number who follow it will always be comparatively few. The Argonauts of old were but a small band of hardy adventurers; those of the new era are destined to bear no larger proportion to the population. But even were this not so, nature herself draws the line. To the eye of the experienced prospector silver mines are as discernible on the surface of the earth as are mountains, and the world has been explored in vain for further "finds." Those who talk, therefore, of "floods" of silver coming here for coinage simply show their ignorance of existing conditions.

I may add that of all the shafts that have been sunk for silver mines in the world where they have found silver croppings on top in ninety-nine out of every hundred, and I think I am stating it moderately, the veins have not penetrated the earth, mineralized, fertilized, to the depth of 50 feet, rarely have they penetrated the earth to a depth exceeding 1,200 feet, and the most prolific yield of silver mines has been from a depth not exceeding 800 feet.

The very fact, Mr. President, that, with all the world searching for gold and silver mines--a search that has continued throughout all history--the amount of the two metals yielded by the mines is about equal, shows that the historical relation existing between them is the relation at which they can be profitably produced.

It is apparent that if there were a great advantage in the production of silver over gold, at the relation of 15-1/2 to 1, that advantage would be seen in the largely preponderant production of silver; but instead we find that the result of thousands of years of mining has given us about equal quantities of both metals.

CAN THE UNITED STATES ALONE HOLD THE METALS AT A PARITY?

We are told that the United States, unaided, can not, if it would, restore silver to a parity with gold--that no one nation acting alone can achieve so difficult a feat. But it is incapable of denial that throughout all vicissitudes of production of gold and silver from 1803 to 1873 the law of France--one nation alone--accomplished it.

As I have shown in greater detail elsewhere, by reference to the table of annual production of the metals, it will be observed that from 1803 to 1820, the production was in the proportion of four dollars of silver to one of gold; from 1821 to 1840 two of silver to one of gold, from 1841 to 1850 one dollar of silver, to one of gold, from 1851 to 1860 four dollars of gold to one of silver, from 1861 to 1865 three of gold to one of silver, from 1866 to 1870 two of gold to one of silver, in 1871 and 1872 one-and-a-half of gold to one of silver. Notwithstanding these extreme variations in the relative annual production the law of France constituted a ligature sufficient to hold the metals in line at the ratio of 15-1/2 to 1, and this not for France alone but for the whole world. If that period does not offer sufficient proof of the power of law, under varying conditions of supply, to tie the metals together and keep them so, no degree of proof will suffice, for the vacillations of their relative production have been greater during this century than at any former period in the history of the world.

IS AN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT NECESSARY?

If that could be done by a nation with a population of 25,000,000 to 35,000,000, what difficulty could be experienced by a nation of 65,000,000 in accomplishing the same result? Yet we are told that international agreement is necessary to restore silver to its ancient right as a full-money metal. Those who suggest such an agreement forget that while this nation is a borrower of money, the first and principal nation to demonetize silver is the greatest money lender known to history. Is it for a moment to be supposed that the shrewd English creditor classes will enter into any agreement which will deprive them of the spoils of so delicate and ingenious a system of usury; a system not only not banned by law, but, on the contrary, having the special approval and protection of statutes, and the active support and approval of all the complaisant moralists, philosophers, and financiers of the age?

While they are dilligently gathering in the proceeds of this operation a diversion is kept up for the occupation and amusement of dilettant financiers and economists, by invoking a discussion of the ratio that should be maintained between the metals. The ratio is the pretext on which conference after conference has been called.

The advocates of the single gold standard contend that hostile legislation had no influence in effecting the separation of the metals, and that the reversal of that legislation can not and will not restore them to a parity unless the principal commercial nations of the western world join in the work of rehabilitation. As illustrating the force of law on the relation of the metals I will read a suggestive paragraph from the report of the Royal Commission of England (1886), Part I, section 192:

Now, undoubtedly, the date which forms the dividing line between
an epoch of approximate fixity in the relative value of gold and
silver, and one of marked instability, is the year when the
bimetallic system which had previously been in force in the Latin
Union ceased to be in full operation, and we are irresistibly led
to the conclusion that the operation of that system, established
as it was in countries the population and commerce of which were
considerable, exerted a material influence upon the relative value
of the two metals.

So long as that system was in force we think that, notwithstanding
the changes in the production and use of the precious metals, it
kept the market price of silver approximately steady at the ratio
fixed by law between them, namely, 15-1/2 to 1. Nor does it appear
to us _a priori_ unreasonable to suppose that the existence in the
Latin Union of a bimetallic system with a ratio of 15-1/2 to 1
fixed between the two metals should have been capable of keeping
the market price of silver steady at approximately that ratio.

The paragraph quoted ascribes the effect thus produced to the bimetallic treaty of the Latin Union, a combination of Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and France, entered into in 1865 for the purpose of maintaining similar conditions of coinage. But it will be observed that, so far as the ratio was concerned, precisely the same effect had been produced by France alone during the sixty-two years from the passage of its law of 1803 to 1865.

Not only did the French law keep the metals together at a time when the larger annual yield was of silver, but it kept them together when the larger annual yield was of gold. Had not that law been in operation during the '50's, when a flood of gold poured from the mines of California and Australia, gold would have fallen, as in early times it more than once fell, to the ratio of 1 to 10, at which but 10 ounces of silver (instead of 15-1/2) would buy an ounce of gold. Thus the law of one country alone, a country then of not one-half the present population of the United States, held the metals together, so that to whatever extent gold fell in relation to commodities from 1848 to 1865, by reason of the large output of the mines, silver fell to the same extent, notwithstanding the enormous decrease in its production relatively to gold during that period.

What is claimed for law in this connection is not that it directly controls the relative values of gold and silver any more than of anything else, but that on the slightest separation of the metals there instantly arises, under the law of the double standard, a demand for the cheaper metal, while the demand for the dearer one is suspended. In this way the double standard accommodates itself to the law of supply and demand, which is admitted to be the governing factor in the determination of value. It is not contended that a small or insignificant country could keep the metals together, but all experience goes to show that a great nation like the United States would have no difficulty whatever in doing so.

So thoroughly are the advantages of the gold standard to the creditor classes recognized in England that the English Commissioners, who, for form's sake, have been sent to the several monetary conferences held on the continent, have never been invested by their Government with any power whatever. And it is but a few weeks since the House of Commons overwhelmingly voted down a proposition made in good faith by Mr. Samuel Smith, looking to the calling of a new conference, which was supported by petitions to Parliament signed by 60,000 persons not merely as individuals, but as representing large organizations of the toilers of England.

The ratio is not the difficulty. Those who wanted silver demonetized do not want it added to the money volume of the world at any ratio. Why then shall we wait? Macauley, commenting on the impregnability of intrenched prerogative, observed that if the announcement of the discovery of the law of gravitation had militated against the personal interests of any vested or privileged class, its general acceptance might have been long postponed. Shall we, then, postpone relief to the suffering industries of this country till we can secure from the privileged classes, from the money-lenders of the world, an agreement to cease their exactions?

No, Mr. President, we need not wait, and we _will_ not wait. All that is necessary is to _act_, and so far as the rules of order and of parliamentary procedure will permit, we propose to act, promptly and decisively. The world can not expect the initiatory movement for any change to be taken by those whose interests are served by the continuance of present conditions. Such conditions being consistent with their own welfare, they find no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that they are for the welfare of society at large.

The dogma that cupidity is a synonym for virtue will never fail to find ready converts among the beneficiaries.

* * * Plate sin with gold.
And the strong lance of Justice hurtless breaks.

CONCLUSION.

I predict that the restoration of silver to its birthright, Mr. President, will mark an epoch in the history of this country. It will place in circulation an amount of money commensurate with our increasing population. It will give assurance to our languishing industries that the volume of our circulating medium is not to continue shrinking, and that the tendency of prices shall no longer be downward. It will increase the wages of labor and the prices of the products of labor; it will reduce the price of bonds and other forms of money futures, it will lighten, but not inequitably, the burden of mortgages; it will increase largely, though not unjustly, the debt-paying and tax-paying power of the people. It will loosen the grasp of the creditor from the throat of the debtor.

By the remonetization of silver, money will cease to be the object of commerce, and will again become its beneficent instrument. Activity will replace stagnation, movement will supplant inertia, courage will banish fear; confidence will dispel doubt; hope will supersede despair.

The lifting up of silver to its rightful plane by the side of gold will set in motion all the latent energies of the people. It will banish involuntary idleness, by putting every willing man to work. It will revive business, and reanimate the heart and hope of the masses. Capital, no longer fearing a fall in prices, will turn into productive avenues. The hoards of money lying idle in the bank vaults will come out to bless and enrich alike their owners and the community at large; while the millions of dollars now invested at low interest in gilt-edged securities will seek more profitable investment in the busy field of industry, where they will be utilized in the payment of wages and the consequent dissemination of comfort and happiness among the people.

And this it will accomplish not for the United States alone, but for civilization. For it is not too much to say, Mr. President, that upon the decision of this question depend consequences more momentous than upon that of any other question of public policy within the memory of this generation. In a broader sense than any other question attracting the general attention of mankind it is a question of civilization. It embodies the hopes and aspirations of our race.

The act of Congress which shall happily solve it will constitute a decree of emancipation as veritable as any that ever freed serf from thraldom, but more universal in its application. It will proclaim the freedom of the white race the world over, it will lift the bowed head of labor, it will hush the threnody of toil. It will inaugurate the true renaissance--a renaissance of _prosperity_, without which industry, learning, science, literature, art, are but as apples of Sodom. (Applause in the galleries.)

INDEX.

Alison, Sir Archibald, coinage has no effect in preventing
fluctuations in value of coin, 42
effect of suspension of specie payments in England in 1797, 78

Allegory of the clocks, 50

American Review, effect of increasing volume of money, 8

Automatic system of money, gold and silver, 9
why interfered with, 18

Appleton's Cyclopedia, definition of money, 67

Aristotle on Money, 66

Balance of trade, the argument based on, 96

Banker's advice to the Usurer, 70

Baring, Alexander, a reduction of paper would have the same effect
as of any other money, 78

Bastiat, description of the crown piece, 68

Baudeau, on Money, 66

Behren, Jacob, opinion as to effect of gold standard in England, 23

Berkeley, Bishop, queries as to Money, 67

Best Money (truthfully so-called), a money of unchanging value in
the unit, 70

Cairnes, Prof. J. E., relations of paper currency to foreign
exchange, 98

Cattle, estimate of value in 1880, 4

Cernuschi, the purchasing power of money is in direct proportion to
the volume of money existing, 77

Checks and clearing houses, their effects in economizing use of money,
considered, 46

Chevalier, in France, advocated demonetization of gold, 20

Circulation, present monetary, 75

Coal, yield for 1888, 4

Condition of country at present, 3
at period of demonetization of silver, 26

Competition, the value of money fixed by the competition to get it,
73

Cotton manufacturer, his loan of $10,000, payable, principal and
interest, in cloth, contrasted with loan of same amount
contracted by his neighbor, but payable in dollars, 72

Cotton-planters, their loss by demonetization of silver, 60

Crawford, William H., opinion as to effect of decreasing volume of
money, 7

Creditors, demand for the "Best Money," meaning a money of increasing
value, 69
their course in Europe to increase value of gold, 19
their course in United States to increase value of gold, 27
the pretense in the United States to "strengthen the public
credit", 28

Crops for 1888, corn, wheat, oats, and cotton, 4

Debt, a distinguishing characteristic of civilization, 35
a, of $10,000 contracted in 1873--how much wheat, cotton, etc.,
would pay it then and how much now, 57

Debtors, who are they, 35
and creditors, their motives compared, 34

De Colange, Professor, the rate at which money exchanges is determined
by its quantity, 77

Demand for money, what it is, 73

Demonetization of silver, by England, 22
by Germany, 16
by United States, 26
wholly unjustifiable, 28

De Quincey, in England, advocated demonetization of gold, 20

Difficulty, one symptom common to all industries, 5

Discussion, educational effect of, 29

Double standard, statement of, before French Commission, 22

Dumas, a Senator of France, pleads for caution before demonetization,
17

Economist (London) admits rise of gold, 44

Effects of shrinking volume of money (extract from report of Monetary
Commission), 36

Encyclopedia Britannica, effect of fall in the value of money, 8

England's position not due to gold standard, 25

Failures in United States, 1887, 1888, and 1889, 49

Fall of interest on gilt-edged securities, a proof of rise of gold, 48

Farm, how it may be lost by an increasing value in the money unit, 70

Farmers, their loss by demonetization of silver, 60

Farms, estimate of value in 1880, 4
proposition that the Government lend money on the security of the
land, 83

Fanchet, Leon, probable effect, should all European nations follow
England in discarding silver, 17

Fichte, the value of money depends on its quantity, 76

Flood of silver, where is it to come from?, 108

France, law of 1803 held metals at a parity till 1873, 16

Frewen, Moreton, extract from his "Economic Crisis", 30

Gallatin, Albert, a metallic currency not indispensable, 77

Germany, emigration from, 25

Gibbs, Henry H., cablegram relating to bimetallism, 29

Giffen, Robert his reasoning erroneous that the commodity demand fixes
the value of gold, 81

Gold and silver, both variable in value, 41
the world's supply of both, 101

Gold, ratio of, to silver at various periods, 13-16
fall of, during times of Alexander and Caesar, 14
fear of fall of, during California excitement, 19
rise of from 1873 to 1889, 44
proof that it has risen, 55
some effects of its rise, 57
proposition first made to demonetize it, 19
demonetized in 1857 by German States and Austria, 20
fear of an outflow of, 85
rationale of the outflow of, 86
value as money not derived from commodity use, 81

Goschen, George J., chancellor of exchequer of England speaks for, but
decides against, silver, 24

Graham, Sir James, the value of money is in the inverse ratio to its
quantity, 77

"Greenback", the, what gave it value?, 105

Gresham's law, and so-called "extension" of, 68

Gold standard, what it implies, 90
statement in behalf of, before French commission, 22
of the future, 92

Gold used in the arts, 103

Gold money, practically none in the United States, 95

Hamilton, Alexander, effect of annulling use of either metal, 16

Houses in United States, estimated value in 1880, 4

Hume, David, contrast of conditions under increasing and under
deceasing volume of money, 7
value of money depends on quantity, 76

Huskisson, William, if the quantity of money is increased the value of
commodities increase, 77

Improved methods of production, their effects considered, 45

India, will remonetization place us "alongside?", 32

International agreement: is such agreement necessary to tie the metals
together, 109

Involuntary idleness, enormous loss of potential wealth, through, 61

Iron, pig: Yield for 1888, 4

Jefferson, Thomas, "the unit must stand on both metals", 17

Jevons, Professor: The metals not so steady a standard as corn, 42
inconvertible paper money, if limited in quantity, can retain its
full value, 77

Jevons, on Money, 66
table of relation of general prices 1809 to 1849, 40

Laughlin, Professor, "the name 'dollar' does not always have the same
value", 42

Laveleye, Professor, "Debtors have a right to pay in gold or
silver", 18

Law, what is claimed for it, in keeping the metals together, 110
of France held the metals together from 1803 till
demonetization, 110

Legal-tender: All money should have this power, 71

Locke, John, both gold and silver variable in value, 42
on Money, 66, 76

McCulloch, J. R., "Money is a measure of value", 71
were there perfect security against over-issue of paper money, the
metals might be dispensed with, 78

McLeod, on Money, 66

Materials used as Money at various epochs, 10

Machiavelli's reference to the brigands, 57

Massachusetts Bureau of Labor: Deductions from its reports as to
numbers of the unemployed, 61

Mill, James, the value of money depends on its quantity, 76

Mill, John Stuart, on Money, 66
the value varies inversely as its quantity, 76

Mining States: Their interest in remonetization of silver, 58

Monetary Commission Report: Quotations from, as to new school of
financial theorists, 18

Money demand, not commodity demand, gives gold its value, 81
effect of reduction in volume of, 6
effect intensified as civilization advances, 6
a glance at the history of, 9
substances used as, at various epochs, 10
the money-function the all-sufficient guaranty of the money
value, 79
where is the future money to come from, if silver remains
demonetized, 79
--what is it? Its value not in the material but in the stamp--in
the legal-tender power conferred, 65
should be redeemable in all things, 104
valuable rather for the important service it performs than for the
material of which made, 80
question a question of prices, 80
what is the demand for it? what the supply?, 73
no alternative for it, 74
the most potent instrumentality in the evolution of society, 74

National money, as distinguished from international money. Advantages
of national money, 99

Newspapers, number published in United States, 4

Non-mining States, their interest in remonetization of silver, 60

Overstone, Lord, "The value of a paper currency results from its
being kept at the same amount the metallic currency would
have been", 78

Panics, impossible if all money were legal tender, 71

Parity of the metals: Can the United States alone hold them
together?, 109

Paulus (author of Pandects): Power of money dependent not on substance
but on quantity, 77

Playfair, Sir Lyon, uses the argument that England is a creditor
nation, 23

Population, Money should increase in a ratio not less than the ratio
of increase of, 75

Price, the index of the value of Money, 8

Price, Bonamy, on Money, 67

Prices, what produces a general fall of, 5
fall of, in United States since 1873, 38
relation of general prices, 1809 to 1849, Jevon's tables, 40
relation of general prices, 1849 to 1885, Soetbeer's tables, 41

Progress, evolutions of, in Money, 9

Prophecies of gold advocates unfulfilled, 30

Protection, its effect on prices, 88

Quantitative theory of Money, The value of each dollar depends on the
number of dollars out, 75

Railroads, number of miles in United States, 4
value in 1880, 4

Ratio of precious metals from earliest times to Christian Era, 13
Christian Era to discovery of America, 14
discovery of America to 1822, 15
1823 to 1889, 16

Ricardo, use of the metals as a standard, 43
the value of money in a country depends on the amount existing, 76
there can be no depreciation of money but from excess of
quantity, 76
his views as to a "well regulated paper currency", 78

Rothschild, Baron, opinion of bimetallism, 17

Rouland, M., governor of Bank of France, opposed to demonetization, 17

Royal Commission of England, extracts from report of, 23, 110

Sauerbeck on general price (those of 1887 the lowest for one hundred
years), 41

Seventy-two cent dollar, the, 92

Seyd, Ernest, effect of increasing money volume, 8

Silver, ratio of, to gold, at various periods, 13-16
declared unfit to be used as money, 21
objections to, considered, 21
the motive for demonetizing, by England, 21
the motive for demonetizing, by Germany, 24
the motive acknowledged, 23
and gold both variable in value, 41
--has it fallen?, 49
purchasing power in 1873 and 1889, 52
prejudice against it as money arising from the idea that gold money
has greater "intrinsic value." That question considered, 63
shall we be flooded with it in case of remonetization?, 108
the world's supply, 101
If $2,500,000 a month for twelve years has not driven out gold, how
much will do so?, 91

Silver miners, their loss by demonetization contrasted with that of
farmers and cotton-planters, 58

Smith, Adam: Both gold and silver variable in value, 41
Definition of a guinea, 66

Soetbeer's table, showing relation of general prices 1849 to 1885, 41

Standard: The true Money standard not the material of which money is
made, 78

Stewart, Dugald, on Money, 67

Steel, yield for 1888, 4

Suicides in Germany, 25

Supply of money, what it is, 73

Tabular standard suggested for time contracts as securing greater
equity than gold, 43

Thornton, Henry, on Money, 66

Time contracts, their importance to industry, 6

Torrens: The value of gold rises or falls as its quantity is
diminished or increased, 77

Treasury notes should not be redeemable in bullion, 104
Possible effect of such redemption, 106

Tribune (New York) quoted as to fall of prices, 39

Unemployed, some statistics of the, 61

United States, demonetization of silver effected in 1873, 26

Usurer's loan on the farm, 70

Waller's verse, 24

Value, the meaning of, 63
subjective, not objective, 63
not "intrinsic", 64
of money not in the material, but in the stamp--in the power of
legal tender, 65
money a measure of, 71

Values, relative, of precious metals from earliest times, 13

Wage-loss from involuntary idleness enormous, 62

Walker, Prof. F. A., on Money, 66, 67
gold and silver both variable in value, 42
the value of money in a country determined by the amount
existing, 77

Wealth, national, estimated, 4

Wolowski, M., effect of demonetization, 17

Working masses entitled to better conditions, 57

Yardstick, the lengthened, "rung in" on the cotton manufacturer, 73

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_.

2. Certain words use "oe" ligature in the original.

3. Mixed fractions are represented using hyphen and forward slash. For instance, five and a half is shown as 5-1/2.

4. Obvious misprints in spelling and punctuation have been silently corrected.

5. The original scanned images were not very clear, especially the tables with numerical values. This may have caused some inadvertent errors to creep in during the transcription process.