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A BIMETALLIC PEIMEE. 
 
BIMETALLIC PRIMER. 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT C GIBBS. 
 
 THIRD EDITION, REVISED. 
 
 London : 
 
 EFFINGHAM WILSON, 
 Koyal Exchange. 
 
 1896. 
 
c^ 
 
 * & .G* 
 
 8PRECKELS 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter . Pagh 
 
 I. — Principal Monetary Changes at Home and 
 Abroad before 1873 — Great Influence of 
 England in Monetary Matters — Effect of 
 that Influence — Opinions of Mr. Seyd and 
 Mr. Disraeli 1 
 
 II.— English Monometallic Law of 1816-19— 
 Token Currency — Position of India — 
 French Bimetallic Law of 1803 — Katio 
 Explained — Evils of conflicting Eatios — 
 Necessity for International Agreement ... 9 
 
 IIL — Money as a Medium of Exchange — Porta- 
 bility of Gold and Silver — Money as a 
 Measure of Value — Stability of Value of 
 Gold and Silver 23 
 
 IV. — Importance of Stability in the Standard — 
 Greater Stability under Bimetallism — 
 Level of Prices under Bimetallism — Ratio ^ 
 to be adopted 88 
 
 V. — Stability in the Exchanges between Gold 
 and Silver using Countries produced by 
 the Bimetallic System — Evils of Insta- 
 bility in the Exchanges 55 
 
 VI.— The Evils of Instability in Prices 68 
 
 VII. — Would Bimetallism maintain the relative 
 
 Value of Gold and Silver ? 88 
 
 112120 A 2 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Many excellent books have been written on 
 the currency question, but they nearly all 
 presuppose some knowledge of the subject, 
 being for the most part addressed to expert 
 readers. 
 
 The object of the following pages is to 
 place before inexpert readers an outline of 
 the present difficulties and of the arguments 
 in favour of employing the Bimetallic remedy. 
 It is, I fear, impossible to treat the subject 
 with such simplicity as to avoid the use of 
 technical expressions on the part of the 
 writer, or to avoid the necessity of close 
 attention on the part of the reader; but 1 
 have endeavoured to explain all the technical 
 expressions that I have been forced to make 
 use of, and I have endeavoured as far as 
 
 a 3 
 
VI. PREFACE. 
 
 possible to avoid the side issues with which 
 this subject is beset. 
 
 It is impossible in a short work like the 
 present to answer all the objections that have 
 been raised against Bimetallism, but happily 
 they have for the most part been abandoned 
 even by their authors ; I have therefore only 
 addressed myself to those that still appear to 
 show signs of vitality. 
 
 There is, however, a large class of objec- 
 tions to which I do not refer. These objec- 
 tions are usually formulated as follows : — 
 " If such and such a catastrophe occurred, 
 what would happen under Bimetallism ? " 
 This may be usually answered by the counter 
 question : " What would happen under our 
 present system ? " Bimetallism does not 
 claim to be a panacea, it claims merely to be 
 a better system than that existing at present. 
 
 We must therefore remember that our 
 object is to compare Bimetallism with our 
 present system, and not with the imaginary 
 
PREFACE. VU. 
 
 conditions of an ideal currency ; and also 
 that legislation should be framed to meet 
 existing circumstances and probable events, 
 rather than to deal with improbable contin- 
 gencies in the dim and distant future. 
 
 The points that I have endeavoured to 
 bring out most clearly are these : — 
 
 1. That under a Bimetallic system our 
 standard of value would possess greater 
 stability than it does at present, and the 
 relative values of the silver and gold stan- 
 dards would also be comparatively stable; 
 in other words, that Bimetallism would bring 
 about greater stability in prices, and greater 
 stability in the exchanges between gold-using 
 and silver-using countries. 
 
 2. That it is essential that the standard of 
 value should possess a maximum stability of 
 value ; for, as Mr. Gladstone so well said in 
 the House of Commons on 28th February, 
 1893, " What you want in a standard of value 
 to make it do its work properly is fixity, 
 
Vlll. PREFACE. 
 
 steadiness, stability, and continuity. You 
 want its properties to be such that what it is 
 to-day it shall be to-morrow, and what it 
 is to-morrow it shall be the next day. Fixity 
 and invariability are the first elements of a 
 standard of value." 
 
 The plan of this book is as follows : — After 
 giving a general idea of the subject in the 
 first chapter, and explaining the meaning of 
 the terms Monometallism and Bimetallism 
 in the second, I endeavour to show in the 
 third chapter that either gold or silver can be 
 made to form a perfectly efficient medium of 
 exchange, and that we have therefore only to 
 consider how they may be made to perform the 
 most important function of money — viz., a 
 measure of value. I then point out that 
 stability of value is essential to the substance 
 that is used as a measure of value, if the 
 measure is to be trustworthy; and I show 
 that, judged by the best test available, 
 silver is at least as stable as gold. In the 
 
PREFACE. IX. 
 
 fourth chapter I give the proof that gold and 
 silver combined must make a more stable 
 standard than gold and silver separate ; and 
 in the fifth chapter I endeavour to show that 
 the joint standard must have the effect of 
 giving greater stability to the exchanges 
 between gold and silver using countries ; in 
 elucidating this point I am compelled to give 
 a short, and I trust simple, explanation of 
 the theory of foreign exchanges. I have 
 devoted the whole of the sixth chapter to 
 emphasising the fact that the misfortunes 
 that have attended manufacture, trade, and 
 finance of late years are primarily due to the 
 instability of our standard, which has of late 
 years taken the form of a considerable rise in 
 its value, and a consequent considerable fall 
 in prices. Up to this point I have assumed 
 that the relative value of silver and gold 
 would be maintained at the ratio fixed by law 
 if a Bimetallic system were introduced. In 
 proving this in the last chapter, I rely mainly 
 
X. PREFACE. 
 
 on the opinion* of the Members of the Boyal 
 Commission of 1888 that it could be done, 
 and on the historical fact that it has been 
 done. 
 
 * I believe that at present all or almost all the 
 Professors of Political Economy in Great Britain are in 
 favour of Bimetallism. 
 
 15, Bishopsgate Street Within, 
 April, 1894. 
 
A BIMETALLIC PRIMER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Principal Monetary Changes at Home and 
 Abroad before 1873 — Great Influence of 
 England in Monetary Matters — Effect of 
 that Influence — Opinions of Mr. Seyd and 
 Mr. Disraeli. 
 
 Bimetallism is not a new thing. On the con- 
 trary, it existed in some form or other in most 
 civilised nations until recent times. 
 
 Up till 1873 France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, 
 (forming the Latin Union), and the United States 
 were Bimetallic ; under this system their mints 
 were open for the unrestricted coinage of both gold 
 and silver, and the metals so coined were by law 
 available for the payment of debts to any amount. 
 
 Other nations were monometallic ; that is to say, 
 some kept their mints open for the unrestricted 
 
 B 
 
2 A Bimetallic Primer, 
 
 coinage of gold alone, and used gold alone as the 
 metal in which to discharge debts to any amount, 
 and some used silver alone for that purpose. 
 
 Thus there existed up to 1873 a great demand 
 for gold from some nations, and a great demand for 
 silver from other nations ; the approximate equili- 
 brium thus established being perfected by the 
 Bimetallic nations who exercised an impartial 
 demand for either metal. 
 
 The effect of this condition of things was, as will 
 be hereafter explained, that the value of silver as 
 measured in gold remained practically constant, 
 and both gold and silver were thus used indiffer- 
 ently for the discharge of international indebted- 
 ness. 
 
 In 1872 Germany changed her system from 
 silver monometallism to gold monometallism, and 
 thereby decreased the demand for silver and in- 
 creased the demand for gold. In 1873 all the 
 Bimetallic nations suspended the unrestricted 
 coinage of silver ; since that date the price of 
 silver and other commodities has steadily gone 
 down, or in other words the value of gold as 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 3 
 
 measured in silver and other commodities has 
 steadily gone up. 
 
 Monometallism in individual countries is not a 
 new thing; but monometallism in all countries 
 (without the existence of Bimetallism in any) is 
 quite new since 1873. It follows that since 1873 
 the commercial world has been embarked upon a 
 perfectly new experiment of which we have had no 
 previous experience whatever. 
 
 Let us now see how this has come about, and 
 how far the action of England has been the cause 
 of the great monetary revolution that has taken 
 place. 
 
 In 1666 a Bimetallic law was passed in England 
 under which the mints were open to the unlimited 
 coinage of both metals, and the metals when coined 
 were full legal tender ; that is to say, both metals 
 were by law available for the payment of debts to 
 any amount. 
 
 In the next century, from 1726 to 1785, silver 
 as compared to gold was valued higher by law on 
 the Continent than it was in England, and the 
 
 b 2 
 
4 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 consequence was that silver became scarce in 
 England, and gold became the metal most in use. 
 
 During the great war in the latter part of the 
 last and the earlier part of the present century, 
 a paper currency was established in England, 
 which drove the metallic currency out of the 
 country. When an endeavour was made to resume 
 specie payments, gold was selected as the sole 
 standard because it was the metal to which the 
 mercantile community had become more accus- 
 tomed. 
 
 It is clear from the debates in Parliament that 
 Lord Liverpool, Sir Kobert Peel, and those who 
 introduced the monometallic gold standard into 
 England in 1816, and repealed the Bimetallic law 
 of 1666, did not realise that other nations might 
 follow our example ; consequently they did not con- 
 sider what the effect would be if the demand for 
 silver as money were reduced, the demand for 
 gold as money increased, and the relative value 
 of the two metals no longer maintained. These 
 things, however, have come to pass ; a great mone- 
 tary revolution has taken place, and there is no 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 5 
 
 doubt that this was chiefly due to the action of 
 England in 1816, although her action produced no 
 definite results until 1873. 
 
 The fact that the bulk of the finance and trade 
 of the world was in the hands of England was of 
 itself a great inducement to other nations to assi- 
 milate their standard to that of England. The 
 convenience of such a course was obvious, and 
 the inconvenience was not apparent at the time. 
 
 The commercial prestige of England was another 
 reason why other nations should follow her ex- 
 ample. Since 1816 steam was introduced as a 
 motive power ; and the contiguity of coal and iron 
 in England, and the long period of peace that we 
 enjoyed, gave us unrivalled opportunities for de- 
 veloping its use. The consequent prosperity of 
 England was by many attributed to the use of the 
 gold standard. 
 
 The result of these views was shown in 1867, 
 when a monetary conference was held, at which 
 the representatives of practically all the nations, 
 following the advice or example of England, 
 supported the adoption of a single gold standard. 
 
6 A Bimetallic Primer, 
 
 In 1870 war broke out between France and Ger- 
 many, with the result that a large war indemnity 
 was paid in gold to Germany, and she was thus 
 enabled to carry out her project. The suspension 
 by all the Bimetallic nations of the unrestricted 
 coinage of silver followed in 1873, and thus a great 
 monetary revolution was accomplished, the founda- 
 tion of which had been laid by England in 1816. 
 
 Very few people even in 1873 realised the gravity 
 of the change that had taken place. There were, 
 however, some who did, and of those I will mention 
 two — viz., Mr. Ernest Seyd and Mr. Disraeli. 
 
 In 1871 Mr. Seyd made the following extra- 
 ordinary forecast of the consequences that would 
 follow the adoption of a gold standard by other 
 nations : — 
 
 " It is a great mistake to suppose that the adoption 
 of the gold valuation by other States besides England 
 will be beneficial. It will only lead to the destruction 
 of the monetary equilibrium hitherto existing, and cause 
 a fall in the value of silver, from which England's trade 
 and the Indian silver valuation will suffer more than all 
 other interests, grievous as the general decline of pros- 
 perity all over the world will be." 
 
 " The strong doctrinism existing in England as re- 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 7 
 
 gards the gold valuation is so blind that when the time 
 of depression sets in there will be this special feature : — 
 The economical authorities of the country will refuse to 
 listen to the cause here foreshadowed ; every possible 
 attempt will be made to prove that the decline of com- 
 merce is due to all sorts of causes and irreconcilable 
 matters. The workman and his strikes will be the first 
 convenient target ; then speculation and over-trading 
 will have their turn. Later on, when foreign nations, 
 unable to pay in silver, have recourse to protection, 
 when a number of other secondary causes develop 
 themselves ; then many would-be wise men will have 
 the opportunity of pointing to specific reasons which in 
 their eyes account for the falling off in every branch of 
 trade. Many other allegations will be made totally 
 irrelevant to the real issue, but satisfactory to the 
 moralising tendency of financial writers. The great 
 danger of the time will then be that, among all this 
 confusion and strife, England's supremacy in commerce 
 and manufactures may go backwards to an extent 
 which cannot be redressed, when the real cause be- 
 comes recognised, and the natural remedy is applied." 
 
 In November, 1873, speaking at Glasgow of the 
 monetary changes that were taking place, Mr. 
 Disraeli said : " It is the greatest delusion in the 
 world to attribute the commercial preponderance 
 and prosperity of England to our having a gold 
 standard. ... It is quite evident we must 
 prepare ourselves for great convulsions in the 
 
8 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 money market, not occasioned by speculation or 
 any old cause, which has been alleged, but by a 
 new cause with which we are not sufficiently ac- 
 quainted. 
 
 More than twenty years have elapsed since these 
 opinions were expressed, and the question now 
 arises, Are we still insufficiently acquainted with 
 this new cause ? 
 
 When we see deficits in the Budget, continuous 
 depression in trade and agriculture, default on the 
 part of our debtors, and the Indian Government 
 unable to meet its current expenditure, are we to 
 sit still and say that things will right themselves ; 
 or are we to try and " recognise the real cause and 
 apply the natural remedy ? " 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 English Monometallic Law of 1816-19 — Token 
 Currency — Position of India — French Bime- 
 tallic Law of 1803— Eatio explained — Evils 
 of conflicting Ratios — Necessity for Inter- 
 national Agreement. 
 
 Prorably the best way of explaining different 
 systems of currency is to take concrete examples. 
 Thus to explain Monometallism we may take our 
 present system established in 1816-19 ; and to 
 explain Bimetallism we may take the French law 
 of 1803. 
 
 The law of 1816, which introduced our present 
 gold monometallic system, was withdrawn in 
 1817-18, but was re-established in 1819, and has 
 remained in force until the present day. 
 
 By this law silver coins are not available for the 
 payment of debts above 40s., and the mints are 
 not open to the coinage of silver except on Govern- 
 ment account. The mints are open for gold alone, 
 one sovereign being given for every 123*27447 
 
10 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 grains of standard gold (1 13*0016 pure gold) that are 
 brought to the mints. Thus the money with which 
 large debts can be legally paid is limited to gold 
 coins or (in accordance with the Act of 1844) notes of 
 the Bank of England, payable in gold on demand. 
 
 As a matter of fact large debts are usually paid 
 by cheque, but no one is bound to accept that form 
 of payment. 
 
 From this short description of our present sys- 
 tem it will be seen that England is an example 
 of a monometallic nation with gold as her stan- 
 dard ; silver being used to a limited extent only as 
 a subsidiary or token currency. 
 
 The object of a silver token currency is to avoid 
 the necessity of using inconveniently small gold 
 coins, the value of the silver when the arrangement 
 was first made, making that metal a very suitable 
 substitute. 
 
 The value of this token currency is, however, not 
 derived from the value of the material, but from the 
 amount of gold that the tokens represent. Thus in 
 1816 the value of the standard silver in our coins 
 was worth about 61d. an ounce, but the value of the 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 11 
 
 coins themselves was fixed at 66d.* an ounce. In 
 the same way at the present time (1894) silver is 
 only worth about 28d. an ounce, and yet shillings 
 are still worth 66d.t an ounce for the purpose of 
 paying debts, because the law declares that they 
 are worth one-twentieth of a gold sovereign. 
 
 The somewhat startling power that the law is 
 thus shown to possess, in fixing the value of 
 currency, is not due to the fact that our silver 
 coins cannot discharge debts above 40s., for in 
 France and the United States five-franc pieces and 
 silver dollars are in their respective countries 
 available for the payment of debts to any amount, 
 although their value as coins is almost as much 
 above their intrinsic value as is the case with our 
 silver coins ; but the power of the law is due to the 
 fact that the Governments regulate the amount of 
 this coinage, and create a demand for it in their own 
 countries by ordering that debts may be discharged 
 in that coinage, either wholly or only in part. 
 
 * To prevent them leaving the country. 
 
 + With these figures, the Government makes a gross profit of 
 38d. on every ounce coined ; but the objection is that any one else 
 with an illicit mint can do precisely the same. 
 
12 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 In concluding these remarks about token money, 
 it is hardly necessary to observe that over- valued 
 money is only of use for internal purposes, and is 
 never exported, since for external purposes its 
 value is only that of the bullion it contains. 
 
 Monometallism may have gold for its basis or 
 silver for its basis ; for any nation is said to be 
 monometallic which makes one metal only full 
 legal tender, or, in other words, which enacts that 
 its citizens may pay their debts without limit in 
 one metal only, or in coins of that metal, or in 
 notes and coins representing that metal. 
 
 India is, or was till June, 1893, an example of 
 silver monometallism. Until that date the mints 
 of India were open to the unrestricted coinage of 
 silver, just as the mints of England are open to 
 gold, and silver when coined into rupees was full 
 legal tender, just as gold is here when coined into 
 sovereigns. 
 
 The Indian Government has now closed its mints 
 to the public for the coinage of silver, with the 
 idea of raising the value of the rupee as measured 
 in gold. The Government hopes by these means to 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 13 
 
 sell the rupees that it collects as revenue at a 
 better price, and so be enabled to meet its liabili- 
 ties in England that are payable in gold. 
 
 I shall refer again to the Indian question ; I will 
 therefore leave it for the present with this remark, 
 that the Indian Government have for many years 
 past been urging on the British Government the 
 necessity of International Bimetallism as the only 
 remedy for their difficulties ; but, owing to the 
 refusal of the British Government to support such 
 a measure, the Government of India has been 
 obliged to propose financial expedients of at any 
 rate a highly questionable character in order to try 
 and obtain temporary relief. 
 
 We will now turn to the explanation of Bimetal- 
 lism, and will take a concrete case as an example. 
 
 The English law of 1666 (repealed in 1816) 
 would serve for this purpose ; but the French 
 law adopted in 1803* is usually taken as the 
 most suitable example, partly because its principles 
 
 * This law or edict, fixing the ratio at 15£ to 1, was passed by 
 Calonne in 1785, but only became fully operative by statute in 1803 
 when the Bank of France was established. 
 
14 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 are approved by modern Bimetallists,* and partly 
 because it operated without interruption till 1873, 
 and therefore existed under modern conditions of 
 finance and commerce. 
 
 Under this system the French mints were open 
 to all the world for the unrestricted coinage of both 
 gold and silver into French money, and this money 
 was in France full legal tender. That is to say, 
 that any one, whether Frenchman or foreigner, 
 could send either gold or silver bullion to the French 
 mints, and could receive his actual bullion back in 
 the form of gold pieces of 20 francs if the bullion 
 was of gold, or in the form of silver pieces of 
 5 francs if the bullion was of silver ; and these 
 francs, whether they were of gold or whether they 
 were of silver, were by law available in France for 
 the payment of debts to any amount. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that the mints in 
 France would have given gold francs (in 20-franc 
 pieces) for silver bullion, or silver francs for gold 
 
 * Details as to the precise ratio to be adopted, or as to how far 
 gold and silver bullion should be represented by notes instead of 
 coins, are of course still open to discussion. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 15 
 
 bullion ; for all that they did was to give coined 
 silver for uncoined silver, and coined gold for 
 uncoined gold. 
 
 We must remember, however, that the purpose 
 for which either gold or silver coins are required is 
 for the payment of debts ; and as both silver francs 
 and gold francs were equally useful for that pur- 
 pose, nobody cared of which metal their francs were 
 composed. From this it is clear that so long as the 
 French Mints were willing to give a certain number 
 of francs for a certain weight of gold, and a certain 
 number of francs for a certain weight of silver, the 
 holders of either gold or silver bullion would never 
 sell it for a less number of francs than they could 
 obtain at the French Mints. 
 
 It is claimed for Bimetallism that the existence 
 of that system in France maintained the relative 
 value of silver and gold in all the markets of the 
 world ; and certain it is that the relative value was 
 maintained till 1873, and that when the unrestricted 
 coinage of silver was suspended in France in 1873 
 the relative value of the metals began to diverge, 
 and has continued to do so ever since. 
 
16 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 We will now consider the question of the ratio, 
 which for some reason or other it is considered 
 difficult to understand. 
 
 The word ratio, of course, merely means propor- 
 tion, and is used in many different connections ,* 
 but in currency questions it has become a technical 
 expression to denote that proportion which exists 
 between the weight of a certain value of coined gold 
 and the weight of an equal value of coined silver. 
 
 In England, for instance, the pure silver in 
 twenty shillings weighs 14*29 times as much as 
 the pure gold in one sovereign, consequently the 
 ratio in England is 14*29 to 1. 
 
 In France the weight of pure silver in 20 francs* 
 is 15 J times as great as the weight of pure gold in 
 a 20-franc piece, consequently the ratio is 15^ to 1. 
 
 It would perhaps make it more intelligible to the 
 general reader if the ratio were expressed by the 
 gold price that the silver in the silver coins repre- 
 sented. Thus, instead of speaking of the ratio 
 in England at 14*29 to 1, it might be said that 
 
 * Or rather in four 5 -franc pieces, the single francs are not full 
 weight coins. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 17 
 
 standard silver when used for coinage passes in 
 England as worth 66d. an ounce. 
 
 In the same way the French ratio of 15 J to 1 is 
 equivalent to placing a value on silver of 60'84d. 
 an ounce when it is in the form of coin. 
 
 Now we have seen in the earlier part of this 
 chapter that these mint prices for silver, or coinage 
 values of silver, exercise no effect on the market 
 price of silver hullion if the mints are closed to it. 
 Under these circumstances all that happens is, 
 that if silver coins are required, the Government 
 buys the silver in the open market at the cheapest 
 price it can, and sells it when coined at the mint 
 price. Thus at the present moment (1894) the 
 English Government can buy silver at about 28d. 
 an ounce, and sell it at 66d. an ounce. 
 
 If, however, the mints were open in England to 
 the unrestricted coinage of silver into full legal 
 tender money passing current at 66d. an ounce, 
 no one would sell an ounce of silver for less than 
 66d. of full legal tender money, and obviously this 
 would exercise a great effect on the value of silver 
 bullion. 
 
 c 
 
18 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 The essential feature, then, of true Bimetallism 
 is open mints ; for directly the mints are ready to 
 change gold or silver bullion into full legal tender 
 money, the Government does in effect decree that 
 both gold and silver bullion shall be equally avail- 
 able, at a certain definite proportion, for the pay- 
 ment of all debts. 
 
 When therefore an important nation like France 
 fixed a definite proportion between silver and gold 
 bullion, and decreed that all debts might be paid 
 to her or to her citizens in those metals in that 
 proportion, the demand for those metals at that 
 proportion was so great as to control the relative 
 value of the two metals all over the world. 
 
 It may, however, occur to the reader that con- 
 siderable inconvenience would arise if another 
 important nation should fix upon another ratio. 
 This is perfectly true, and consequently it is desir- 
 able that any agreement that is made should be 
 international. 
 
 The disadvantages accruing from the existence 
 of separate Bimetallic systems may be well shown 
 by a reference to the period before and after 1666. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 19 
 
 The English law of 1666 was, as we have seen, 
 purely Bimetallic, but it operated under very diffe- 
 rent conditions from those now existing.* That 
 which chiefly interfered with the smooth working 
 of the law was that, owing to mistaken notions 
 of finance and commerce, there was a constant 
 struggle going on between the different nations 
 to keep the metal that they most desired in their 
 own country. 
 
 This led to continual changes in the ratio ; for 
 the power of altering the ratio was freely used by 
 Governments to attract to their country the metal 
 that they wanted. 
 
 The efficacy of this instrument can be easily 
 seen if we take an extreme case, and if we express 
 the ratio by the coinage value of silver in our 
 present money. 
 
 Suppose, then, that the coinage value of silver in 
 France was 5s. an ounce, or one-fourth of a sove- 
 
 * There were large numbers of worn and clipped coins in 
 circulation at that time which were as available for the payment of 
 internal debts as the coins of full weight. The consequence of this 
 was that all coins of full weight left the country as soon as they 
 were minted, for they were more valuable abroad than the light 
 coins, as they contained more metal, and they were of no greater 
 value in England for the purpose of paying debts. 
 
 c 2 
 
20 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 reign, and suppose that the coinage value of silver 
 in England was 4s. an ounce, or one-fifth of a 
 sovereign ; it is clear that silver would be compara- 
 tively more valuable than gold for the payment of 
 debts in France, and that gold would be compara- 
 tively more valuable than silver for the payment of 
 debts in England. The consequence, therefore, 
 would be that there would be a strong tendency 
 for gold to flow towards England, and for silver to 
 flow towards France. 
 
 If, then, in the times we are discussing, France, 
 and the Continental nations generally, placed a 
 higher value on silver than that which existed in 
 England, silver would leave England and gold 
 would arrive. Therefore when England was desi- 
 rous of keeping silver in the country, she had to 
 alter her ratio so as to give a higher value to silver 
 at home than existed abroad, and so cause an 
 inflow of silver and an outflow of gold. 
 
 These constant changes were of course very incon- 
 venient ; but in those days any attempt to obtain an 
 international agreement was out of the question. 
 
 Both Locke and Newton were desirous of avoid- 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 21 
 
 ing these unprofitable struggles, and in order to do 
 so they both set themselves at different times to 
 approximate the ratio in England to the average 
 of the ratios existing on the Continent. 
 
 Modern Bimetallists, following the paths indi- 
 cated by these great authorities, and assisted by 
 the greater solidarity that now exists among com- 
 mercial nations, are endeavouring to bring about 
 an agreement between the principal commercial 
 nations to adopt Bimetallism, and to agree upon 
 the same ratio. 
 
 In the days of Locke and Newton the relative 
 market value of gold and silver was continually 
 changing, owing to the constant changes in the 
 ratios of different nations, and it therefore seemed 
 to the people of those days that the market value 
 must always change, and that the ratio would have 
 to be continually changed to meet it. 
 
 But since those days we have seen the ratio 
 maintained without alteration from 1717 to 1816 
 in England, and from 1785 to 1873 in France ; 
 and this experience teaches us that, if a ratio were 
 once agreed upon by the great commercial nations, 
 
22 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 the relative market value of the two metals would 
 not alter, and consequently there would be no 
 occasion to change the ratio. 
 
 Supposing, then, that such an agreement as I 
 have indicated were arrived at between England, 
 France, Germany, and the United States, these 
 nations would keep their mints open to the unre- 
 stricted coinage of both metals at a fixed and identical 
 ratio, and the metals coined in each country would be 
 full legal tender money in that country. 
 
 This is what is meant by International Bime- 
 tallism. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 23 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 Money as a Medium of Exchange — Portability 
 of Gold and Silver — Money as a Measure of 
 Value — Stability of Value of Gold and Solver. 
 
 In order to estimate the advantages of different 
 systems of currency, it is advisable to have some 
 idea of what is required of money, and what are 
 the necessary qualifications to enable it to fulfil 
 such requirements. 
 
 Since under Bimetallism both gold and silver 
 would be in full use as money, it will be as well to 
 compare the two metals and see how far they 
 possess the qualities essential to good money. 
 There are, of course, many requirements necessary 
 to enable a commodity to serve effectively as 
 money, but it will be better to confine ourselves 
 rigidly to those requirements which do not appear 
 to be shared equally by gold and silver. 
 
24 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 The uses of money may be divided into two 
 heads : — 
 
 1. A medium of Exchange. 
 
 2. A standard or measure of value. 
 
 The necessity of a good medium of exchange is 
 sufficiently obvious, for without it extended com- 
 merce would be impossible, and the world would be 
 reduced to the primitive inconvenience of barter. 
 
 It is clear that the selection of any commodity 
 as an intermediary with which all other commodi- 
 ties could be exchanged, or, in other words, any 
 medium of exchange, would remedy much of this 
 inconvenience ; it is clear, too, that if this medium 
 possessed value in small bulk, its convenience 
 would be greatly enhanced. 
 
 Portability therefore is the essential character- 
 istic of a good medium of exchange ; and though 
 both gold and silver possess this characteristic, 
 gold possesses it in a higher degree than silver. 
 It is, however, possible for a medium of exchange 
 to be too valuable — for instance, if diamonds were 
 suitable in other respects, their great value would 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 25 
 
 render them unsuitable for small change. In a 
 lesser degree the high value of gold brings with it 
 similar disadvantages, for gold coins of low value 
 would be too small for general use, and the great 
 value of gold renders the risk from theft and loss 
 greater than in the case of silver. 
 
 On the other hand gold appears to be more con- 
 venient than silver when large values are dealt 
 with ; though as a matter of fact gold is hardly ever 
 used even now for large payments in the internal 
 commerce of a country, because cheques and notes 
 have practically taken its place ; and if the use 
 of notes were extended, such advantage as gold 
 possesses at present, for internal purposes, would 
 practically disappear. 
 
 In most countries, including Scotland, notes are 
 preferred to gold, on the ground of greater porta- 
 bility and convenience, though in this country a 
 strong feeling exists against them owing mainly 
 to the fact that small notes are often very 
 dirty ; but the bulk of the foreign dirty notes 
 are for very small amounts, and naturally they are 
 renewed as seldom as possible owing to the cost of 
 
26 A Bimetallic Primer, 
 
 renewal; in England, however, the smallest note 
 necessary would be for 10s., and the cost of 
 renewing these would not be materially greater 
 than the expense of renewing the worn gold coins ; 
 for the ten-shilling piece is more expensive than 
 the sovereign to maintain, as the surface exposed 
 to rubbing is greater in proportion. 
 
 But if the cost of renewing the ten-shilling note 
 were considered of any importance, it could be 
 issued against a short weight of gold or silver, and 
 could be used for internal purposes only as legal 
 tender up to 40s. The note would in fact occupy the 
 same position as our present silver coins, and the 
 Government would make a profit from the issue. 
 
 It would probably be advisable also to issue £1 
 notes (if Bimetallism were adopted) based on a 
 full weight of gold or silver, but beyond that, no 
 change would be necessary in the ordinary money 
 of the people ; it would not be necessary to issue 
 any full-weight silver coins, as stamped silver bars 
 would be sufficient for the basis of note issues and 
 for export purposes. 
 
 The only question between the two metals, with 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 27 
 
 regard to portability, that remains, is the rela- 
 tive cost of transmitting gold or silver abroad for 
 the payment of the balances of international 
 indebtedness. 
 
 It has often been alleged that the cost of sending 
 silver abroad is so great as compared with gold that 
 it could never be used to adjust balances of trade, 
 while in the same breath it is urged that we should 
 suffer from receiving shiploads of silver. 
 
 It is obvious that the two statements cannot 
 both be correct, and I shall show later that neither 
 of them is. 
 
 As regards the first statement, I must point out 
 that compared to their value, the cost is very 
 small of sending either metal abroad, and that the 
 principal charges are in most cases the same for 
 both metals, being payable on the value and not 
 on the bulk or weight. 
 
 For instance, though the weight of £100,000 
 is, when packed, about three-quarters of a ton, and 
 though £100,000 worth of silver, taking the ratio 
 even at 20 to 1 (it is now about 34 to 1) is 14J tons, 
 yet the freight and insurance to India is precisely the 
 
28 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 same in both cases ; the cost of packing and hand- 
 ling the gold is a few pounds less than the cost of 
 marking and handling the silver ; but these charges 
 are quite insignificant, and the small charge of Id. 
 per ounce of gold (say 1 per mil) for making the 
 gold into small bars, as is always done in the case 
 of Indian shipments, is sufficient to turn the scale 
 in favour of silver and make it actually a cheaper 
 form of remittance to India than gold. 
 
 At the same time, to some other parts of the 
 world, special rates are occasionally charged in 
 special cases, and in these cases the advantage is 
 somewhat in favour of gold, this advantage being 
 no doubt more pronounced now that silver is so 
 much lower in value. 
 
 If silver and gold were equally available for 
 remittance, it is thought that such small difference 
 as at present exists would tend to disappear, 
 but this is rather a complicated matter to explain ; 
 I will therefore merely point out that if the cost 
 of transmitting silver were in any way prohibitive, 
 silver would not be sent to England, and, conse- 
 quently, England would not have it to send away. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 29 
 
 This question of the relative portability of gold 
 and silver is really hardly worth discussing; for 
 even supposing that gold were superior to silver in 
 that respect, the advantage would resolve itself 
 into little more than a matter of increased con- 
 venience ; and if the more general use of silver 
 would be of even the slightest benefit to trade, it 
 would be puerile to allow an unimportant matter 
 of this kind to stand in the way. 
 
 I hope I have succeeded in showing that either 
 gold or silver makes an efficient medium of ex- 
 change ; and that, though it is not possible to use 
 gold for small values, and though silver is less 
 suitable than gold for large values, yet that both 
 these difficulties can be and are overcome by 
 simple expedients. It would therefore appear that 
 looking at money as a medium of exchange only, 
 there could be no objection to the full and equal 
 use of both gold and silver. 
 
 We will now examine money in its capacity of a 
 standard or measure of value. The reason why it 
 is necessary to have a measure of value is, that 
 one may be enabled to ascertain the relative value 
 
30 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 of different commodities at the same time, and the 
 relative value of the same commodities at different 
 times ; also, as money is the measure of value and 
 the medium of exchange, it is the most convenient 
 medium in which to express debts. 
 
 Now it is clear that if money itself alters in 
 value, it is impossible, by looking at the price of 
 commodities, to determine how far they have really 
 altered in value ; it is also clear that as debts 
 are expressed in money, they must alter in value 
 pari passu with money, to the detriment of either 
 the debtor or the creditor. 
 
 Therefore stability in the standard of value is of the 
 first importance, as will be explained later in Chap- 
 ter VI. ; at present it will be sufficient to remind 
 the reader that to have an unreliable measure of 
 weight, length, or capacity would be worse than 
 having no measure at all : it is therefore a priori 
 not unreasonable to suppose, that a measure of 
 value, which is itself variable in value, should pro- 
 duce confusion or even disaster in finance and 
 commerce. 
 
 Thus, in selecting a monetary system, we 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 31 
 
 should consider which system would give us the 
 most stable standard of value. Is the greatest 
 stability to be obtained by using gold alone, silver 
 alone, or gold and silver combined ? 
 
 Let us now compare the relative stability of 
 silver and gold. 
 
 As far as can be seen, there is very little inhe- 
 rent difference between gold and silver which could 
 give greater stability to one rather than the other. 
 The production of both metals appears from the 
 best statistics available to be almost equally spas- 
 modic and uncertain, while the demand for them 
 for purposes other than currency appears to be 
 almost equally steady. 
 
 Therefore the only factor capable of perma- 
 nently affecting the stability of either metal is the 
 demand for currency purposes. Before 1873, when 
 the currency demand for silver and gold adjusted 
 itself to the supply, their relative value re- 
 mained practically constant, though the fluctua- 
 tions in their relative production were very great ; 
 it must therefore be presumed that it is only the 
 absence of this self-adjusting demand for the 
 
32 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 metals as money that has caused the present 
 divergence in value. 
 
 It would be unnecessary to pursue this matter 
 farther but for the fact that it has been often stated 
 that gold has shown itself of late years to be more 
 stable than silver. As this idea is absolutely op- 
 posed to the facts, it may be worth while shortly to 
 examine the question. 
 
 A perfect unit of value has yet to be discovered, 
 therefore we must use the best test available. It 
 is manifest that if we measure gold by silver, or 
 silver by gold, we shall only obtain their relative 
 value, and we shall be as far as ever from knowing 
 the real value of either. For instance, when the 
 gold value of silver falls from 60d. an ounce to 
 30d. an ounce we know that gold has become twice 
 as valuable compared with silver as it was before ; 
 but we do not know whether it is gold that has 
 risen in value, or whether it is silver that has 
 fallen, or whether both of these events have 
 happened together. 
 
 Now, as the only use of gold or silver in currency 
 is directly or indirectly the purchase of commo- 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 33 
 
 dities, it follows that the only value of gold or 
 silver which it is of any importance for us to dis- 
 cover is their value in commodities. 
 
 Commodities may of course themselves vary in 
 value from improved methods of production, good 
 or bad harvests, &c, &c, but these variations 
 would affect the value of commodities equally, 
 whether they were measured in silver or gold ; so 
 if we measure these two metals by the bulk of 
 commodities we shall at all events find out 
 which metal has varied the most, or, in other 
 words, we shall know the relative variation in 
 the value of gold and silver as measured in com- 
 modities. 
 
 Before 1873 the relative value of silver and gold 
 was practically constant, so their relative value as 
 measured in commodities was also constant ; it is 
 therefore only the period after 1873 that we need 
 examine. Prices were high in 1873, but one year 
 will of course serve as well as another to act as the 
 standard against which to compare the relative 
 variations of silver and gold. 
 
 If we take silver first, we may see from the tables 
 
 D 
 
34 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 compiled by the India Office how far the value of 
 the rupee as measured in commodities has varied 
 from 1873 to 1893 inclusive. 
 
 These tables take as a basis the average silver or 
 rupee prices of thirty-one leading articles of export 
 and import in Calcutta in 1873 ; and we may see 
 from them that during the last twenty-one years 
 silver prices in Calcutta never rose more than 
 5 per cent., and never fell more than 19 per cent. ; 
 in other words, the purchasing power of the rupee, 
 or the value of silver as measured by goods in an 
 Indian port, never fell more than 4f per cent., and 
 never rose more than 24| per cent.* Although 
 these figures show that the value of silver has 
 fluctuated between the years 1873 and 1893, it is 
 also true that its value in 1893 was nearly the 
 same as its value in 1873 ; for the figures of the 
 India Office show that the purchasing power of 
 
 * "The fall in the thing measured" and "the rise in the 
 measure " are two phrases for the same thing, but in figures they 
 are expressed differently ; for instance, if sugar fell from 20s. a cwt. 
 to 10s. a cwt., sugar would have fallen 50 per cent., as being worth 
 half as much gold as it was before ; on the other hand, gold would 
 have risen 100 per cent, as measured in sugar, for it would be worth 
 twice as much sugar as it was before. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 35 
 
 silver in Calcutta was only about 4 per cent, less in 
 1893 than it was in 1873. 
 
 If it be thought that the purchasing power of 
 silver in Calcutta is not a fair test of the value 
 of silver in Europe, we can easily find out the 
 purchasing power of bar silver as measured in 
 European commodities ; for we know the value of 
 gold as measured in commodities, and we know the 
 value of bar silver as measured in gold, and there- 
 fore we can easily calculate the value of bar silver 
 as measured in commodities. If we do this we 
 shall find that the value of silver in London, as well 
 as in India, was only about 4 per cent, lower in 1893 
 than it was in 1873. 
 
 Let us see how far gold has varied in value. 
 
 If we take Mr. Sauerbeck's calculation of gold 
 prices, we find that gold increased in value from 
 1873 to 1893 by no less than 64 per cent., and 
 appears from the monthly figures of the present 
 year to be still rising. He takes as his basis 
 forty-five leading commodities, and calculates the 
 average price over the whole of each year, and 
 therefore one may consider his results to be as 
 
 d 2 
 
36 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 trustworthy as is possible for this class of calcu- 
 lation. 
 
 The Economist newspaper takes as a basis the 
 average price of twenty-two leading articles on the 
 first day of each year, and this method does not 
 seem to be quite so thorough as that of Mr. Sauer- 
 beck. The calculations of the Economist make it 
 appear that gold only rose about 40 per cent, from 
 1873 to 1893, but there is an unusual discrepancy 
 between their figures for 1873 and those of other 
 statisticians; for the Economist's figures make it 
 appear that 1873 was a year of moderate prices, 
 while the general opinion is that it was a year 
 of extraordinarily high ones. Probably the dis- 
 crepancy is due to the fact that the prices of the 
 1st January did not tally with the average prices 
 of the rest of the year, and that the list of twenty- 
 two commodities is not sufficiently comprehensive. 
 
 Be this as it may, even the Economist shows 
 that the fluctuations in the value of gold has 
 been 40 per cent., which is greatly in excess of the 
 fluctuation in the value of silver. 
 
 During the last few months silver has experi- 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 37 
 
 enced a heavy further fall as measured in gold, and 
 though the further rise in the value of gold has 
 assisted this fall, the fall of silver as measured in 
 commodities also has been considerable. This is of 
 course due to the closing of the Indian mints and 
 to the cessation of the American purchases ; but 
 even now the fall in silver is not nearly as great 
 as the rise in gold. 
 
 Probably the figures given above will convince 
 the reader that silver has been much more stable 
 than gold as a measure of value during the last 
 twenty-one years ; but it will be quite sufficient if 
 it is admitted that silver has been at least as 
 stable as gold. 
 
38 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Importance of Stability in the Standard — 
 Greater Stability under Bimetallism — Level 
 op Prices under Bimetallism — Ratio to be 
 adopted. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel's famous question — " What is a 
 pound?" is often quoted with satisfaction by those 
 who admire our present system; for the answer 
 appears to them to be simple, and simplicity in 
 currency is no doubt a thing to be desired. 
 
 The received answer to Sir Robert Peel's ques- 
 tion is " 123*27447 grains of standard gold; " and 
 an equally simple answer could be made by 
 giving the exact circumference of the sovereign in 
 inches up to six places of decimals. 
 
 To know the size of a sovereign is useful, so that 
 it may not be mistaken for a smaller coin ; to know 
 the number of grains of gold in a pound is more 
 useful in case it should be exchanged against foreign 
 gold or bar gold ; but the question about a pound 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 39 
 
 which is of really vital importance is not " What 
 is it ? " but " What is its value t " 
 
 The fact that it contains 123 grains of gold is 
 no answer to this question unless we are also told 
 what gold is worth. To give the value of one 
 unknown quantity in terms of another unknown 
 quantity does not solve the problem. 
 
 Those who are engaged in manufacture, in trade, 
 or in finance, those who are debtors and those 
 who are creditors, one and all require to know 
 what is the value of a pound. They do not care to 
 know whether it contains so many grains of gold, 
 or whether under Bimetallism it would contain so 
 many grains of gold or so many grains of silver ; 
 what they want to know is whether they can pay 
 their debts with it, whether they can buy commo- 
 dities with it, and whether its value is stable. 
 
 If they find that the pound will purchase the 
 same amount of commodities at one time as it will 
 at another, and that when pounds are borrowed 
 and when pounds are repaid they represent the 
 same purchasing power, they have every reason to 
 be satisfied ; but the information that they require 
 
40 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 is not the weight or composition of the pound, not 
 whether it is of one metal or of two metals, but 
 whether it is legal tender money of a stable purchas- 
 ing power. 
 
 The answer to this question is that our present 
 gold pound is legal tender money, and indeed our 
 only full legal tender money, but that unfortunately 
 its purchasing power is unstable in the highest 
 degree. 
 
 The tables (index numbers) of Mr. Sauerbeck 
 and the Economist, already referred to, both show 
 that, taking as a standard of comparison the aver- 
 age prices of the years 1865-69, when prices were 
 moderate, that the value of gold up to and including 
 the year 1893 has risen 47J per cent. 
 
 Thus our standard of value, and the substance 
 in which we register our debts, has risen in value 
 47J per cent, during the last twenty-five years, 
 and under altered circumstances might as easily 
 fall in value in the next twenty-five years to the 
 same extent ; yet we pride ourselves upon the 
 possession of a simple and stable standard because 
 123*27447 grains of gold go to the sovereign ! 
 
UNIVERSITY j 
 
 A Bimetallic Primer. 41 
 
 How often do we hear it said that gold can- 
 not alter in value because it is always worth 
 £3. 17s. 10 Jd. an ounce ! If the same reasoning were 
 applied to silver we should find that silver could not 
 have altered in value either, because it was always 
 worth 1 rupee for every 180 grains until the Indian 
 mints were closed. But under these circumstances 
 the relative value of gold and silver could not have 
 altered, which, as Euclid would say, is absurd. 
 
 The fact is that gold and silver, whether in the 
 form of pounds, rupees, or dollars, are commo- 
 dities, and are affected precisely in the same way as 
 other commodities, by the ordinary laws of supply 
 and demand. The only circumstance that differ- 
 entiates them from other commodities is the fact 
 that their value is almost entirely given them by 
 law ; for it is law that causes the great demand for 
 them. 
 
 By a stroke of the pen the great commercial 
 nations could throw £880,000,000 of gold upon 
 the market, and exercise a corresponding demand 
 for silver ; just as by a stroke of the pen Germany, 
 the Latin Union, the United States, and India 
 
42 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 did cancel their demand for silver and increased 
 their demand for gold.* 
 
 Though the power of Governments over the value 
 of gold and silver is so enormous, and though we 
 see them exercising that power before our eyes, it 
 is nevertheless difficult to realise that the value of 
 the sovereign can fluctuate ; for being accustomed 
 to measure everything by the sovereign we come to 
 regard it as an unalterable standard and a fixed 
 point with relation to which all other things vary. 
 
 For this reason people shrink from the possibility, 
 which they imagine would occur under Bimetallism, 
 of having their debts paid in silver, if silver were to 
 become less valuable than gold ; yet they never 
 consider whether or not under those circumstances 
 they would receive back the same power of purchas- 
 ing commodities that they lent. 
 
 With the same absence of thought they lend 123 
 grains of gold, and as long as they receive back 
 the same number of grains of gold, they do not 
 
 * In 1883 Mr. Goschen estimated the new demands upon gold, 
 since 1873, at not less than £200,000,000 ; and since 1883 these 
 new demands have considerably increased, and are apparently still 
 increasing. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 43 
 
 take it amiss, though gold fall in value and their 
 power to purchase commodities is thereby reduced. 
 
 But, though people may be unconscious of the 
 cause of their trouble, it cannot be doubted that all 
 fluctuations in the value of money are an unmixed 
 evil. Therefore it is of the greatest importance 
 for us to discover what system would give us the 
 greatest stability ; for stability should be the 
 great object of all proposals for monetary reform 
 — stability in prices, and stability in the ex- 
 changes. 
 
 We will consider in the next chapter the advantage 
 that Bimetallism would give us in respect of the 
 exchanges between gold and silver using countries ; 
 at the present moment I shall endeavour to show 
 that we should obtain greater stability in prices 
 under Bimetallism than under our existing system. 
 
 We have seen from the previous chapter that 
 silver is at least as stable a measure of value as 
 gold, and therefore there could be no objection on 
 that ground to joining the two metals together. 
 
 But we may go further than that and say that 
 if the Bimetallic or joint standard of silver and 
 
44 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 gold were adopted, it would be a distinct improve- 
 ment on our present system with regard to stability 
 of value. 
 
 If we look at things as they are, and not as 
 what in theory they ought to be, we find that 
 though there is nothing inherent in either metal 
 to make one more stable than the other, silver is 
 and has been for the last twenty years, more stable 
 than gold as measured in commodities. Therefore, 
 from the point of view of a gold-using country, 
 it would appear to be an advantage to join silver 
 to gold, though silver-using countries would suffer 
 a corresponding disadvantage from joining gold 
 to silver. This disadvantage would, however, be 
 compensated by the increased stability of the ex- 
 changes, as well as by the increased stability of 
 the standard in England, for it is in that stan- 
 dard that many of the debts of the silver countries 
 are due. 
 
 Looking still at the facts as they are, we see 
 that such alteration as there has recently been in 
 the value of silver is in a downward direction, and 
 that the alteration that has taken place in the 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 45 
 
 value of gold is in an upward direction ; therefore, 
 under a Bimetallic standard, the downward ten- 
 dency of silver would have tended to counteract 
 the upward tendency of gold and vice versa; so 
 that the joint standard would have shown more 
 stability than the two taken singly. 
 
 This, therefore, is what Bimetallism would have 
 effected under recent and existing circumstances ; 
 but these circumstances may be abnormal, and we 
 ought to be also convinced that under ordinary 
 circumstances the joint standard would be more 
 stable than a single one. 
 
 This can be easily shown. 
 
 Demand and supply affect the value of money 
 precisely as they affect other commodities ; when, 
 therefore, a Government chooses a commodity to 
 serve as money, the demand for it is greatly in- 
 creased, and consequently the value is increased. 
 Conversely, if a Government rejects as money the 
 commodity that it formerly chose, the supply of 
 that commodity is increased and consequently its 
 value is diminished. 
 
 Therefore, under the present monometallic sys- 
 
46 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 tern, the value of the standard of any country is 
 liable to be greatly affected by the action of other 
 nations ; for as all nations at present use either 
 gold as standard money or silver as standard 
 money, and as none use both metals for that pur- 
 pose, an increased or decreased use of gold by any 
 one nation tends to a proportionate increase or 
 decrease in the value of the standard of the gold- 
 using countries; while an increased or decreased 
 use of silver by any one nation tends to a propor- 
 tionate increase or decrease in the value of the 
 standard of the silver-using nations. 
 
 Again, the natural supply of the metals from the 
 mines is variable, and affects their value ; so if 
 there- is a large increase in the production of silver 
 there is a tendency for the value of the standard of 
 silver-using nations to decrease in proportion ; and 
 if there is a large increase in the production of gold, 
 there is a tendency for the value of the standard of 
 gold-using nations to decrease in proportion. 
 
 If, too, a nation adopts one of the metals as its 
 standard, and rejects another at the same time, or 
 if there is a great falling off in the production of 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 47 
 
 one metal and a great increase in the production 
 of the other at the same time, a very violent 
 divergence is caused in the relative value of the 
 two metals, under our present system. 
 
 On the other hand, if there existed a group of 
 nations willing to use silver, if silver were more 
 available, or to use gold if gold were more avail- 
 able, the effect would be, as I hope to show later, 
 that the relative value of gold and silver would be 
 maintained at the proportion fixed by law. There- 
 fore if a nation changed its standard from gold to 
 silver, or from silver to gold, or if the production 
 of one metal fell off and that of the other in- 
 creased, no effect at all would be produced, either 
 on the actual or the relative value of the metallic 
 standards ; for if the value of silver and gold were 
 always the same (at a certain proportion), silver 
 would be practically the same thing as gold at that 
 proportion. 
 
 For the same reason if there were a large pro- 
 duction of gold, or if a nation rejected gold as its 
 currency and took to paper, gold would not fall in 
 proportion to the excess in the supply; for if 
 
48 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 Bimetallism existed, silver would be linked to gold 
 and would form for this purpose one commodity ; 
 consequently the excess supply of gold would pro- 
 duce its effect on the mass of silver and gold 
 combined, and would cause a much less violent 
 alteration in value than if it affected gold alone. 
 Also if a Bimetallic system existed, no change at 
 all would take place in the relative value of the 
 two metals ; and though changes in the actual value 
 of the standard might be more frequent, the violence 
 of the changes would certainly be less intense. 
 
 Let us now see exactly what changes could take 
 place in the demand and supply of the precious 
 metals : — 
 
 1. The demand for or supply of both the metals 
 might increase in the same proportion. 
 
 The effect of this would be, under our present 
 system, that there would be a proportionate alter- 
 ation in the same direction in the value of each 
 of the precious metals taken separately. 
 
 Under a Bimetallic system there would be the 
 same alteration in the same direction of the two 
 metals taken together. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 49 
 
 Thus the effect under both systems would be the 
 same. 
 
 2. The demand for or supply of one metal might 
 increase, while that of the other might remain 
 stationary. 
 
 In this case the value of the latter metal would 
 not be affected under our present system, while that 
 of the former would be affected to the full extent of 
 the change in the supply or demand. 
 
 Under Bimetallism the relative value of the 
 metals would not be affected at all, while the 
 actual value of both the metals would be affected 
 to a modified extent. 
 
 This result may be considered somewhat in 
 favour of Bimetallism, for though under that sys- 
 tem the changes in actual value would be more 
 frequent, they would be less violent, and moreover 
 there would be no change in the relative value 
 of the two metals. 
 
 3. The demand for or supply of one metal might 
 increase, and that of the other might diminish in 
 the same proportion. 
 
 In this case, under our present system, the full 
 
50 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 effect of the increase would be felt by one metal, 
 and the full effect of the decrease would be felt by 
 the other, and there would be a violent change in 
 their relative value. 
 
 Under Bimetallism the effect would be absolutely 
 nil both in the relative and actual value, for the 
 increase and the decrease would counteract one 
 another. 
 
 Thus in the first case that we have stated the 
 stability under Bimetallism would be the same as 
 under our present system. 
 
 In the second case Bimetallism would be supe- 
 rior at least so far, that it would produce greater 
 stability in the exchanges. 
 
 In the third case the advantage is wholly on the 
 side of Bimetallism. 
 
 In considering this question of stability of value 
 for money or steadiness of prices under Bimetal- 
 lism, it might naturally be asked — " What would 
 the level of prices be under Bimetallism ? or, in 
 other words, would the adoption of Bimetallism 
 have any effect on prices ? " 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 51 
 
 The answer to this question must primarily de- 
 depend upon the ratio that is adopted between gold 
 and silver. The arguments connected with this 
 subject are very intricate, and I do not propose to 
 discuss them here, but for my part I have little 
 doubt that if a much higher valuation were placed 
 on silver, than that which is now current, prices 
 would rise to some extent in gold-using countries. 
 
 It seems hardly likely, however, that the prices 
 of commodities would rise to any great extent even 
 if silver were restored to its original gold value ; 
 for since 1873 population and trade have increased, 
 and it is doubtful if the production of gold and 
 silver combined has been sufficient to meet the 
 increased demand so established, and thus to 
 maintain prices. 
 
 It is, I think, also rightly supposed that the 
 cause of the rise that has taken place in the value 
 of gold is not only due to the increased demand 
 for gold, but also to improved means of commu- 
 nication and improved methods of production of 
 commodities ; obviously however a rise in the value 
 of silver could not diminish the effect of these im- 
 
 E 2 
 
52 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 provements ; it would appear, therefore, that if 
 silver were again valued at about 60d. an ounce, as 
 in 1873, prices would only rise until they recovered 
 such of their fall as was due to the greater demand 
 for gold since 1873 ; and that prices would still feel 
 the full effect of such improvements in production 
 as have come into force since that date. 
 
 Therefore it appears that those who believe that 
 prices will rise under Bimetallism must admit that 
 prices had previously fallen owing to the increased 
 value of gold caused by the increased legislative 
 demand. 
 
 If this be so, then it follows that just so far as 
 debtors have been prejudiced by currency legisla- 
 tion since 1873, to that extent and no more will 
 they be benefited by the adoption of Bimetallism, 
 at the old ratio of 15£ to 1 ; and to that extent it 
 may be said that an act of justice would be done. 
 
 It does not of course follow that it would be ad- 
 visable to adopt a ratio of 15 J to 1, for many other 
 things have to be considered in making a change 
 of this description. For instance, it would be 
 necessary to avoid any violent disturbance of ex- 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 53 
 
 isting conditions, although the disturbance would 
 be temporary, and although we are at present 
 liable to continuous disturbances of this nature.* 
 Then, again, we should have to adopt the ratio 
 which was practically possible, rather than the 
 ratio which was theoretically correct ; for the really 
 important thing is that we should settle on some 
 ratio } while the question of what that ratio should 
 be is comparatively of very small importance. 
 
 If the ratio were to be determined by the pro- 
 portion that exists between the stocks of gold and 
 silver money, it would be about 15J to 1 ; for the 
 amount of gold in the world in use as currency 
 is estimated at £880,000,000, and the amount 
 of silver in use as currency is estimated at 
 £870,000,000, taking the ratio at 15J to 1, or 
 60*84d. for an ounce of silver. 
 
 On the other hand the present market price of 
 silver (1894) is represented by a ratio of about 
 
 * Of course no change can be made without injuring somebody, 
 and we see this truth daily exemplified by the fluctuations in the 
 relative value of silver and gold. " You can't make an omelette 
 without breaking eggs," says the proverb ; but you can break eggs 
 without making omelettes, and that is what we have been doing for 
 many years past. 
 
54 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 34 to 1 ; and though this price is brought about 
 by the present diminution in the demand for silver, 
 yet there is a great gap between 34 to 1 and 15^ 
 to 1, and a practical man would hesitate before 
 attempting to span it.* 
 
 It is, however, useless to discuss this matter any 
 further, for the particular ratio to be adopted de- 
 pends entirely upon the ideas and opinions of the 
 nations interested. The result of these opinions 
 would probably be a compromise, and, whatever it 
 was, England would do well to accept it. 
 
 * As a step towards spanning this gap, there is no reason why 
 the present gold ten^ shilling pieces (and similar coins in other nations) 
 should not be gradually withdrawn, and notes based on silver 
 substituted for them. By this means the Governments would make 
 a large profit, and that which all parties desire would be accom- 
 plished — viz., the strain on gold would be reduced and the use of 
 silver for internal purposes would be increased. In England alone 
 £20,000,000 of gold could thus be set free and if the silver necessary 
 to replace it could be purchased for 33d. an ounce, the Government 
 would have found a use for £10,000,000 worth of silver and would 
 make a gross profit of the other £10,000,000. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 55 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Stability in the Exchanges between Gold and 
 Silver using Countries produced by the 
 Bimetallic System — Evils of Instability in 
 the Exchanges. 
 
 We have seen in the last chapter that Bimetal- 
 lism must inevitably produce a greater steadiness 
 in prices; but there is another most important 
 object of Bimetallism — viz., steadiness in exchange 
 between gold and silver using countries ; for if 
 under Bimetallism the relative value of silver and 
 gold remained steady, the main cause of the 
 fluctuations in the exchanges between gold-using 
 countries and silver - using countries would be 
 eliminated. 
 
 In order to make this matter clear, I must first 
 try and explain the main features of exchange. 
 
 Questions of exchange are always supposed to be 
 extremely difficult ; and no doubt it is almost 
 impossible to foretell the course of exchange, 
 as there are so many different things that affect 
 
56 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 it, but the machinery by which goods are ex- 
 changed between different countries is really 
 perfectly simple. 
 
 It will probably make the matter clearer if we 
 begin with an example of the exchange between 
 two countries only which use the same standard, 
 say France and England. 
 
 Now, we have seen that France is still to a certain 
 extent Bimetallic, for her silver coins are full legal 
 tender in the country to any amount ; but as her 
 mints are not open to silver, and as her silver 
 coins are of much less value for export than they 
 are in the country, we may look upon France for 
 international purposes as a monometallic gold- 
 using country like England. 
 
 In order to make the exchange question still 
 clearer, I will limit the transactions between 
 France and England to the interchange of goods, 
 and we will suppose that only two or three trans- 
 actions take place at the same time ; we will also 
 leave out all questions of long-dated bills, and 
 imagine that payments are made by short bills or 
 cheques drawn on the person who receives the 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 57 
 
 goods. We will also neglect the existence of the 
 agio, which is a small charge that the Bank of 
 France occasionally makes for giving gold for 
 export instead of silver.* 
 
 With these exceptions, which in no way affect 
 the principle, I will proceed with my explanation. 
 
 Let us suppose that an English manufacturer 
 sends to a French draper goods to the value of £100. 
 If there were no other transactions between the two 
 countries, the Frenchman would have to send to 
 the Englishman the equivalent in gold of £100, 
 which gold the Englishman would take to the mint 
 and receive 100 sovereigns for it. Now the French 
 gold would be in francs, or rather in 20-franc 
 pieces, and as the exact value of the gold in a 
 sovereign is the same as that in 25 francs 22 cen- 
 times, the Frenchman would have to send 2,522 
 francs in payment of his debt of £100. But this 
 sending of gold would cost a little under a half per 
 cent., or say about 11 centimes for every frs. 25*22 
 that he sent, so the total cost of sending the equi- 
 
 * Before 1873 both gold and silver were liable to this charge 
 when required for export. 
 
58 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 valent of each sovereign would be frs. 25*22 + *11 
 = frs. 25-33. 
 
 Supposing therefore that gold was freely obtain- 
 able in France, it is clear that however much 
 France owed to England it could never cost 
 more than frs. 25*33 to send the equivalent of a 
 sovereign to England. 
 
 On the other hand, supposing that this transac- 
 tion had been in the contrary direction, and goods 
 to the value of frs. 2,522 had been shipped to 
 England, it would cost £100 + 9s. to remit the 
 equivalent to France, from which it is clear that 
 the extreme cost of sending the equivalent of 
 frs. 25*22 to France would be £1. 0s. Id., which is 
 the same as saying that <£1 would be required in 
 England to pay frs. 25*11 in France, and it is in 
 this way that the transaction is expressed, as it is 
 convenient to have the exchange always quoted in 
 the same form — viz., in francs. 
 
 We have therefore seen that the value of a sove- 
 reign is intrinsically frs. 25*22, and that, owing to 
 the cost of remitting to France, a sovereign is only 
 worth for that purpose frs. 25*11, whereas the cost 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 59 
 
 to a Frenchman of placing the equivalent of a 
 sovereign in England is frs. 25*33 ; and, as will be 
 now explained, it is between these two points, 
 which are called respectively the outgoing and the 
 ingoing specie points that exchange must always 
 fluctuate. 
 
 We have now seen how much it costs to make 
 remittances between England and France; now 
 let us see how Bills of Exchange modify or remove 
 the necessity for these remittances. 
 
 When the English manufacturer mentioned 
 above sold to the French draper £100 worth of 
 goods, he would not necessarily wait till the draper 
 sent him the gold, but he would draw a cheque 
 (or bill, as it is called) on the draper for frs. 2,522, 
 and go on 'Change with a view to selling it and 
 getting the money at once. 
 
 Now supposing that an English merchant had 
 imported wine from France to the value of £100, 
 he would also go on 'Change with a view to buying 
 a bill to pay the wine grower ; and supposing that 
 there were no other transactions at the moment, 
 the merchant would be very glad to give the 
 
60 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 manufacturer £100 for his bill on the French 
 draper for frs. 2,522 that he might send it to the 
 French wine grower, and the manufacturer would 
 be very glad to get £100 for his bill on the French 
 draper ; and in this case exchange would be said to 
 be at par. 
 
 Of course there are in fact large numbers of 
 people wanting to buy bills on France and large 
 numbers also wanting to sell them, and the buyers 
 compete with themselves and the sellers compete 
 with themselves ; the consequence is, that if there 
 is a short supply of bills — that is to say, if 
 England has not been exporting to France as 
 much as France has been exporting to her, there 
 is a greater demand for those bills; and conse- 
 quently as the demand increases the value of the 
 sovereign goes down as compared with those bills 
 until it is only worth frs. 25 '11. 
 
 But as we remember frs. 25*11 is the outgoing 
 specie point below which the value cannot go, for 
 below that point it would pay better to export the 
 sovereign itself rather than to buy the bills. 
 
 When this state of things exists, the exchange 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 61 
 
 and the balance of trade are said to be in favour of 
 France, as specie is being or is likely to be re- 
 mitted ; but when the balance of trade is in favour 
 of England the converse happens; the supply of 
 bills drawn on France for French purchases is 
 greater than the demand for them, consequently 
 the value of the bills goes down and the value of 
 the sovereign goes up till, if the demand continues, 
 it reaches the ingoing specie point of frs. 25*33, 
 above which point it pays better to remit gold from 
 France than to sell bills on France. 
 
 From this it follows that when the standard used 
 by two countries is the same, and when the mints 
 of both countries are open to the free coinage of 
 the metal used as the standard, the exchange be- 
 tween those countries cannot fluctuate to a greater 
 extent than is represented by double the cost of 
 remitting the metal from one country to another. 
 
 Obviously this rule would apply whether the 
 standard in use between two countries was gold or 
 silver, and also if the standard was gold and silver. 
 
 But when the standard of one country is gold 
 and the standard of another country is silver, it is 
 
62 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 clear that any fluctuation in the relative value of 
 gold and silver would cause the exchange between 
 the two countries to fluctuate to a corresponding 
 extent, in addition to the constant small fluctua- 
 tions within the limits of the outgoing and ingoing 
 specie points caused by the fluctuations in the 
 balance of trade. 
 
 Thus, if we suppose* that with silver at 60d. an 
 ounce a rupee is worth intrinsically one-tenth of 
 a sovereign or 24d., this 24d. would be the par 
 of exchange with India, and consequently the 
 exchange could never vary from 24d. to a greater 
 extent than the cost of remitting the metals be- 
 tween this country and India ; but if silver dropped 
 to 30d. an ounce, the par of exchange or the in- 
 trinsic value of the rupee would drop to 12d., 
 because (excluding the cost of remitting) it would 
 require just double the number of rupees to place 
 the equivalent of a sovereign in England, and just 
 half the number of sovereigns to place the equiva- 
 lent of a certain number of rupees in India. 
 
 * At a ratio of 15$ to 1, standard silver is worth 60^8 4d. an 
 ounce, and the silver in the rupee is worth 22'61d. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 63 
 
 From this it is clear that if the relative value of 
 silver and gold is variable, there can be no fixed par 
 of exchange between gold-using and silver-using 
 countries, and consequently it is impossible to fix any 
 limits within which exchange may fluctuate. If 
 however, a group of nations adopted Bimetallism, 
 and if by that means the relative value of silver 
 and gold were maintained, a fixed point would be 
 established, about which exchange would fluctuate 
 within the narrow limits of the cost of specie 
 remittances. 
 
 For the sake of example I have treated India as 
 a silver - using country with her mints open to 
 silver, as was the case up to June, 1893, though 
 since that date an attempt has been made to 
 separate the value of the rupee from its intrinsic 
 or metallic value by closing the mints. I have 
 taken India as an example, rather than Mexico or 
 any other silver-using country, because I imagine 
 that my readers are more familiar with India and 
 rupees than with Mexico and dollars, and also 
 because the finances of India more nearly concern 
 us than those of any other country. 
 
64 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 The question that naturally arises is— -What are 
 the evils of a fluctuating exchange? This ques- 
 tion will be partly answered in the next chapter, 
 where the evils are explained of instability in the 
 standard of value, so it is not necessary to refer 
 to it here at any great length. 
 
 Perhaps the most obvious evil is that when the 
 price of silver falls it becomes difficult for silver- 
 using countries to arrange their taxation so as to 
 pay their gold debts. 
 
 Leaving, therefore, on one side the mass of debts 
 due in gold by individuals in India and other 
 silver-using countries, and taking the gold obliga- 
 tions of the Indian Government as an example, we 
 find that India owes to England an annual sum 
 of about £17,000,000, payable in gold ; with the 
 rupee at 24d. this would represent an annual pay- 
 ment from India to England of 170,000,000 rupees, 
 but with a rupee at 12d. this charge would be 
 increased to 340,000,000 rupees. 
 
 " True," it may be said, " this is no doubt 
 inconvenient, but, as the value of the rupee is by 
 the hypothesis exactly half what it was formerly, 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 65 
 
 it is just as easy for India to obtain two rupees 
 now, as it was to obtain one rupee formerly. 
 India does not really pay her debts in rupees 
 but in commodities, and it does not really matter 
 to her whether rupees go up or down." 
 
 An excellent argument if the facts were correct, 
 but as a matter of fact the value of the rupee has 
 hardly fallen at all as measured in commodities, 
 though its gold price has fallen ; so that, if that 
 condition of things continued, India would have to 
 sell just twice the amount of commodities to pro- 
 duce £1 when rupees were at 12d. that she would 
 have to do when rupees were at 24d. 
 
 In concluding this discussion of the Indian 
 aspect of the question I will quote the following 
 opinion of the Monometallist Members of the 
 Eoyal Commission of 1888 on the disadvantages 
 of a fluctuating exchange : — 
 
 Part II., sec. 101. — " There cannot be two opinions 
 as to the very serious effect which the continued fall in 
 the gold price of silver has had on the finances of the 
 Government of India." 
 
 Sec. 102. — " We are fully impressed with a sense of 
 the difficulties which surround the Indian Government, 
 
66 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 and of the serious questions to which any proposed 
 additional tax must give rise. It is not only the 
 embarrassment which has already been caused to the 
 Government of India that has to be borne in mind, but 
 the impossibility of foreseeing to what extent those embar- 
 rassments may be increased and their difficulty augmented 
 by a further depression in the value of silver.'" 
 
 When this report was issued the rupee was 
 about Is. 5d. ; it is now (July, 1894) about Is. Id. 
 
 Then again fluctuations in exchange are a great 
 hindrance to commerce, and introduce into it an 
 additional element of risk. In the case of mer- 
 chants who purchase goods in England and export 
 them to India it is impossible to say what price the 
 goods will fetch in gold if the gold value of the 
 rupee is liable to change. It is true that the banks 
 are usually willing to take the risk of exchange 
 for a consideration, but the risk remains for some- 
 body, and to judge from the position of the Eastern 
 banks, this risk is considerable. If we look at 
 industrial enterprises we shall find the same diffi- 
 culty ; for if the price of a certain article in India 
 or Mexico is two rupees or one dollar (say the equi- 
 valent of four shillings), an Englishman might 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 67 
 
 calculate that he could produce this article for 
 export to India or Mexico at a cost sufficient to 
 leave a profit at that price. He would then erect 
 machinery for the purpose and set to work ; but if 
 the gold value of the rupee and the dollar went 
 down, and the price in India and Mexico still 
 continued at two rupees and one dollar, he would 
 cease to make the same profit. 
 
 If, on the other hand, he lent gold to some one in 
 India to erect machinery in that country, the bor- 
 rower would have great difficulty in repaying the 
 money. For this reason, too, railway enterprise is 
 checked and the development of India retarded ; 
 for as was so well said by The Times, 8th March, 
 1892 : " The truth is that railway development 
 on its final scale in India, like the development of 
 every other branch of Indian enterprise, is now 
 awaiting some settlement as to the future of the 
 rupee. The currency difficulty underlies the whole 
 situation." 
 
 f 2 
 
68 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 The Evils of Instability in Prices. 
 
 In considering this question it cannot be too 
 strongly stated that the level of prices is of no im- 
 portance whatever, as industry and trade could be 
 carried on equally well with high prices as with 
 low prices ; it is the change of levels that is harm- 
 ful. It is rising prices and falling prices that are 
 objectionable. 
 
 It is not, however, the rise in the level of prices 
 that is affecting us at present, but the fall. We 
 will therefore give a few examples of the evils of 
 falling prices. 
 
 The main feature of falling prices is, that all those 
 who have fixed charges to pay in gold have to pro- 
 vide more commodities in order to discharge their 
 debts. 
 
 So far, however, as the fall in prices is due to 
 improved methods of production, the debtor (speak- 
 ing generally) is no worse off than before; for 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 69 
 
 though individuals have suffered, it must be true 
 that on the whole the labour necessary to raise 
 commodities has been lessened, and therefore to 
 that extent it may be alleged that the debtor 
 should be expected to provide more commodities 
 than before to discharge his gold obligations ; but 
 so far as the fall in prices is due to the arbitrary 
 action of Governments in increasing the demand 
 for gold, to that extent the fall of prices is an 
 injury to debtors. 
 
 I think that the effect on prices of improved 
 methods of production and communication during 
 the last twenty years has been greatly exaggerated ; 
 for it must be remembered that these methods 
 improved, to at least as great an extent, during 
 the previous twenty years (from 1853 to 1873) 
 and yet during that period there was a continuous 
 rise in prices. This rise was no doubt due to 
 the increased supply of gold from California and 
 Australia, and it seems reasonable to suppose 
 that, when the supply decreased and the demand 
 greatly increased, the converse effect should be pro- 
 duced and that prices should fall. 
 
70 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 We will now proceed with our examples of those 
 who suffer by falling prices. Land has to pay 
 rates and taxes which certainly do not diminish iu 
 amount, and which increase in value as measured 
 in commodities ; it has wages to pay which dimi- 
 nish somewhat in amount, but increase in value to 
 a greater extent ; and it has often the interest on 
 mortgages or other charges to pay which do not 
 diminish in amount, and which do increase in 
 value. On the other hand, it either receives rent 
 which diminishes in amount, though it increases 
 in value ; or it receives produce, the amount of 
 which is stationary while its value is diminished. 
 
 No doubt the value of agricultural implements 
 has fallen also, and improved methods of produc- 
 tion have been introduced, but, speaking generally, 
 it may be said that the burden of the fixed charges 
 on land remains the same, while the value of 
 the produce has decreased. 
 
 Manufacturers suffer in almost precisely the 
 same way, except that they have wages to pay 
 which do not diminish even in amount, owing to 
 the action of trades unions. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 71 
 
 The effect of this increased demand for gold 
 is not only disastrous to our own agriculturists, 
 but it produces the same effect on all those 
 who have payments to make in gold. We see, 
 for instance, that distress exists in Germany, 
 the Western States of America, and Australia, 
 consequently in all these countries there is a 
 strong party in favour of checking the apprecia- 
 tion of gold. 
 
 Perhaps the Australian banks afford the most 
 striking example of this evil, as the late collapse 
 of nearly every bank in Australia has given some 
 prominence to the matter. 
 
 It is rarely accurate to point to any result and 
 to say that it has been produced by one cause ; so 
 with the Australian banks it is easy to show that 
 their system was unsound, that they borrowed 
 money for short periods, and lent it for periods 
 that might be, and were in fact, long ones. 
 This, no doubt, was one of the immediate causes 
 of the disaster, but the causa causans was the 
 appreciation of gold. 
 
 The banks borrowed money and lent it out on 
 
72 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 land when gold was cheap; they were suddenly 
 asked to pay it back when gold was dear. They 
 lent their money when wool aod stock commanded 
 prices which appeared to be a reasonable basis 
 for such transactions ; they had to ask for it 
 back when wool and stock were extraordinarily 
 low. The consequence was that those who borrowed 
 from the banks could not repay them, and the 
 banks could not repay those from whom they 
 borrowed. 
 
 What is true of the Australian banks is also true 
 of private individuals. Millions of money have 
 been lent to Australia or invested in land ; and 
 this money is lost or endangered by the apprecia- 
 tion of gold. 
 
 A study of the Australian crisis helps us to 
 grasp two important facts : the first is that the 
 appreciation of gold is by no means always a 
 benefit to a creditor ; and the second is that in 
 the main the evils from which we are suffering are 
 not brought about by silver, but by gold- 
 
 There are, of course, some people who suffer 
 simply from the fall in the gold value of silver; 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 73 
 
 such, for instance, are the Eastern banks, who 
 have liabilities payable in gold, but whose ad- 
 vances are repayable in silver ; but these form 
 a small fraction of the commercial world. The 
 cause of our present difficulty is the fall in the 
 gold value of commodities, and that affects silver- 
 using countries and gold-using countries alike. 
 It is not therefore a rise in the value of silver that 
 is required, but a fall in the value, or at least a 
 cessation of the rise in the value, of gold. 
 
 If, for instance, we take individuals in silver- 
 using countries like India or Mexico who owe debts 
 in gold, or if we take individuals in gold-using 
 countries like Australia and Portugal who are in 
 the same case, we find that it is in commodities 
 that they have all to pay their debts ; and if these 
 commodities fall in their gold value, more of them 
 are required to discharge the gold debts. 
 
 Or if we take the silver-using nations of India 
 and Mexico and the gold-using nations of Australia 
 and Portugal, we find them all in precisely the 
 same position ; the debts that they owe to England 
 are not paid in rupees, dollars, sovereigns, or mil- 
 
74 A Bimetallic Primer, 
 
 reis, but are paid in commodities, and the amount 
 of these necessary to discharge their gold debts 
 is increasing year by year. It is true that the 
 Governments of silver-using nations are worse off 
 than those of gold-using nations in that they 
 experience some difficulty in adjusting taxation to 
 meet their gold liabilities, but this would only be 
 a temporary difficulty if the gold value of com- 
 modities had not fallen. 
 
 From this it is clear that the question is not 
 between individuals who use silver and individuals 
 who use gold, but between debtors and creditors. 
 It is not a question between silver-using nations 
 and gold-using nations, but between debtor nations 
 and creditor nations. 
 
 It is contended, however, that as England is a 
 creditor nation, she has done well to encourage the 
 appreciation of gold. But in so far as England is 
 a creditor on account of her exports, she receives 
 proportionately less gold as gold appreciates, so 
 she certainly gains nothing there ; and so far as 
 other nations are her permanent debtors, she is 
 already beginning to discover that it is one thing 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 75 
 
 to be owed money and another thing to receive it.* 
 For if the value of the surplus commodities of 
 debtor nations is insufficient to pay their debts in 
 full, or even if they find that they have to pay back 
 much more in commodities than they originally bor- 
 rowed, they either repudiate their debts altogether, 
 or else repudiate such a portion as will leave them 
 a comfortable margin after paying the balance. 
 
 In most cases other causes have contributed to 
 this result : it may often be truly alleged that 
 folly, dishonesty, and extravagance have played 
 their part, but underlying all these influences is 
 that insidious factor — the appreciation of gold. 
 
 In lending gold and then endeavouring to raise 
 its value, or at all events refusing her aid in 
 checking its rise, England does not seem to be 
 taking a particularly broad or statesmanlike view 
 of the position ; for not only does she run the risk 
 of not being paid at all, but if she is paid, it is only 
 by checking the development of her customers, and 
 so reducing their power to buy her goods. 
 
 * England is indeed a creditor nation, and she will remain so if 
 other nations cannot pay her their debts ! 
 
76 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 This of course is merely a matter of business, 
 and if England thinks it wise that the resources 
 of her debtors and customers should be strained to 
 this extent, there is nothing immoral in the pro- 
 ceeding ; and if the value of gold had fallen, in spite 
 of the influence of England, she would have borne 
 the loss. It does, however, undoubtedly place this 
 nation in a somewhat invidious position, and it is 
 not very easy to distinguish the action of England 
 from that of the typical money-lender. In both 
 cases assistance is offered to the necessitous, and 
 every advantage is taken of the position to extract 
 from them as much as possible in excess of the 
 value they received. 
 
 It must be remembered too that gold is only a 
 measure or register of the power to purchase 
 commodities, and that England has in the main 
 lent to her debtors commodities and not gold, for 
 gold rarely passes to the debtor country when a 
 loan is made unless it be for the restoration of 
 the currency. "What really takes place is that 
 transfers are made to those who have already sup- 
 plied the debtor country with engines, rails, rolling 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 77 
 
 stock, cotton goods, &c, the bulk of which has 
 been bought in England. 
 
 Thus England has in the main only lent com- 
 modities, and the debtor has certainly only received 
 commodities, and, but for the fact that the debt is 
 registered in gold, the debt would be repaid in the 
 same amount of commodities as was lent. 
 
 Of course the debts of nations cannot be paid in 
 anything else but commodities ; the point, however, 
 is, that when gold has gone up 47 per cent, in 
 value, the debt has to be repaid by 47 per cent, 
 more commodities than were received ; and as the 
 value of gold is still increasing, it seems rather 
 hard on the debtor if no attempt is made to restore 
 the debt to something nearer its original amount in 
 commodities, or, at all events, to check the con- 
 tinual increase in the burden of the debt. 
 
 However, as the necessitous person is a free 
 agent and need not go to the money-lender, so 
 also nations are generally free agents and need 
 not borrow from England. But what are we to 
 say of India, and England's action with regard 
 to her ? 
 
78 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 England has conquered India and holds in 
 complete subjection a population of 280 millions ; 
 that in itself is marvellous, but she has also to 
 guard her possessions from a powerful and restless 
 enemy who is almost on her frontiers. 
 
 How is this wonderful thing accomplished ? 
 
 There are three factors that render it possible. 
 The first is the military power of England, and 
 this is probably the least powerful of the three 
 factors ; the second is the divided character of the 
 subject races; and the third is the confidence of 
 the natives in the honour and justice of England ; 
 and it is not too much to say that, if one of these 
 factors were eliminated or even seriously weakened, 
 England's Empire in India would ere long cease to 
 exist. 
 
 If, therefore, it is possible to show that the action 
 or inaction of England has given India any cause 
 to doubt the justice of her rule, the British Empire 
 is brought face to face with political danger of the 
 gravest character. 
 
 First, let us again call to mind that it is not the 
 fall in the gold value of the rupee, but the rise in 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 79 
 
 the purchasing power of gold, that is India's real 
 difficulty. The rupee is merely part of the fiscal 
 machinery by which the debts are collected ; the 
 fall in its gold value presents a difficulty indeed 
 owing to the political condition of India, but a rise 
 in the rupee would not in any way diminish the 
 real burden of India's indebtedness, unless it were 
 accompanied by a rise in commodities ; for it is in 
 commodities that India's debts have to be paid. 
 
 Secondly, we must remember that India is not a 
 free agent; on no occasion has India been con- 
 sulted as to the necessity of the works or measures 
 that have been carried out, useful though they may 
 have been ; nor has she been consulted as to the 
 form in which her debts should be incurred. 
 
 The facts are as follows : — England has ordered 
 on account of India, engines, rails, and other com- 
 modities from English manufacturers, she has also 
 expended on account of India a certain amount of 
 rupees for native labour on public works ; and 
 these, and other benefits that India has received, 
 have been registered as a debt due to England of 
 .£108,000,000 in gold. 
 
80 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 England has also made contracts in the name of 
 India with certain persons for management and 
 other matters, and has made these contracts also 
 payable in gold. 
 
 Under all these heads the annual gold liability 
 that England has caused India to incur amounts 
 at the present moment to about £17,000,000. It is 
 difficult to estimate the exact average date on which 
 these liabilities were incurred ; but if we assume 
 that since that average date a rise of only 33f per 
 cent, has taken place in the value of gold, we find 
 that from this cause the annual liability of India 
 in England has been increased by an amount of 
 commodities, equal, at the time when the debt was 
 incurred, to £5,700,000 sterling, while in the same 
 way the capital value of her debt has been increased 
 by £36,000,000. 
 
 The debts that India has registered in rupees 
 can be repaid now with more or less the same 
 amount of commodities that she borrowed, for 
 the rupee has been fairly stable in value ; but 
 the debts which she has registered in gold 
 require at least 33J per cent, more commodities 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 81 
 
 to discharge them than were received to incur 
 them. 
 
 To the extent therefore that more commodities 
 are required to discharge these gold liabilities, 
 England has committed an error in her adminis- 
 tration of India ; but this is not all, for England, 
 as I have endeavoured to show in Chapter L, has 
 by precept and example been doing her utmost, 
 though unconsciously, to aggravate the burden of 
 the Indian debt, by increasing the value of gold 
 as measured in commodities. 
 
 A study of the attitude of England at the various 
 monetary conferences from 1867 to 1892 would 
 convince the reader of the preponderating influence 
 of England in currency matters, and would show 
 in what direction that influence was used. It has, 
 however, been said, that England has not to con- 
 sider the effect of her advice and example on others. 
 It is hardly to be supposed that such an argument 
 would carry any weight, but such as it is, it does 
 not at all events apply to the action of England 
 in closing the mints of India to silver, with a view 
 to introduce a gold standard into that country. 
 
 G 
 
82 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 If this is successful, the effect must be a further 
 demand for gold, and consequently a further in- 
 crease in the load of India's gold indebtedness. 
 
 I do not for one moment suggest that the attitude 
 of England in currency matters has been adopted 
 deliberately with a view to carry out the policy of 
 increasing the burden of her debtors. Such cun- 
 ning is not only foreign to the English character, 
 but altogether incompatible with the ignorance of 
 currency matters which has characterised the 
 majority of our statesmen, and those responsible 
 at home for the government of India. But what I 
 desire to emphasise is, that it is this short-sighted 
 and immoral policy which is advocated by the ex- 
 ponents of the creditor country theory, when they 
 urge England to continue with her eyes open the 
 course that she has hitherto followed in igno- 
 rance. 
 
 For what is to be our answer to Indian agita- 
 tors if they realise the situation and preach in 
 the bazaars against the injustice of England? 
 They have a good text at least for their sermon : 
 the creditor country theory publicly advanced by 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 83 
 
 Englishmen ; the past action of England in con- 
 formity with that theory, culminating in the closing 
 of the Indian mints ; the consequent lowering of 
 the value of the native hoards of uncoined silver, 
 and the attempt to raise the value of gold still 
 further hy the introduction of a gold standard ; 
 and if additional proof were thought necessary to 
 show that India is exploited by England without 
 regard to the principles of justice, they would 
 cite as an example the exclusion of Manchester 
 goods from the new import duties. 
 
 The only answer that England can make to these 
 charges is to plead her ignorance on matters of 
 currency. But how far will that excuse be ac- 
 cepted? How indeed could it ever be considered 
 an excuse in the mouth of the greatest commercial 
 and financial nation that the world has ever seen ? 
 and how far is it even true, now that the attention 
 of England has been at length successfully drawn 
 to the subject. 
 
 Whatever may be the answers to these questions, 
 it can hardly be denied that the Indian difficulty is 
 a menace to the Britsh Empire. Not only does 
 
 a 2 
 
84 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 the expenditure of India considerably exceed her 
 receipts, but her rulers are unable to frame a 
 budget to show even an estimated equilibrium. 
 This state of things cannot continue ; and to avoid 
 bankruptcy further measures will have to be taken, 
 until India is forced to meet to the full the unjust 
 burden of the rising value of gold. Already an 
 attempt has been made to do this by artificially 
 raising the gold value of the rupee ; this, however, 
 has not only failed in its object, but has checked 
 the exports of India and reduced her power to pay, 
 so that further taxation, in addition to what has 
 been imposed, will have to be attempted. 
 
 Possibly the natives of India may not find out 
 for some time that the manipulation of the rupee 
 is simply an attempt to increase taxation, but when 
 more direct taxes are introduced the Government 
 will be face to face with disaffection and grave 
 political danger, if indeed the measures that they 
 have already adopted have not produced that effect. 
 
 The danger to India of allowing the currency 
 question to drift is clear ; but there is a danger at 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 85 
 
 home which, though less obvious, is almost as 
 great. 
 
 The real value of the money paid as wages has 
 been steadily rising in England during the last 
 twenty years owing to the increased purchasing 
 power of gold. The result of this on particular 
 classes does not concern us, the principal effect 
 having been merely a redistribution of wealth. But 
 as Professor Foxwell has so well shown, there is 
 a point when the rise in the real value of wages 
 must cease ; so that if the appreciation of gold 
 continues, a time must come when the money 
 value of wages will have to be reduced. 
 
 The history of late years has shown us that the 
 most determined strikes are caused by attempts 
 on the part of the masters to reduce wages, and 
 not by attempts on the part of the men to raise 
 them; and the position of employers of labour 
 shows us that the necessity for this reduction is 
 fast approaching. 
 
 It will hardly be possible to make the artisan 
 classes realise the real effect of the appreciation of 
 gold, and they will look alone to the money value 
 
86 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 of their wages; their eyes will be closed to the 
 rise in the purchasing power of money, and 
 will be open only to the fall in the amount of 
 money received, or the apparent value of their 
 wages ; so whenever a fall in the amount of money 
 received as wages becomes necessary, we may ex- 
 pect a further series of determined strikes, consti- 
 tuting a grave political and commercial danger. 
 
 I will conclude this chapter with a somewhat 
 striking illustration of the effect on debtors of the 
 appreciation of gold. The English National Debt 
 during the years 1865 - 69 stood at about 
 £805,000,000; since that time £134,000,000 has 
 been paid off, so that it only amounted in April, 
 1893, to £671,000,000; as, however, each sove- 
 reign in the present debt is worth in commodities 
 47J per cent, more than each sovereign was worth 
 in the years of 1865-69, it follows, that if we 
 measure our present debt in sovereigns taken at 
 the value that they had in 1865-69, our present 
 debt would be worth £671,000,000 + 47J per cent, 
 of £671,000,000, or £988,600,000. In other words, 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 87 
 
 though we appear to have reduced the value of 
 our debt by £134,000,000 during the last twenty- 
 five years, the burden of it, as measured in commo- 
 dities, has been really increased by £183,000,000. 
 
 We faocy too that we are paying less interest now 
 on the National Debt than we were in 1865-69, but 
 as a matter of fact it required 35 per cent, more 
 commodities to produce £2f in 1893 than it did to 
 produce £3 in 1865-69, so that the interest on 
 our debt as measured in commodities has increased 
 35 per cent. 
 
 It may be interesting to note that our National 
 Debt was incurred before 1816, when England was 
 on a Bimetallic basis, for though we have bor- 
 rowed since that date, we have paid off more than 
 we have borrowed. 
 
88 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 CHAPTEK VII. 
 
 Would Bimetallism maintain the relative value 
 of Gold and Silver? 
 
 We have now seen that the most essential charac- 
 teristic of good money is steadiness of value, and 
 that Bimetallism is superior to any other system 
 in that respect. 
 
 We have also seen that if by the adoption of 
 Bimetallism the relative value of silver and gold 
 could be kept steady, the greatest element of in- 
 stability in the exchange between gold and silver 
 using countries would be removed. 
 
 The great question therefore is, Would Bimetal- 
 lism keep the relative value of the two metals 
 stable ? and perhaps the best answer is, that it did. 
 
 But, before we set out this historical fact, let us 
 remember that the Bimetallic nations would be 
 willing to give a fixed amount of money for either 
 gold or silver, just as we in England are willing 
 to give a fixed amount of money, or a fixed price, 
 for gold — viz., £3. 17s. lOJd. per oz. ; and therefore 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 89 
 
 no one in the world would accept a less price for 
 either gold or silver than that which the Bimetallic 
 nations would be willing to give ; and so long as the 
 Bimetallic nations were willing to accept a fixed 
 price for their gold or their silver, no one could obtain 
 a greater price for either gold or silver than that 
 which people in the Bimetallic nations were willing 
 to take. 
 
 Thus, so long as any gold or silver money re- 
 mained in the Bimetallic nations, it would be impos- 
 sible that the relative values of silver and gold 
 could vary to any material extent. 
 
 We will not discuss the possibility of one of the 
 metals leaving the Bimetallic Union, partly be- 
 cause it would imply the improbable condition, that 
 the poor debtor nations outside the Union would be 
 willing and able to take hundreds of millions of 
 one of the metals at a higher value than that which 
 their rich creditors set upon it ; and partly because 
 it would be necessary to enter into a somewhat 
 elaborate argument to show the effect that the 
 exchanges would have in rendering any real differ- 
 ence in the relative value of the metals impossible 
 
90 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 — even supposing that one metal left the Bimetallic 
 Union. 
 
 Let us now turn to the historical fact that Bime- 
 tallism, even in a very limited area, did keep the 
 relative value of gold and silver stable. 
 
 From 1803 to 1873 Bimetallism was in full force 
 in France, and during the latter part of that period 
 France was joined by Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, 
 and Greece, and formed what is called the Latin 
 Union. During this period there were enormous 
 fluctuations in the rate of production of both the 
 precious metals, but in spite of this their relative 
 value remained practically unaltered for the whole of 
 those seventy years. 
 
 For instance, in the first twenty years of this 
 century the production of silver was in weight 
 about fifty times as great as the production of 
 gold, so that if the value depended on production 
 alone, silver should have been worth about 18Jd. 
 an ounce instead of 60'84d. an ounce, which was 
 the equivalent of the legal ratio — yet the price 
 never varied. Later in the century, from 1852 to 
 1862, the production of silver was in weight only 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 91 
 
 about 4£ times as great as that of gold ; and 
 therefore silver should have been worth about 
 207d. an ounce instead of 60*84d. an ounce — yet 
 the price never varied. 
 
 Or if we compare the value of the production of 
 silver and gold during the period from 1852 to 
 1871 inclusive, we find that the production of gold 
 was £811, 500,000 in excess of that of silver (or an 
 excess of production of gold of £15,500,000 a year), 
 and yet the relative value of silver and gold never 
 varied. This is the more remarkable because the 
 stock of gold and silver in the world was much 
 less than it is now, and therefore it might be sup- 
 posed that the effect would have been very great. 
 
 In 1873 France began to restrict the hitherto 
 free coinage of silver, and from that moment the 
 values of silver and of gold began to diverge ; this 
 divergence has continued to increase during the 
 last twenty years, until silver has at last fallen to 
 about 28d. an ounce. 
 
 This fall cannot have been caused alone by any 
 alteration in the relative production of silver and 
 gold, for during the twenty years from 1873 onwards 
 
92 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 the production of silver has been in weight only 
 about 18J * times as great as that of gold ; whereas 
 at one time before 1873 the production of silver 
 was fifty times as great as that of gold, without 
 producing any effect. Or if we take the year 1892, 
 when the largest production of silver took place — 
 viz., 152,000,000 ounces — we find that, at the 
 average price of the year — viz., about 40d. an 
 ounce — the value of the production of silver was 
 about £25,300,000, or rather less than the produc- 
 tion of gold, and yet since 1892 silver has fallen 
 about 12d. an ounce. 
 
 We must remember also that the excess produc- 
 tion of gold in the twenty years before 1873 was 
 .£311,500,000; therefore, to restore the conditions 
 existing before that period, we ought to have had 
 an excess production of silver of £311,500,000 in 
 the twenty years from 1873 onwards. But as a 
 matter of fact we have had an increase of only 
 *£4 1,000, 000, even taking the value of silver at 
 60*84d. an ounce. 
 
 * Calculated from the figures of Dr. Sootbeer and the United 
 States Oflicial Report. 
 
A Bimetallic Primer, 93 
 
 In conclusion, we have seen that before 1873 there 
 were vast changes in the relative production of the two 
 metals, but that their relative value remained stable ; 
 whereas after 1873 the changes in the relative pro- 
 duction of the two metals were comparatively unim- 
 portant, and yet the value of gold as measured in 
 silver rose more than 100 per cent. 
 
 It seems therefore not unreasonable to suppose 
 that some disturbance occurred in 1873 to cause 
 this great change, and that if this disturbing cause 
 were removed we should again find that the rela- 
 tive value of silver and gold would remain stable. 
 Now the only monetary change that took place 
 in 1873 was the suspension of the unrestricted 
 coinage of silver in the Bimetallic countries ; 
 but as some people assert that the extraordinary 
 stability of the ratio before 1873 was not due to 
 the existence of Bimetallism, but to " other causes " 
 (not specified), ife may be as well to quote the 
 unanimous opinion on this point of the Members of 
 the Koyal Commission of 1888 on Gold and Silver, 
 Part I. :— 
 
 Sec. 189. — " Looking, then, to the vast changes 
 
94 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 which occurred prior to 1873 in the relative production 
 of the two metals without any corresponding disturb- 
 ance in their market value, it appears to us difficult to 
 resist the conclusion that some influence was then at 
 work tending to steady the price of silver, and to keep 
 the ratio which it bore to gold approximately stable." 
 
 Sec. 190. — " Prior to 1873 the fluctuations in the 
 price of silver were gradual in their character, and 
 ranged within very narrow limits. The maximum 
 variation in 1872 was jd., and the average not quite 
 3^d., while in 1886 the maximum was 2 x ^d. } and the 
 average nearly ljd. It has not been, and indeed 
 hardly could be, suggested that this difference can be 
 accounted for by changes in the relative production or 
 actual use of the two metals." 
 
 Sec. 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 irre- 
 sistibly led to the conclusion that the operation of that 
 system, established as it was in countries the popula- 
 tion 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 J to 1." 
 
 Sec. 193. — " Nor does it appear to us a priori unrea- 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 95 
 
 sonable to suppose that the existence in the Latin Union 
 of a Bimetallic system with a ratio of 15 J to 1 fixed 
 between the two metals should have been capable of 
 keeping the market price of silver steady at approxi- 
 mately that ratio. 
 
 " The view that it could only affect the market price 
 to the extent to which there was a demand for it for 
 currency purposes in the Latin Union, or to which it 
 was actually taken to the mints of those countries is, 
 we think, fallacious. 
 
 " The fact that the owner of silver could, in the last 
 resort, take it to those mints and have it converted into 
 coin which would purchase commodities at the ratio of 
 15£ of silver to one of gold, would, in our opinion, be 
 likely to affect the price of silver in the market gene- 
 rally, whoever the purchaser and for whatever country 
 it was destined. It would enable the seller to stand out 
 for a price approximating to the legal ratio, and would 
 tend to keep the market steady at about that point." 
 
 The above opinion as to the past was unani- 
 mous, and ten out of the twelve members of the 
 Commission gave the following unqualified opinion 
 as to the future : — 
 
 Sec. 107. — "We think that in any conditions fairly 
 to be contemplated in the future, so far as we can fore- 
 cast them from the experience of the past, a stable ratio 
 might be maintained if the nations* we have alluded to 
 
 * United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and the Latin 
 Union. 
 
96 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 were to accept and strictly adhere to Bimetallism, at 
 the suggested ratio. We think that if in all these 
 countries gold and silver could be freely coined, and 
 thus become exchangeable against commodities at the 
 fixed ratio, the market value of silver as measured by 
 gold would conform to that ratio, and not vary to any 
 material extent." 
 
 The remaining two Commissioners also signed 
 this report, but they doubted if the ratio could be 
 permanently maintained. They did not give an 
 opinion as to length of time during which the 
 ratio could be maintained ; we may presume, how- 
 ever, that as they admitted that in spite of vast 
 changes in the production, France and the Latin 
 Union kept the market price of silver steady for 
 seventy years, they would admit that the whole 
 commercial world, plus the Latin Union, would be 
 also able to maintain the ratio for seventy years. 
 
 We need hardly try to look into the future for 
 more than seventy years, but if we do, and suppose 
 that at the end of that time the ratio would be 
 either altered or would cease to exist, the world 
 would at all events have had seventy years of 
 comparative stability, and at the end of the time 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 97 
 
 they would be in no worse a position than they are 
 at present. 
 
 After the decisive verdict of the Eoyal Commis- 
 sion it became impossible for any one who had 
 impartially studied the subject to deny that it 
 would be possible for Bimetallism to maintain the 
 ratio under normal conditions. It therefore be- 
 came necessary for monometallists to base their 
 objections upon circumstances of which we had no 
 previous experience. 
 
 These may be stated as follows : — 
 
 1. That if the gold price of silver were raised, 
 the increase in price would cause an enormous 
 increase in production. 
 
 2. That the production of silver would be so 
 great that the ratio could not be maintained and 
 all the gold would leave the Bimetallic nations. 
 
 Let us examine the first objection. There can 
 be, of course, no doubt that if the gold price of 
 silver were raised, its value in commodities would 
 be raised also to some extent, and therefore a 
 certain impulse would be given to silver mining. 
 There can be no doubt also that even if its value in 
 
 H 
 
98 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 commodities were not raised, the rise in its gold 
 price would give a temporary impulse to such 
 mining as is carried on with gold capital. There 
 are a certain number of mines in the world con- 
 taining ores of such low grade that at present they 
 would not pay to work. If the value of silver 
 increased, silver would be extracted from some of 
 these ; but the bulk of the silver in the world has 
 always come either from mines like the Broken 
 Hills, the Huanchaca, or the Comstock Mines, 
 which have paid to work at very low prices, or else 
 from other ores from which silver is extracted as a 
 by-product. It may in fact be said that the pro- 
 duction of silver depends upon the discovery of the 
 metal rather than upon its value, at all events when 
 the value is as high as 40d. an ounce. 
 
 If, however, it be true that a rise in the price of 
 silver would enormously increase its production, 
 we might reasonably expect that a fall in the price 
 of silver would produce a diminution in production. 
 The average price of silver for the year 1873* was 
 
 * Before 1873, the production was only from 30,000,000 to 
 40,000,000, although the price was about 60d. an ounce ! 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 99 
 
 59Jd., and the production was 63,000,000 ounces, 
 so according to this theory we ought to have seen 
 a steady diminution in the production ; for the 
 price of silver fell until 1892, when it reached an 
 average for the year of under 40d. an ounce. The 
 fact, however, is that the production of silver 
 steadily increased during that period, and in 1892 
 it reached 152,000,000 ounces ; this was the largest 
 annual production of silver that had ever heen 
 seen, and was accompanied by the lowest price 
 that had ever been reached. The figures for 1893 
 are not yet published, but it is believed that the 
 production was nearly as great as in 1892, though 
 the price of silver had fallen heavily. 
 
 Let us now admit, for the sake of argument, 
 that the production of silver would be enormously 
 increased by a rise in the price, and let us con- 
 sider Objection 2 — viz., That the production of 
 silver would be so great that the ratio could not be 
 maintained, and all the gold would leave the 
 Bimetallic nations. 
 
 The first question that naturally arises is, 
 Whither would the gold go ? The answer now 
 
 h 2 
 
100 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 given is that it would go into the arts, and go out of 
 circulation altogether. We may take for granted 
 that if the demand for gold ceased for currency 
 purposes, it would go into the arts ; but let us try 
 and see how we could do without it as currency. 
 
 At present it is estimated that £880,000,000 is 
 used as money, and as the production of gold was 
 at least £28,000,000 last year, and is apparently 
 rapidly increasing, there will be a very large 
 number of gold ornaments about before this scheme 
 is carried out. 
 
 I do not know whether there is any unanimity, 
 among monometallists as to the time necessary 
 for this transformation to take place, but I see that 
 one well-known writer places it at forty years ; if, 
 then, we take that figure, we find that the arts 
 will have to take £880,000,000 + forty years pro- 
 duction of gold, say £1,120,000,000 (plus any in- 
 crease that there may be on the present production 
 of gold), or say in all at least £2,000,000,000. 
 
 I suppose the arts will also take their usual 
 annual proportion of silver, and that the rest of 
 the world will take theirs also ; so that the pre- 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 101 
 
 duction of silver will have, indeed, to be enormous 
 before the increase would be sufficient to replace 
 both the gold already in circulation, and the future 
 production. 
 
 Let us, however, suppose for the sake of argu- 
 ment that such a thing did happen ; how should 
 we suffer? For when the arts had taken the 
 £2,000,000,000 in gold, the whole world would 
 have but one standard ; and as by the hypothesis 
 the production of silver would be nearly twice 
 as great as the present production of both gold 
 and silver together, it may be supposed that this 
 would be sufficient to meet the wants of increased 
 trade and population ; so if this monometallist 
 forecast is true, the world would pass through 
 the stable system of Bimetallism to find itself with 
 that other great desideratum — a simple and univer- 
 sal standard, of an amount sufficient for its needs. 
 
 The supposed reason for gold going out of circu- 
 lation is that silver would fall in value as measured 
 in gold. But both theory and history show that 
 Bimetallism would maintain the ratio ; and even if 
 this were not the case, it would seem hard to believe 
 
 h 3 
 
102 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 that if the whole demand of the world for currency- 
 were thrown upon silver, and if the whole of the 
 gold used as money were thrown on the market, 
 that gold would go up in value and that silver 
 could go down. 
 
 But if it be true that gold would go out of cir- 
 culation if silver were produced in large quantities, 
 why did not silver go out of circulation when gold 
 was produced in large quantities? We know in 
 fact that the contrary takes place, and when gold 
 or silver is abundant, more is used in the arts, and 
 not less. 
 
 What would really happen under Bimetallism if 
 silver were produced in very large quantities would 
 be that prices all over the world would rise, just 
 as prices rose before 1873 when gold was produced 
 in very large quantities in California and Aus- 
 tralia ; whereas, under our present system, an exces- 
 sive supply of either metal would be distributed 
 over those countries only which used that metal, 
 and would thus produce a greater effect in those 
 countries. 
 
 In the same way, if Bimetallism were adopted 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 103 
 
 by the present gold-using nations, as is now pro- 
 posed, we should find that if there were any 
 difficulty in maintaining the ratio, it would be 
 more likely to be in the direction of keeping up the 
 value of gold than in keeping up the value of silver, 
 for silver could be absorbed by the whole world, 
 whereas gold could only be absorbed by the Bi- 
 metallic nations. 
 
 But the power of the Bimetallic nations alone 
 would be so great that there need be no fear that 
 gold would fall in value as compared with silver ; for 
 it must be remembered that all the wealth of the 
 Bimetallic nations and all their exports would be 
 exchangeable against either gold or silver at the 
 legislative ratio. To give an idea of the enormous 
 influence that this would have, I may mention that 
 the wealth of England was estimated by Dr. Giffen* 
 in 1885 at £10,000,000,000, and that the official 
 estimate of the wealth of the United States in 
 1880 was £8,728,000,000, while an average of 
 the various estimates of the wealth of France in 
 
 * See Dr. Giffen's "Growth of Capital." 
 
104 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 1885 gives a result of about £8,500,000,000. If 
 to these figures we add the wealth of Germany, 
 Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium, and any other 
 nations that might join the Bimetallic Union, we 
 could not estimate the wealth of the group at the 
 present time at much less than £50,000,000,000. 
 
 Or if we look only at the exports of these coun- 
 tries, we should find an enormous annual amount 
 of commodities saleable indifferently for either 
 gold or silver, the annual exports of England 
 alone amounting to about £300,000,000. 
 
 It must not be forgotten either that unless 
 artificial restrictions exist on the export of the 
 precious metals, they cannot accumulate in any 
 one country, but must find their own level over all 
 the countries where they are used ; for if gold is 
 produced in large quantities and is shipped to 
 England, it can only be shipped for the payment 
 of goods; thus a shipment of gold connotes a 
 sale of goods by England. The gold, however, 
 does not remain in England, but is shipped by 
 her to other countries to pay for goods. The 
 effect, then, of a heavy production of gold on 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 105 
 
 England at the present time would be sales of 
 English commodities, which sales would proba- 
 bly leave a profit ; and if the production of gold 
 increased, the demand for English commodities 
 would increase. This is exactly what happened 
 during the Australian and Californian gold dis- 
 coveries from 1852 to 1871, when, to use Mr. 
 Gladstone's description, "the prosperity of England 
 advanced by leaps and bounds." 
 
 Under Bimetallism the same thing would hap- 
 pen whether the large production was of gold or of 
 silver. It is, however, not probable that the in- 
 crease in the production of either metal would 
 equal the increase in the production of gold in the 
 fifties and sixties, nor if it did would it be possible 
 that the effect could be so great now, when the stock 
 of gold and silver in the world has so much in- 
 creased ; but what we might reasonably anticipate 
 would be that the production of either silver or gold 
 would increase sufficiently to check the present 
 increase in the value of our money, or in other 
 words to check the fall in prices, and to give 
 an approximate stability to finance and commerce 
 
106 A Bimetallic Primer. 
 
 by meeting the demand of increasing trade and 
 population. 
 
 It has often been alleged that the Bimetallic 
 system is artificial, and that it is impossible to 
 maintain an artificial value between gold and 
 silver by fixing the price of these commodities as 
 measured by one another. But, in the first place, 
 as we have seen, it is not quite accurate to say 
 that the price of these commodities is fixed by law ; 
 it is the demand for these commodities that, is re- 
 gulated by the law, by conferring a demand on 
 both metals at a certain proportionate value, and 
 the demand thus created being practically unlimited, 
 exercises a controlling influence upon the market 
 price ; and why is it more artificial to give a value 
 to both silver and gold, by regulating the demand 
 for them both, than it is to give a value to gold by 
 creating for it an exclusive demand ? Monometal- 
 lists speak as if by the working of some great 
 natural law gold was adopted in 1816 as the stan- 
 dard currency of this country. No doubt gold and 
 
A Bimetallic Primer. 107 
 
 silver are the most serviceable substances for cur- 
 rency purposes, and therefore in one sense the 
 natural ones to employ ; but surely it is true that 
 the action of nations in choosing gold rather than 
 silver, or silver rather than gold, is perfectly arbi- 
 trary ; and therefore that the relative value of the 
 two metals, as caused by the relative demand for 
 them, is not natural but artificial. 
 
 By a willingness to abandon this artificial pre- 
 ference and to employ either metal according as it 
 was most convenient, or most available, nations 
 have in times past maintained a fixed ratio be- 
 tween the precious metals, and "what man has 
 done, man can do again." 
 
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 Arbitrages et Parites— page 
 
 Haupt, 14 
 
 Willdey's American Stocks . 17 
 
 Arbitration — 
 London Chamber of . 
 Lynch H. Foulkea 
 
 Auditors— Fowke . 
 Pixley .... 
 
 Banking — Banker's Clerk 
 Banking Law, Wallace 
 
 M'Neil . 
 Banks, Bankers, and Banking 
 Banks and Banking (Eason) 
 Clearing-house System (Howarth) 15 
 English and Foreign (Attfield) . 11 
 Gilbart's History and Principles 20 
 Hankey (Thomson) . . .15 
 
 Hutchison, J 15 
 
 Journal Institute of Bankers . 14 
 London Banks and Kindred Com- 
 panies 22 
 
 Macleod's Banking . . .22 
 Theory of Credit . 22 
 Moxon's English Banking . . 23 
 Questions on Banking Practice . 1 6 
 Bae's Country Banker . . 24 
 Smith's Banker and Customer . 16 
 
 Bankruptcy — 
 McEwen (Accounts) . . .13 
 Stewart (Law of ) . . . .4 
 
 Bills of Exchange — 
 
 Chalmers 20 
 
 Kolkenbeck's (Stamp Duties) . 7 
 Smith 4 
 
 Bimetallism — 
 Barclay's Standard of Value . 14 
 „ Silver Question . . 14 
 
 Bull 14 
 
 Colloquy on Currency (Lord 
 
 Aldenham) . . . .14 
 Gibbs's Bimetallic Primer . . 14 
 Schmidt, Hermann . . .14 
 Smith, Saml 14 
 
 Bookkeeping— Car iss . ." .13 
 Carr (Investors) .... 6 
 
 Flint 13 
 
 Hamilton and Ball . . .21 
 Harlow's Examination Questions 16 
 
 Holah 5 
 
 Jackson . ... 11 
 Richardson's (Weekly News- 
 papers) 7 
 
 Sawyer 17 
 
 Seebohm 5 
 
 Van de Linde . . . .16 
 Warner (Stock Exchange) . . 13 
 
 Clerks— Banker's .... 8 
 Commercial Handbook . . 5 
 
 Clerks, continued — pa«b 
 
 Companion to Solicitor's Clerk . 7 
 
 Counting-house Guide . . 10 
 
 Kennedy (Stockbrokers) . . 4 
 
 Merchant's ... .5 
 School to Office .... 5 
 
 Solicitor's ... .5 
 
 Companion to the Solicitor's . 5 
 
 Correspondence (Commercial)— 
 
 Anderson 19 
 
 McGoun 22 
 
 Manual Pratique . . . 7 
 
 Martin (Stockbrokers) . . 4 
 
 Counting-house — 
 
 Pearce 5 
 
 Tate 11 
 
 County Court— Jones . . .18 
 
 Currency and Finance — 
 Clare's Money Market Primer . 16 
 
 Cobb 11 
 
 Cuthbertson . . . .18 
 Del Mar . . . . .19 
 
 Ellis 13 
 
 Haupt's Monetary Question . 11 
 
 Directories — 
 Directory of Directors . . .24 
 Mining Manual (Skinner) . . 24 
 
 Directors — 
 Havcraft (Liabilities and Duties) 5 
 Palmer 23 
 
 Exchanges — 
 
 Clare 6 
 
 Goschen 15 
 
 Jevons 21 
 
 Tate's Modern Cambist . . 10 
 
 Exchange Tables — 
 
 Bartlett-Amati (various) . . 20 
 
 Dollar (Eastern) . . . .12 
 
 Lecoffre (French) . . .22 
 
 Merces (Indian) . . . .22 
 
 Schultz (American) . . 16, 17 
 
 Schultz (German) . . .17 
 
 Insurance — 
 McArthur . . . . .22 
 Owen 23 
 
 Interest Tables— Bosanquet 13, 14 
 Crosbie and Law (Product) . . 17 
 Cummins (2|%) . . . .14 
 
 Gilbert 20 
 
 Gumersall 11 
 
 Inwood (Compound) . . .21 
 
 King (5%) 21 
 
 Laurie (Simple and High Rate) . 22 
 Lewis (Time Tables) . . .15 
 Ranee (Compound) . . .24 
 Schultz . . ' . . .17 
 Wilhelm (Compound) . . .16 
 
ROYAL EXCHANGE, 
 
 Investors {see also Stock Exchange 
 
 Manuals)— 
 American Railways (van Oss) . 11 
 Art of Investing • . .19 
 
 Bookkeeping (Carr) . . .6 
 Investment Profit Tables . . 13 
 Investment and Speculation 
 
 (Duncan) . . . .17 
 
 Houses and Land . .5 
 
 How to Invest Money . . .5 
 How to Invest in Mines . . 6 
 
 Ledger 13 
 
 Investors' Review . . .21 
 
 Joint-Stock Companies— 
 Alpe's (Stamp Duties) . . 19 
 
 Bucklev 20 
 
 Companies Acts, 1862—1890 . 20 
 Cummins' Formation of Accounts 13 
 Fitzpatrick (Secretary) . . 20 
 Hay craft (Directors) . . .5 
 
 Jordan 21 
 
 Palgrave (Chairman) . . .24 
 Palmer (Precedents) . . .23 
 
 Smith 4 
 
 Watts (Promoters) . . .24 
 
 Mining — Anderson (Prospectors) . 24 
 Beeman's West Australian . . 6 
 Goldmann (South African) . . 6 
 How to Invest in Mines . . 16 
 Kindell's South African Market . 21 
 Skinner 24 
 
 Miscellaneous — 
 Corn Trade Invoice Clerk . . 19 
 Cotton Trade of Great Britain . 16 
 District and Parish Councils . 19 
 Gresham, Sir Thomas (Life of) . 12 
 Legal Forms . . . .16 
 Literary Copyright . . 7 
 
 Patent Laws . . . .19 
 Public Meetings . . . .11 
 Red Palmer . . . .18 
 
 Money Market {see Currency and 
 Finance). 
 
 Pamphlets (Recent)— List of . 10 
 
 Prices— Dunsford . . . .17 
 
 Ellis 13 
 
 Mathieson (Stocks) . . .23 
 
 Railways— 
 American and the British Investor 1 6 
 Bradshaw (Shareholders) . .19 
 Dunsford (Dividends and Prices) 17 
 Home Railways as Investments . 7 
 Mathieson's Traffics . . .23 
 Poor's Manual (American) . . 12 
 Railways in India . . .17 
 Van Oss (American) . . 11, 16 
 
 Ready Reckoners {see also Ex- 
 change Tables, Interest, &c.) — 
 Blewert (Stock) . . . .20 
 
 pao 
 Ready Reckoners, &c, continued — 
 Buyers' and Sellers' (Ferguson) . 5 
 Goodfellow (Shipmasters) . . 21 
 Hardwick (Weight) . . .21 
 Ingram (Yards) . . . .13 
 Louis, Anglo-French . . .22 
 Merces (Indian) . . . .22 
 Redeemable Stocks (a diagram) . 7 
 Robinson (Share) . . .12 
 
 Share Calculator .... 7 
 Silver Tables (Bar Silver) . . 18 
 
 Sinking Fund and Annuity 
 Tables— 
 
 Inwood 21 
 
 Ranee 23 
 
 Willich 24 
 
 Speculation {see Investors and 
 Stock Exchange). 
 
 Stock Exchange Manuals, &c. — rm> 
 Blewert (Stock Tables) . . 20 
 Burdett's Official Intelligence . 12 
 Contango Tables . . . .20 
 Fenn on the Funds, English and 
 
 Foreign 10 
 
 Highest and Lowest Prices . 23 
 Laws and Customs (Melsheimer) 23 
 Laws, English and Foreign Funds 
 
 (Royle) 12 
 
 Le Stock Exchange (Chevilliard) 14 
 Mining Manual (Skinner) . . 24 
 Options (Castelli) . . .20 
 Poor's American Railroad Manual 12 
 Put-and-Call .... 6 
 Railways (Bradshaw's Manual) . 18 
 Raprd Share Calculator . . 7 
 Registration of Transfers . . 18 
 Robinson (Share Tables) . . 12 
 Rules and Usages (Stutfield) . 11 
 Statesman's Year-book . . 24 
 Stock Exchange Values . . 18 
 Stock Exchange Year-book . . 23 
 Stock Exchanges of London, Paris, 
 
 and New York . . .20 
 
 Tables {see Exchange Tables, In- 
 terest Tables, Ready Reckon- 
 ers, and Sinking Fund and 
 Annuity Tables, «c.). 
 
 Telegraph Codes — 
 Ager's (list of) . . . .8 
 Miscellaneous (list of) . . .9 
 
 Trustees — 
 Investment of Trust Funds . . 4 
 Statutory TruBt Investment 
 
 Guide 6 
 
 Trustees, their Duties, &c. . 4 
 
 Wilson's Legal and "Useful Handy 
 Books List . . . 4, 5 
 
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12 EFFINGHAM WILSON, 
 
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ROYAL EXCHANGE. 19 
 
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