Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-05-03
MEANS OF CoMPENsATING FOR THE sCARCI
TY OF SILVER COIN.

every 10 complaining OF uimCuiy III Pecuna'y "ans-
actions requiring the employment Of that kind OF money
difficulty the III since exists in the purchase and sale
Of those articles Of little value which each citizen
every day and every moment,
And since this scarcity Of silver money the result of
permanent cause and consequently of indefinite duration.
il important think Of means of obviating grave
an inconvenience which affects the general economy Of the
country.
Tie cause just spoke Of is itself the result of two things
The establishment by the monetary law Of fixed rea
ton the value Of pieces of gold and that pieces Of
silver I'd The depreca ion of the value Of god which in
spite of the law has altered this relation
In fact the depreciation Of the value Of gold has led the
relative elevation of the value of ,ve then. since pay
ments can be made will either gold silver, every
prsfeung to make them with that money which has least
vaue the coin whose value is relatively the highest Of
goes out Of the rcuaton and used for other purposes
Again. it. in order to supply the vacancy which the with
dawa Of silver coin has created in the circulation Govern
ment thinks proper coin pieces of silver, would
the country usesy submit to great pecunary
rces whou, remedyng the evil the extinction of which it
had in view, for the pieces would Immediately TO
circulate being Withdrawn by the same force which had ex-
Iacted the old. .~s.-t
Now in this impossibily Of restoring the circulation
the silver coin which has left it, what must be done
We believe the solution Of this problem
solution much easy than thought provided the
principles which rule monetary doctrine be but thoroughly
examined.
In 1889 we published in Brussels work entitled Fnan-
eiaI Crises, and the Reform Of the Monetary System In
this writing is plainly demonstrated that metallic none
ary system imperfect and insufficient for the accomplish
of all the monetary transactions which take place in
countries which elevated high degree power
mercia and industrial and they have been obliged admit
into the circulation bank notes currency in order to OBJ
via,e this nsuciency But the the sures, the most
economical the advantageous the general interests Of
the country substitute for metallic money money Of pa
per- We say money Of Paper and not paper money which
has given rise to many caas,rophes, and which differs
from the first the sign from the thing ITSELF the thing
representing from the represented We not ignorant that
the abolition cf metallic money and the adoption of money
Of paper shocks oil received ideas this subject and that
difficult to make public opinion leave the old and beaten
track IN which has been running long But have
faith in the power Of TRUTH above oil Of that shch has for its
aim the great interests Of society," and confident that
when healthy doctrines on mene'ay matters shall be better
known public reason will in the end adopt them.
Our object at this lead the Government to
work to day this great economical REFORM bs$ only to nd
the Of obvatng the scarcity Of SILVER money
OF which the country bitterly complaining And <nce the
reasonabeness OF these means only be shown the
arguments which the reasonabeness the adoption of
money paper obliged lay before our readers the
Compferendu of the Rerue Brtannigue. Of the above
mentioned work. where clear and succnct soson Of the
monetary doctrine is to be found. For the present.
limit ourselves indicating the Of filling the gap left
in the circulation by the withdrawal of silver coin, and
stating in very summary manner the principle which
these founded. The development Of this prnc
pie, and of others which give orce, the reader will
find in the reprint Of the Copte rdu Of the Revue Britain.
nque Of which have just spoken, and which will be pub
shed in the number Of this Journal the end of this
article.
MEANS OF REPLACING SILVER MONEY.
The price Of things in is propotioate to the demand
and the supply.
II is lowered the supply he increased the demand d.
minshed and the other hand raised the supply be
diminished the demand increased This law Of prices is
constant and nvarabe and gdy controls every change Of
value,
The price Of gold has just undergone slight depression,
because the suppy.hat is to say the quantity existing
has been slightly increased say slightly relatively the
enormous mass this metal which existed before the working
Of the mines Of California.
Conormaby to the said law Of price, Is evident that for
silver money that made Of any material whatever be sub
stuted provided this money have the necessary quail
ties for fulfilling we'll the functions attributed to it that
say for serving instrument Of exchange and provided
the quantity put into circulation have relation to the want
and do not exceed the demand.
II would be we'll then, to make The money of metals
which have little value without any mixture with silver To
employ silver for this purpose would be pure loss
Moreover would be well to make different mixtures with
different METALS common metals Of being understood
in order coin inoxdxsbe pieces having different colos
that by simple inspection Of the color their respective value
be disne and by their inoIdzabiiy the nconve
Of sung the hands in counting them will be obvaed
Besides, the color of tie pieces, resulting from the mngng
the different METALS would be check to the counerieiter
As to the dimensions Of the pieces there need of coin
ing any the of which very inconvenent
The largest, Wi would have the value Of dollar, should
exceed in the piece Of twenty-five cents and then,
by degrees smaller dimensions should be given to the pieces
OF one half Of onequarte Of one-eghh, Of tenth, Of
onewentieth and OF onehundred,h Of dollar thus abolish
ing cents Of copper.
n proposing coin pieces Of one-halG of quarter and
OF oneeighth Of dollar do believe violate the de-
cimal in operation This system consists in the
metallic subdivisions Of the dollar but indeed in counting by
the decimsl fraction, by the hundredh part of the dollar,
which state all accounts. all payments in public
private business
o the new money such quantity should be coined that
W value could equal relatively the value Of the gold money
which hereafter would be the only monetary standard Of the
country
pensaed or but there shl be substituted for il money
more c"nverient economical and unaffected by varia
ons 10 the pnce Of the metal Of which shall be made And
prevent all possibility Of abuse the part Of Government
which IN cases necessity could coin Of than might
be necessary and thus depreciation in it's vaue the
Executive power sha be prevented from having any control
over the money without the concurrence Of the two egsa
tive Chsmoers ana every thing concerning the new money
shall be pac.d under tne care and responsibility Of commit
tee composed o. members Of the two Chambers Of commits
sions from The Executive, and Of deeeae. f in
dustry and agriculture With precau,tors ,bpe would
be impossible There other ACCESSORY measure. o e ia
ken for this object The reader will find detail of be in
the article 10 Revue Bsnnique which we spoke ,bov
and which is here annexed.
Criticism in the Rerue Brfanni9ue Of The ,cork ert6
" Financial Crises and Reform Of the Monetary H,s
ten, published in 1889, by VI. L. CHrri, late Ptofes
@ Of Political Economy.
Theloan made the Bank Of England by that Of Franc,
81. = ---.s-l =