Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1853-08-17
High Prices--eold and silver.

The enhanced price at which property Of near
ly all kinds is now sold is subject of general re-
mark. Many persons attribute the rise to a wild
spirit of speculation abroad in the country, and
prophecy reaction which will involve mul,itudes
in ruin. A writer in the July number of Black
woods Magazine. however treats the subject with
great ability and shows indirectly that specula-
ton is rather consequence than the course ofthe
rise. He says the rise in price is owing to the
immense amounts of gold exported from Caifor-
mia and Australia and thinks it will prove lasting
GAS it arises" he says, ''from an annual increase
in the supplies of specie which are to form the
monetary circulation Of the whole world so its eff
fects must be very much diffused. and plethora
of currency in any particular country is less like
ly to occur than when it was founded on paper,
which is capable of increase in particular state
to any extent. The rise of prices which followed
the discovery of the mines of Mexico and Peru in
the sixteenth century was so gradual that it was
not perceived at the time, and 1t only became ev-
ident when, after the lapse of century, it was
found that prices of all sorts had been quadrupled.
| The rise in our times has been much more sud-
den, owing to gold, in which the greater increase
of production has taken place, being fifteen times
as valuable as silver, which the mines of Potos and
Mexico chiefly yielded. But still it has been and
must be gradual, and, above all, 1t is not liable
to be ,uahdrawn." 1t is estimated that the pro
ducts Of the precious metals throughout the world
in 1852, were $24S 200 ,000-an excess of $74,-
100000 over the products of the previous year
So large an addition to the currency of the world
in one year, is calculated, we should think, to
raise prices more suddenly than Blackwood seems
to count upon. Speculation must be proportionally
stimulated and it is not probable that all persons
who engage in it will escape unhurt, although
prices may be permanently raised. e -
The same writer predicts also a radical and
peaceful change in the Government Of Great Brit
ain, without any legislative action, as a conse-
quence of the depreciation ofmoney and the raise
in the money prices of every thing else:
This is the practical lo,ccring Of the franchise,
which must result from the dimnution of the val
ne of money. If .fl0 come to be worth only IS,
the ten FOUNDER practically becomes five pound
er, and the suffrage is, to all intents and purpose,
lowered half. Great, indeed, must be the effect
of this alteration on the popular influence and bal
ance of parties in the state. A similar change took
place in former days, in consequence of the dis
covery of the mines of South America. The 40s
freeholder, who, when the franchise was fixed, in
the time of Henry w., was originally worth GAO
a-year Of our money, gradually fell, with the in
fux of silver, to be only WORTH first, Gt2O ayear,
then fl0, then Is, and at last only f2. A SINH
lar change may be anticipated as likely to take
place still more quickly from the influx of gold,
which, as the more valuable metal will affect pri
ces much more rapidly than silver did ; and posi-
bly,, before twenty years have elapsed, if the pro-
duce of the mines continues TO be as considerable
as it now is, the tea-pounder may in reality be-
come what t,co-pounder was at the date of the
Reform Bill being passed. The effect of this will,
of course be, that the House of Commons will be
still further popuarsed than it now is; it will BE
returned by constituency, the majority of which
is composed of the working classes. BY the sim
pie act of Providence, in opening the mines of
California and Australia, power in Great Britain
will slip from the hands of the -pounder-that
is,he buying and selling class-and fall into those
of the four pounders-that is, the working and
producing class. AS the burgh members are
three -fifths of the House of Commons, this class
of men will, if the present constitution remains
unaltered, and without any legislative lowering
of the franchise, acquire the entire direction OF the
state"
} Mr.. DIsRAELI, the celebrated English states
man, accounts for the scarcity of silver coin IN
, Great Britain and America, as follows:
r First, while the annual production of gold has
quadrupled, the yield of the silver mines has re-
manned stationary and as the influx of gold has
given an immense expansion TO business of all
kinds, and increased the demand for every com
modify, silver, being no more plentiful now than
, formerly, has become proportionally scarce. Sc
condly, in Holland and some other European
states, silver is the standard Of value and hence
the excess of expectation to those countries over
the importation from them, has to be paid for in
silver coin. Thirdly, and chiefly, in India gold
coin is not known among the natives from whom
the commodities of commerce are purchased, nor
is gold in that country legal tender; and as the
excess of Indian expectation over importation is
exceedingly great, there is an enormous drain of
silver from Europe and America, to pay for the
excess In the year 1852, England alone sent
fifteen millions of dollars in silver to India. MIR.
D'Israeli proposes, as a remedy to the growing
scarcity of silver, that gold be made the standard
of value, and legal tender, throughout the Brit
ish possessions in the Oriental world.