Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-02-08

monetary standard. On the other,
the bimetallists, or supporters of the
old system of the double standard.
Among the former are Messrs. Louis
Bamb erger, of Berlin; Max Wirth, Of
Vienna; Frere Orban, of Brussels;
Feer Herzog, of Berne, and in France,
Michel Chevalier, De Parieu, Victor
Bonnet, Frederick Passy, and Leroy
Beaulien. Their principal organs are
in London, the Economist; in Paris,
the Journal des Debats, and the Econ
omeste.
On the other side are Messrs, Ma
Ion, Minister of Finances in Belgium;
Laveley and Allard. of Brussels;
Count Sclopis. of Turin; Leon Say,
Magne, Wolowsky, Andre Courcelle-
Seneuil, and Henri Cernuschi, OF
France. The principal organs of this
group are the Steele, and the Rep ubL
due Francaase.
The theory of the monometallsts
may be summed up as follows. The
first cause of the perturbation now
prevailing in the monetary market is
the supersbundant production of sill
yer. The mines of the New World,
by pouring in upon US tons of this me
tai at the very time when the coinage
of silver is restricted in almost every
country, have produced such a differ
ence between its value and that of
gold that the balance lie irretrievably
destroyd. Every attempt, moreover,
to maintain constant ratio between
the value of the two metals, both of
which are subject to so many causes
of variation, must always prove utter
ly useless. There exists but one rem
edy of real efficacy for the state of
things created by the bimetalic sys-
tenn. We must completely abandon
that system and adopt gold as our sole
monetary standard. On that condi-
ton only we shall be able to extrioate
ourselves from the dangers and diff
culties of two metallic standards legal
ly exchangeable at par, though one of
them is much more abundant than the
other, and at the same time very
bulky.
To these arguments, which the very
able economists of the Journal des
Mr.. Leroy Beaulieu, advances
with great force, and which M, de
Parieu presented in the Senate with
all the authority of his long expert
ence in financial matters, the bimetal-
lists oppose the following answer.
1t is not the superabundant produc-
ton of silver thst has caused the per-
it is the Limitation of the
coinage of silver, a measure almost
equivalent to total suppression, and
the withdrawal of a great part Of the
silver coin already existing. SILVER
h. ving lost tho prin oipol use to which
it has always been applied, remains
partly unemployed, and its deprecia.
lion increases as the demand for it
goes on decreasing. The total adop
ton of the monometalic system, far
from improving the present state of
things, would do nothing but aggra-
vate it, and infallbly result in fear
full financial catastrophe. To extri-
cate ourselves from these difficulties,
we should, on the contrary, hasten to
our steps and restore silver to
its destination, by repeating all meas
ures restricting its coinage. So soon
as the great Powers, resuming the
bimetallic system fully, shall decree
that the coinage of gold and silver is
and that the two metals
shall always be exchangeable at a rate
established once for all-that of Isl
for l, for instance, which is already
generally accepted there will be no
more fluctuations in the relative value
Of gold and silver. AS the two metals
will constitute but one monetary
mass, the greater or less quantity
produced by the mines of either of
them can then effect only the total
mass. The purchasing power of this
mass may increase or diminish, &C
cording to its greater or less abun,
dance, but gold and silver, whatever
may be the quantity of either, will re-
tain theirrelative value, since the one
will always be representative ofthe
other.
This theory is certainly very attrac-
tive, and it has found in Mr.. Henri
Cernuschi most ardent. indefatiga-
BILE, and every ready advocate. In
the daily notes, which he published in
the Steele, as well as in multitude of
that are Immediately trans
lated into English and German, this
bold and original economist defends
the double-metalic standard by argu-
ments which / cannot undertake to
in this summary, but which
certainly deserve the serious atten-
ton of all who take an interest in the
question.
Among the considerations invoked
by the bimetallsts two are certainly
of special importance. The first is
that every measure restricting the
coinage of silver has Immediately
been followed by decline of the
metal. The fact is undeniable; but
it may be mere coincidence, and not
a consequence. 1t is possible that
silver would have declined even if its
coinage had not been restricted. The
bimetallists here merely invert the ar
gument Of the monometallists, who
say that the coinage was restricted
for the very reason of the decline Of
silver. The second consideration bears
on the enormous perturbation that
would infallibly follow the general APP
plication of the monometalllc system.
In order to accomplish it. it would in
fact be necessary to withdraw from
circulation an enormous quantity of
metal. What, for example, would be
the amount of it for France, Ger
many, and British India alone?
In France from 1895 to 1871, in
elusive, silver has been coined to the
value of 5.122 100000 francs. OF
these, 236, 100000 have been with
drawn by Government, and it is esti-
mated that of the balance only 1,200,-
600 900 to 100000 in fve-franc
pieces still exist in France, OF which