The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1892-08-17
MONETARY COMMISSION.
Report OF the United statOs Monetary
Commission, Appointed by Act Of Con-
RresS August 10, 1875.

Ernest Seyd bullion, page 631) as
cribes the occasional higher prices OF
silver In London to the demands for the
eastern trade, and adds that "on the con-
tlnent silver has varied but little In
price," Sir Isaac Newton, in TIT, treated
much larger fluctuations In London,
arising from the same cause, as Of no i'm
portauce. In his report, then made as
master of the mint, he determined the
average price of silver in London to be
6416 pence, and adds:
When ships are ladlng for the East Indies, the
demand OF silver for expectation raises the price
% 66 or 68 pence, or above, but consider not
those extraordinary cases.
The sudden increase of the demand
for silver In England in 1859, Is shown
by the fact that British silver exports to
the east rose from G4,753,933 in 1858 to
more than three times that amount in
1860.
The steadiness in the relative market
value Of the two metals under 8 sudden
and great increase OF the supply and
stock Of gold having been thus demon
strated by experience, 1t Is incredible
that it can have been at all affected by
the smaller and slower increase Of the
last few years In the supply and stock OF
silver. For a long period Of time prior
to 1848, silver had been produced greatly
IN excess Of gold, and is not now pro-
duced equally with 1t, and 1t Is not
likely to be so produced in many years.
The most that can be said 10, that the
yield of silver has recently recovered
from a temporary relative deficiency. Its
present increased yield, as has been
shown, Ia principally from the Comstock
lode. Even IL an excessive relative pro-
ducslon of either metal would tend TO
disturb the relative value Of the metals,
the production of the Comstock lode,
which yields almost as much gold as sill
YER, could not occasion such disturb
ance.
The results following the extraordl-
nary supply of gold from California and
Australia, as we'll as those which fol-
lowed the extraordinary supply OF sill
YER after the discovery Of America,
show that the steadiness Of the relative
value Of the metals, under the great
vlclssitudes of production, Is sufficiently
great to justify their concurrent uses as
money, and is very much greater than
the Steadlness In the value of either or
both Of them, as compared with all other
things.
One cause for the steRdiness in the
relative value of gold and silver Is per-
haps to be found in the hypothesis that
during the past three centuries, when
the variations In their relative market
value has osclllated between IA and 10
Of silver to l Of gold, the variations In the
relative cost Of producing them have also
been between IA and 10 to l, taking into
account all the varying conditions OF
production. But while there seems to
be q not very unsteady relation OF value
between the metals, independent of legiS-
lAtlon, whether based upon cost Of pro-
ductlon over long terms Of time, as as
sumed In the foregoing hypothesis, or
upon the relative magnitude Of the ac-
cumulatsd stocks Of gold and silver, or
upon some other foundation, 1t also ap-
pears to be established by experience
that law can make the relation exact aud
permanent, within the range Of fluctua-
tious determined by other causes. A law