The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1892-08-17

Of other demands for them than as money.
When the magnitude Of the worlds In
terests and equities, which rest on stea1i
ness In the value Of money, is contrasted
with the comparative unimpOrtance of
the uses of the metals as commodities, It
becomes apparent that the subjection Of
the value Of money to disturbance from
the demands for gilded signs and look
ing glasses, for bangles and brsast-pins,
Is an evil which the bene fits derived from
such uses but poorly compensate.
The power of law in steadying the relR-
tive value Of the metals has been Gig
nslly illustrated during the extraordl-
nary variations of the last thirty years In
their relative supply. To whatever ex-
tent gold deprecated in relation 10 COM
modltles from tS48 to 1865, after the
California discoveries, silver deprecated
to the same extent, Notwithstanding the
enormous decrease in It's relative produc-
ton during that period. The two metals
fell together because the ligature Of law
was strong enough to hold them TO-
gether. The French law Of 1903 held
thell relations steady in Europe until 1t
was practically abrogated by the limita-
tlon Of silver coinage In 1874, and It's
total suspension in 1876. Jevons likens
the stocks Of the two metals to two reser-
volrs, supplied from independent sources,
and, therefore, tending to differences of
level, but actually kept at the same level
by connecting pipe. The connecting
pipe between the metals is the law,
which establishes legal relation of value
between them, and which, by suthoriz-
ing their interchangeable use as money,
maintains their market and legal rela-
ton of values at the same level.
1t Is not claimed that law can directly
control the relative values Of the metals,
or of anything else. But 1t is claimed
that upon the slightest divergence be-
tween the two metals, the law Of the
double standard creates a new and con-
slant demand for the cheaper metal,
while at the same time It suspends all de-
mRnd for the desrer one, and, until the
equlvalency Is restored, furnishes sup
ply of the dearer metal to the markets of
the world. It thus operates on demand
and supply, which, it is not denied, are
the sole factors Of value.
The power of country whose laws es-
tablish the double standard, to steady the
relative value Of the metals In the mar
kets Of the world depends, first, upon the
aggregate amount of its metallic clrcula-
ton, and, second, upon the proportions
of each metal In that supply. A country
with a metallic circulation of, say, $780,
100000 In gold and $25O,OO0OOO In silver,
has the power TO furnish to the worlds
markets those amounts respectively Of
both gold and silver, and TO take In cor
responding amounts of the other metals.
Under these conditions it could to that
extent check fluctuations In either di-
rection and from whatever cause arising
in the relative value of the metals. But
If the metallic money Of q country were
$4O0,OOO,0OO, wholly In silver or gold,
1t could only prevent q rise In the rela-
tive value of the particular metal which
it possessed, which 1t could do by yield
Ing up to the markets the whole Of that
metal and absorbing In Its place an equal
amount of the other. Thus France dur
ing the period of the greatest gold yield,