The advocate., 1892-05-18

rage 1851
Mr.. Dana Horton, delegate Of the
United States, says, on page 1872:
But for statutes, to be read in the books which
have cited, gold would have been where oliver
is to-day.
Mr.. Oernuschi, presented q memo
randum of Mr.. r. B. Chapman, Of the
financial department of the govern
ment Of India, from which we quote
the following:
During the last thirty-hve years the value Of
each metal in turn has been seriously lmperiled
by threatened or actual legislation Of this kind.
After the discovery Of gold in California and
Australia, one Of the most dlStln Iuished of
French economists (CheValier) and q well known
English economist OausOn) ObliviOus, ,aSlIt would
seem, OF the effects OF their proposals upon the
existing standards Of value, and thus upon con-
tracts throughout the world, earnestly and per-
sIstently advocated the dlsuse Of gold as money;
fthelr advocacy had prevailed, the value Of gold
would have been destroyed. Now, again, with
In the last few years, silver has been actually
demonetized in Europe, the stability Of It's value
being thereby seriously impaired. Plainly,
either metal might be at any moment demOnec-
ized, and It's value indefinitely reduced by hu-
man legislation.
And again:
II the conclusion be accepted, and It appears
undenlable, that human legislation, by causing
their dlsuse as money, and so lncapaCltating
them for the duty Of storing value, can deprive
either or both Of the precious metals OF the
greater part Of their value 1t follows, conversely,
that the value of either metal can, by the same
lnstrumentalIty, be increased at the expense of
the other, and, accordingly, that their relative
value can, within wide limits, be fixed and de-
fined. Pages 1876 and 1861
Count Rusconi said:
Do not the precious metals lose nlne-tenthS Of
their valuelf they are deprived Of the faculty Of
being converted into money? What has hap
pened to silver; and what would happen, II the
mintage of 1t was everywhere suspended, pro-
hiblted? Would not that metal Immediately
lose nearly all its value? Page 299.l
Alexander Del Mar, in his history
of the precious metals, says:
Legal regulations, first, concerning the ratio
ITSELF and second, concerning money at all, are
next to quantity, the most potent influences that
determine the ratio Of value between the pre-
clous metals. Page 227.l
Again, page 227:
The monetIzatlon or decentralization Of either
metal or q change of standard, as it is called,
will diminish the supply compared with the de-
msnd, of the monetized metal. Such an act will
enhance the demand without increasing the
supply, and thus render the m0netized metal
dearer, and contrariWise the demOnetized metal
cheaper.
Professor Francis A. Walker, in
his works on money, says:
The extensive fall In the value Of silver since
1S7S which Is often referred to as proving the
unhtnesy Of silver to be Joined with gold In the
Office Of money, appears TO me to show most
strikingly the power Of legislation In keeping the
two metals together. Page 266.l
Again, in a foot note on the same
page, he says:
That the changes In the comparative pur
chasing power Of the two metals between 1873
and 1876 were wholly or mainly due to changes
in supply, or to changes In demand disconnected
from the acts OF government dealing with the
legal relations of gold and silver, really cannot
conceive any intelligent and candid man as now
maintaining.
These authorities might be multi
piled indefinitely, were it necessary.
Now what is the situationG At the
demand Of the gold bugs and in dis
regard of every interest Of the people,
silver was demonetized in 1873 in this
country. At the time of its demonet-
ization the silver in a dollar, accord