Arizona weekly citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz) 1880-1901, 1894-01-27

= to be used as money, and gives the
special functions which it confers on I
o,her commodity. In virtue of tn
selection, the demand for these metals
greatly increased, and, as they are en-
OF limited productions, their value is il
creased accordingly" says Robert Ba
clay.
A huctuation in the value of gold il
wolves tiuctuatjOn in the value of To
sovereign or gold dollar
This, of course, does not mean tht
the sovereign or dollar can ever b,
come worth more or less than twent
shillings or one hundred cents respet
lively. That would be a contradictio
in terms.
When we say, then, that the value c
the coin may tiuctuate, what We mea
is that, as medium of exchange, th
coin will sometimes have a greater
sometimes lesser, Exchange value
or purchasing power.
The reason of the liability to huctua
tim in the purchasing power of th
sovereign or gold dollar is plain
When go q rises in value, larger guam
tity of any other comm odity,-eay, o
cora, of hay. of butter, or of cloth, will
have 20 be given in exchange for an,
given quantity Of gold, such, for example
as the quantity contained in a sovereign
On the other hand, when gold falls il
value, smaller quantity OF any othel
commodity of corn, OF hay
of butter, or Of cloth, -wili suffice t
to obtain ID exchange for it any giver
quantity of gold, such as that contained
an sovereign.
1t is an obvious inference that on,
| gold coinags, however useful as a me.
Gium of exchange, does not flu, nish us
| with a standard of value, fixed and un-
alterable. 1t does not furnish US. for
example, with such a standard as the
yard is of length, or as the pound Troy
is of weight.
The popular notion, then, of gold.
constituting a fixed standard of value,
ls merely popular delusion.
The sole foundation for that delusior
manifestly is, that in these countries,
the values Of all commodities are com
monty stated in terms of the pound
sterling, in other words, in pounds.
shlllings, and pence,-"a shilling"
meaning the twentieth part of pound,
and "a penny" twelfth part of that
again. The natural result of this
method Of expressing the values of
commodities other than gold, is, that,
to the superficial observer, the impress
sion conveyed by rise or fall in prices
is that 1T is the value of all Their things
that changes, the value of TIE sovereign
remaining fixed.
The price Of things estimated in gold.
their gold price"-may change,
whilst their price estimated in silver
their 'slver price" remains unaltered.
This will occur if the value or pur-
ch ,slng power of gold goes up or down,
while the value or purchasing power of
silver remains unaltered.
Suppose, for instance, that gold is in
any way scarce In relation to the de-
mand upon it. Then in any country
where gold is the standard metal of the
currency, those who wish to obtain
certain quantity of gold, whether in
coin or la bullion, VIII have to give a
large quantity Of other commodities in
exchange forlt, or-to put the matter
IL another light-those who have only
a definiJe quantity of commodities to
part with viii receive less gold in re-
turn for them. IL other words there
is fall IN gold prices"
Suppose, OF the Contrary, that gold
IS abundant 10 relation to the demand
upon il. Then those who wish to
obtain certain quantity of gold,
whether III coin or in bullion, will
not have to give so large quantity
other commodities to obtain the quantity
Of gold they require, or-to put the
matter, as before, IN another light
those who have definite quantity of
other commodities to dispose of will
obtain more gold in return for them.
Ia other words, there is a rise in ''gold
prices"
If, in either case, there is no change
in the value of silver, then the prices
Of commodities, stated in silver-their
silver prices" as the technical phrase
is-will remain unchanged.
Similarly, OF course, the "sllver
price, of things may change, while
their " gold price" remains unaltered.
Now We reach the point at which
and bimetallsts begin
to differ. Take it IN this way. A
country may arrange its system of
standard money upon either of two
bases; it may take only one of the
value. No matter whether the metal
1CiCObcO 10 gnu VI SliNoE.
India, for instance, is 'silver"
m nometallic country: the standard
there Is rupee, which may be compar-
ed. with our tgo-shilling piece.
England, on the other hard, is a
gold" monOmetallic country, the
standard coin being the sovereign. As
to the silver coins of the English cur
rency, every one knows taat, though
they are current in a certain limited
quantity, they are not illegal tender" in
payment of debts for any amount be-
yond 40s.* The silver coins, then, of
the English mint are merely what are
termed "token coins, the value of
the silver in twenty OF our shilings-
pieces being altogether short of the
value of the gold in sovereign.
bImetAllism, as some writer's express
il, is the monetary system in which the
two precious metals, gold and silver,
are taken as standards of currency.
That, however, is a misleading way of
putting the Case. The word bimetallism
indeed is an unfortunate one to have
been chosen. 1t gives prominence to the
idea OF quality, and so leads many half
Informed people 10 think that blmetal- |
ism. as distinct from monometallism,
aims at having Two standards of value,
instead of one.
Now this is not at all the case. In
the bimetallist system there are not two
standards of value; there is but one.
One of the essential requirements of
standard, whether of value, or of length,
or Of We ght, or of anything elese, is
that it should be one. The word bimet-
allism, then, as | have said, is, in one
respect, al unfortunate one to have
been chosen. 1t gives rise to an I'M
happy notion that the bimetallsts favor
some sort of shifting or alternative
system of standards. But this is not
so The very opposite is the fact
Unity Of standard and stability of
standand--in So far as stability in this
matter Of standard of value is within
3 money is any exchangeable good
which is both medium of exchange
and a mea ure of exchange value.
Currency is any medium of exchange