Arizona weekly citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz) 1880-1901, 1894-01-27
| G0LD0RSILVER?
An Able Article for Bimet-
alism.
BI1ETALISM NOT NEW
It is Old and Tried and a Success
1T Should be Renewed
And Why.
BIIETALISM NOT NEW
BY Most Rev. DIR. w. J. Walsh. Archbishop of
Ireland.

Dt some ImpulslNe crlllcS IL mas pee
assumed that bimetallism is put fol
wa ard by it's advocates as an absolut
panacea for all the evils of our presen
social state.
Criticism based upon so mistaken
view is, Of course, altogether wide O
the mark.
| II has also been assumed that bimetal
hsm is something new, mere craze o
some eccentric theorists of the latte
half Of this nineteenth century. l
is Lot bimetallism, but monometallism
that's the novelty. Even ia England
monometallsm is of modern introduc
ton. England Of old was a bimetal
list country, and did not abandon
blmetallism until 1916. In France, iu
Italy, in Belgium, in Switzerland, and
III otaer countries of Europe, bimetal-
ism vas In full operation until 1873
1t Was the maintenance of bimet8liism
IN so many European countries during
the Year from 1916 to 1873, that prac-
tlcaliy secured for England aud for the
rest of the commercial world, through
ut those years. ali the main advantages
OF the bimetaliic system.
Bimetailiem, then, is In no sense novel.
sOn the contrary, it is the abandonment
Of thu bimetallic system, as the system
was worked in France and eIsew here
until 1873, that mas to be looked upon as
a ventureseme experiment. That ex-
pertinent has oeen made, and, as has
now become evident, the result has
been anything but q success.
A rise in the value Of gold means an
addition to the burden that presses upon
every farmer. A continuous rise IN the
value OF gold means constantly increas-
ing addition to that burden. These are
propositions which cannot be denied or
called 10 question by any one who know
the meaning of the words that be is
using.
What question, then, can be supposed
10 retatin open? Simply the ques ion Of
fact, v neither or not gold has risen, and
IS continuing 10 rise, in value. But
u her Is this any longer really open
que Jion. That gold has risen, that it
Is rising, and that in all probability it
must continue TO rise in value, is now
recognized no less distinctly by mono
metalllsts than il is by bimetallists.
The only practical difference between
mOnometaliisis aud bimetallists rs TO
this point is that bimetalliets have
practical remedy to suggest their sug-
gestion being that certain currency ar
raDgements which were abandoned IN
1873 should now be revived-whilst
the monometallists have no practical
remedy to suggest, and, in effect give
up the whole case 10 despair
As for recognizing that the evil exists,
and that il is an evil of serious and even
alarming gravity. there is no difference
whstever between the two contending
schools.
1t is said that, from the overpower-
ing influence of the capitalists, the
money-Owners and money-lenders of
he world, it Is futile TO expect that the
evils resulting from the operation of
The present system Of currency shall
be boldly grAppied with in their root.
Whether this is so or not, | have no
no ans of knowing.
L have here statement which | wrote,
for another purpose, some time ago. 1t is
a statement of few elementary facts
and principles of political economy
every explanation Of the currency ques-
tior. The points set out in it are purely
matters. They require, |
think, no explanation, as they certainly
require no proof. They are these
Money froms our common medium
OF exchange. At first, commerce, such
As 1t was, had to be carried On by a
syst m of pure barter-tne system IN
which, for instance. SO many sneep were
given In exchange for so many COWS, so
much corn for so much wool, and SO on.
Then, bs civilization progressed, this sys-
tenn of pure barter was displaced by the
of a common medium of
exchange, ava liable in all cases of sell
irg and buying. Nov with practical
all other materials for
standard money have given place to
gold and silver.
Mr.. Giffen in "The Case against BIZ
declares that: "Money, as
regards Its primary function, is simply a
selected first by custom, and
(otteD, but not always) confirmed by
Law, as an intermediary in transactions
"a something for which, in civilized
any other thing can be sold,
and with which any other thing can be
bought. In other words, particu ar
is selected to perform the
function of a common measure of value;
but it Is, and remains, commodity.
Gold remains gold, silver remains silver,
while they perform this function of
money; and they remain subject to
exactly the same laws of exchange as
before. A new use is imposed upon the
su distance. that rs all; the substance it
self is unchanged"
By the " value" of money, we are to
its " exchange value" or, in
other words, its purchasing power-that
is to say, the power which the possession
of money gives to those who possess II,
to 60 into an open market, and obtain,
in exchange for their money, the things
that are on sale there.
The metals, gold and silver, like all
other marketable commodities, are liable
to fluctuations in value; their value
being controlled, like that of AL other
by the law of eupply and
demand. This means that il gold and
silver are to be had in abundance, a
smaller quanty of other commodities
as, for instance, less corn, less hay,
less butter-will have TO be given in
exchaU ge for a definite quantity Of gold
and silver. On the other hand, if gold
and silver are not So easily to be had,
then, a larger quantity of other commod-
more corn, for instance, more
hay, more butter-will have to be
parted with, to obtain in exchange for
them the same quantity Of those metals
1T is now universally admitted in
works of political economy that any
such thinv as a commodity with abso-
lutte stability of value is unattainable
The most important characteristic of
a good monetary standard IL, that il
should preserve comparative stability
of value. The principal reason why,
of the multitude of commodities that
have been used for the material of
money at different lines, gold and
silver have survived as the fittest. is
because their great durability renders
the total stock extremely large COM
pared with the annual supply, and thus
eliminates one element of instability of
value" Nicholson: money and Mon