The Saint Paul globe., 1896-10-15

silveD. If silver is as good as gold
Tor the needs of commerce, it will NOT
need to clamor for its rights" The
cfux or the matter is, it is not pre-
rerred to gold; and all the fuss about
silver arises from an artificial attempt
20 20 put back the discarded and unpre-
ierred metal into the position it once
neld before gold, as the preferred metal.
grove 1t out. There is nothing obscure
IN the fall in value of silver. Legisla-
lion mas chosen gold rather than silver
noI because law can make one
oa os,,se ene - other valuable. but be-
and wants Of the people. De.
monetization of silver is but an ex-
preston in Germany or the TTnitad
states OF the fact that gold is a better
standard from the commercial point of
view or the business people Of those
states NO law would be effective that
was not based on the needs and opin-
IONS OF the community; otherwise it
would be dead letter
Inc abundance of the. new gold
So, 80O, COO O00) allowed one country
after another to aid the evolution Of
the gold from the silver standard a
mere enumeration of these events will
De sufncient for us: the act of 1853 in
the United States, virtually acceptine
the gold standard Followed by the AR
CT 1873; adoption of gold by Germanv
IN 1873; discontinuance Of silver coin
age by Holland in 1875; cessation of sill
yer coinage, in order to preserve the
goId standard, by France, Italy Bel
gum and Switzerland in 1878; stoppage
OF silver coinage by Austria-Hungary
In 1873; the resumption of specie paw
ments @ IN gold by the United States in
1913; resumption Of gold payments bv
Italy in 1882; adoption Of measures to
secure a gold standard by Austria
Hugary In 1892; cessation of silver coin
age Dy India in 1893; repeal of pur-
chase clause of Sherman act by an
uprising of business interests of tbe
United States in 1893 November ID:
measures taken to establish the poId
standard in Russia, 1896
IL mas been claimed that silver and
gold have varied in value according
10 tnelr respective bulk in existence at
dIIerent periods from 1900 to recent
years. Such reasoning is one Of the cur
loSltleS or monetary discussion. The rel
at1ye values of two articles have noth-
ing to do with their respective weight.
or bulk, any more than a mans in
nuence and capacity varies according
to his size and fatness To argue.
moreover, that the value of silver to
gold is determined by the relative
amounts in existence at different
periods is an absurdity; because it is
an economic folly to speak as if ac-
count need be taken only of supply,
and nothing whatever of demand. in
determining value. If the world had
81 tons of silver to one of gold in 1sOO-
1920. and silver stood at 1:15b to gold.
that value was fixed not merely by
the supply, but also by the demand
Tor that supply. And, today, if there
are more tons Of gold relatively to silver
than in 1800-1820, the relative value of
silver to gold depends on a vastly
greater number of things than mere
tonnage. In fact. the demand for gold
is greater than the demand for silver
exactly because It's bulk is less than
that of silver. AS silver has increased
by unheard-of tons, it has became less
stable in value. for no other reason
than copper or ore would vary in value.
And in many other respects the de-
mand for gold differs from the demand
for silver They are not things of the
same kind; demand for money can
not be indiscriminately satisfied either
by gold or silver, any more than a de-
mand for food is equally satisfied by
wheat or corn.
j. Laurence Laughlin.