Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1896-07-16
Some Questions About Silver.

South McAlester, l. ITO the Star.
What would be the intrinsic value of
gold, il it were demonetized2 OF
course, il demonetized, it would be
merely commodity, What / want
to get at is how how much more val
liable gold is in the arts and sciences
than silver-presuming both were
money metals and neither favored by
law. w. L. AUSTIN.
1t is impossible to give even an ap-
proximste answer to the above ques-
ton. Gold was considered worth
about sixteen times as much as silver
long before such thing as a legal
tender law, or law regulating coinage
existed in any nation, and it is to be
supposed that gold would continue to
be used as a measure of value and
for the settlement of trade balances if
it should be "demonetlzed" by the ma
tions, contrary to the judgment of the
men who do most of the business Of
the world, so 1t might not decline
much under those conditions. But
such an occurrence is practically i'm
possible If gold were demonetized,
it would probably be for the reason
that the majority of the worlds trad
ers considered it no longer a desirable
commodity to constitute a measure of
values and a medium of exchange,
In that case it would lose the greater
part of its value. 1t would decline
until there should be a readjUstment
between demand and supply. The
declining value would check produc-
ton and at the same time enlarge the
uses for it. Gold would be used for
many purposes for which it IS now
too expensive, II gold and silver
both should be demonetized and some
sort of a monetary system (sucb as is
dreamed Of by ldealists) which does
not require the use of either gold or
silveA should be adopted, both metals
would decline enormously in price,
and probably would go so low thai
production of both would be almost
entirely suspended until the surplus
in the world should be used up. But
such an ideal monetary system could
not be put into use instantaneously,
and if 1t should be adopted by gov
ernments there would still be many
men who would perfer to use gold or
silver in buying and selling, and the
metals would be slow to go entirely
out Of use as money.
On the other hand, if there had
been no change in the opinions Of
men in civilized nations in regard to
the relative desirability of the two
metals for use as money, they would
today bear the same relation to each
other that they bore for 200 years
prior to 1870 that is, about 1G to l..
Irregularities of production would
not have greatly changed this ratio
unless they influenced a considerable
number of people to increase their
use Of one in preference to the other.
The question as to what silver would
be worth now if it were ''remonetized"
is one which no one can answer with
certainty, A free coinage law in this
country alone might advance the price
of silver somewhat, but there is no
reasonable probability that 1t would
put silver to its former value-that is,
10 to l, as compared with gold. Sill
yer has been discarded by half a dozen
nations and in addition to that the
production has increased four fold
1t is not reasonable to suppose it
could be restored to it's former value
by being taken up sgaIn by only one
of the half dozen nations which dis
carded 1t twenty years ago.