The independent., 1903-03-26

LIft ItSdl pTlCE, Tie uudutlIy VI uOuCy
IS doubled; and by making the legal
lprite half as much, there is half as
much money.
" But, going back to the silver ques-
| tion eDce more, we have found, that,
when silver was cheaper than gold,
| /. e.. when fifteen ounces of silver
were worth less, in the market, than
one ounce of gold--this being the ra-
ito at which the private owners had
a right tC coin-the pound sterling"
was actually represented by 1858
grains of silver instead of 129 4-1O
grains Of gold and that each shilling
was one-twentieth of that amount, or
abou. 9S grains of silver, instead of
651aa. grains Of gold, and each penny
was orc-twelfth of that amount OF sill
yer. or about grains, instead of half
a grain cf gold. This was what the
double standard" theory amounted
to. when put into practice. The re-
suit was, that 1858 grains of silver
were fighting 129 4-10 grains of gold
or 129 4-10 grains of gold were fight
ing 1858 grains of silver. The con-
flict sometimes became very confus-
ing, SO much so that they hardly
!new what shilling was, on account
of the indefinite meaning given to the
"pound-sterling," under the opera
tion of free" coinage of two metals.
For nearly two hundred years, that
is, from 1545 to 1920, all Europe, in
cluding England, had silver period,
the ratio of production, on account of
the excessive flow of silver from Amer
lea, being not less than q of silver
to one of gold, and some of the time,
So of silver to one of gold, much more
of the time at least 50 of silver to
one of gold. And, yet, the relative val
lie of silver and gold did not change
much.
Since 1876 till the present time, new
er has more than 20 of silver to one OF
gold come annually from the mines
to market; and, yet, the relative value
of silver and gold has changed very
much. From 1876 to 1880 about fif-
teen of silver to one of gold came an
nually from the mines, and from 1880
to 1885 about 19 of silver to one OF
gold came annually to market. The
greatest flood of silver compared with
gold was from 1885 to $780, when twen-
ty of silver to one Of gold came an
nually from the mines. And, yet,
since 1876 the relative value of sill
yer and gold has changed from 1:16
to lao. How can we account for this,
except on the ground that the mints
of Europe and America began to be
closed to free coinage of silver in
1870 and kept open to free coinage OF
gold?
In England the pound sterling"
as we must now notice, is an ideal
thing which is divided into twenty
"shillings," each one of which must
be an ideal thing, also, and the ideal
shilling is divided into twelve pence"
each one Of which must also be an
ideal thing although it, as we'll as
the shilling and pound sterling must
be represented by a material thing.
In England from 1866 until 1916 the
ideal pound sterling was represented
sometimes by guinea coin, which
meant certain quantity of gold; and
sometimes by twenty silver coins,
CdCh CdtCu q oulllluE anu WulCu lOp-
certain amount of silver
Each penny was represented by a GER
tain amount of copper, in the form of
coin, twelve of which were supposed
to be equal in value as merchandise
to the silver in the shilling, as we'll
as equal in payment Of debts. It is
time, now, to begin to see the differ
ance between that ideal thing called
a pound sterling, and that material
thing (gold, silver or copper also
called pound sterling.
Names must not mislead us at this
point.
The ideal pound sterling is an intel
lectual thing, spiritual thing. 1t is
always the same. 1t originated in the
mind of the ruler of a nation. 1t
the sovereignty of ma
ton. 1t is pure thing, unadulter- |
ated; but when it has to be repre-
sented by material thing, then it |
has to partake of all the imperfec- |
lions of material things. If, for ex- |
ample, it is. represented by a certain |
quantity of gold, then it must neces-
sarily change with all the changes of |
gold; If by certain amount of sill |
yer, then it must change with all the |
changes Of silver; if by 240 copper
coins called pennies, then it must