Year: 1877

TO be regretted that we should not learn precisely
what is intended by the demand for silver, at It's
cost of production. Silver ia now being produced IN
some places at two shillugs an ounce; in others at
three or four shillings, and in few at four shnes
SIX or eight pence. There are still other places, for
some unimacinable reason not now the scene oi
mining operations in which silver exists in vast
quantities where the cost Of production Is or would
be- five shilugs or six, seven, eight, ten, or even
twenty slnllings an ounce What We do not under
stand is whether Nh Poor means that all silver Is III
demand AT the cost Of production, or II not men,
what silver is We trust he means that all SILVER Is
80 in demand for otherwise 1t is difficult 10 see Ho"
te value of silver can be absolute. II silver IL only
III demand when it can bc produced below hVe SlhF


lings an ounce how we any better OH than Wheh


Aristotle and the Schools deludlng us with their


vain babbliugsG


OF course. il can only be n coincidence that the


mines which would yield silver at cost OF iro6uc-
ton Of five shilucs and upward, are, in all cases,
the mines which are not being worked, since Mr'
Poor assures MS that silver is always IN demand at
the cost OF production, whatever that may De; put
condolences Of this kind often affect the imasIna-
tion and trouble the spirit, in spite of reason. 1t
would have been an act Of kindness had Ar. Ioor'
in consideration of human weakness and the strong



upon the world, offered some cxplauaton-such as
he could nave done in mnute-0i tins circumstance
The value of silver is absolute, because it depends
on only one thing. That we understand. and it is
great qualification To know IT, IL gives us something
10 live for The one thing which silver saIlo"ed
to depend is the cost Of production Tins, again,
sounds as comforting Mesopotamla did to the poor
woman mourning for her sins. AT its cost OF pro.
ducton, silver Is always IN demand Would We
could see it 10 be sol Peace can only CONE to a
world distracted by dialcctcs and logomachy in some
such way this but what, alas what shall we 90
with the si&-shilng mines


The puuuple which we have quoted, and which,
I'm spite Of Che veil which obs.ur,5 single feature
Of I,. no one at all familiar with such things can
hesitate 10 IJonouuce iirtcb0p, Is made by Mr. ioor
and very properly So the basis of his entire system
of money. at Is" he justly remarks, in over
looking the original aud universal atiacIyeness
which the precious metals have for the race that
nearly all the inmOneary science have arisen
"If Aristotle Hume, Smith, and other economists,


place ofdeclarng money TO have only tcutiouso or
conventional value, OF It's value and productions 10
be less than those Of other kinds of property. had set
Themselves at work to explain the phenomenon OF
the universal demand for money at usuIy the his
tory Of political economy would have been wholly dill
fcrent" How far that little candle throws his beams
Light stretches across the long track Of monetary
history Just as soon AS Mr. Poor calls attention to
the hitherto unobserycd fact that the human race
are fond Of gold and silver Such discovery is none
the less sublime because il seems simple.


F5r Il follows clearly that as the value Of the
precious metals is absolute, since il depends on only
one condition while the value Of all other articles i
relative, depending not on one condition, but on
two "il all transactions the former pass at their
absolute value" while d" from absence of demand


the value Of the latter may not equal onc-haf Their
cost" Now, what could Aristotle say 30 this That
imprcssible and irrcpressble child would be silent
and reflective for once, from the consciousness Of
ms own ignorance and impotence. But how hurnili-
ating the Thought, that we have had to wait till
1877 for a truth like this! But mark you, there il
more TO come: As all other articles must take tic
form the precious metals orof that which possesses
a value equivalent thereto, before they can De made
available to their owners THAT is, as the potatoes
which an Irishuan raises in his garden must,
before they can bc made available TO their owner
(c g. DE boiled roasted, take the form Of the pre-
ciogs metals, Whatever the prevailing form of The
precious metals happens to be at the time, of that
which possesses value equivalent thereto though,
indeed, what can possess value equivalent to that
of the precious metals since this is absolute while
the value of al other things Is relative ?! "aud
must be accepted in exchange at their absolute
value IN gold and silver" That is, the value Of These
things is relative explained but, being exchanged
for gold and silver then value relative before must
as any one can Sec become absolute at once,l "thc
latter must Ice the standard Of value by winch that
of all other articles is measured"


Probably nothing needs to he added to this.
Standing on the pinnacle here reached, Che whoio
subject of money stretches away beneath the
eye, in panoramic ordcrliness. and completeness.
Mr. Poor deals at lonGth-ycs, We think we are
justified in saying at some lcugtI-wth the topic of
symbolic currcncics. but while he touches nothing
which Dc does not adorn. the greatness of this work.
in an intellectual, not physical sense, viii always
be held to lie IN the rigid analysis to which


under purely scientific methods" which are, as
our readers must have noticed, entirely different
from any previously used,' he subjects the money
function.


Henry Holt & Co., will shortly publish
Dita" new novel by Lady Margaret Macude, author
of Giannetto" The latter had its laid IN Italy,
and probably for that IeasOn dld not have noticeable
success H. style and qualty, however, place
in the Leisure Hour Series. The tins time, is laid
principally among The upper glasses Of Great Britain.