THE MONETARY PROBLEM. 213 



During the Christian era the ratio between the values of 

 the two metals has varied from eleven to one to thirty-two 

 to one, which is about the commercial ratio to-day. The ques- 

 tion at the root of the present bimetallic controversy, there- 

 fore, is : 



Can a definite ratio be preserved between the values of silver 

 and gold, notwithstanding that under the law of supply and de- 

 mand the ratio rises and falls ? 



There are those who think that such a definite ratio can be 

 fixed and maintained by legislative enactment, either national or 

 international, but the possibility of the maintenance of a fixed 

 ratio is negatived by the history of at least five centuries. This 

 is nowhere shown more clearly than in the valuable History of 

 Currency, by W. A. Shaw ; the verdict is " clear, crushing, and 

 final " — that is, the purchasing power of a pound of gold or a 

 pound of silver in the markets of the world is never a matter of 

 certainty for any extended period. This is not alone because of 

 the fluctuation in the value of other commodities, but also be- 

 cause of the unequal fluctuations in the value of these commodi- 

 ties themselves. The results that naturally follow these fluctua- 

 tions legislation is powerless to change. Since 1890 the United 

 States has been learning this fact through bitter experience. As 

 stated on a previous page, the nation has incurred an indebted- 

 ness that will approximate three hundred millions of dollars in 

 the effort to maintain the ratio of 15'98 to one. 



It was long claimed by radical advocates of silver, that if the 

 mints were open to the unrestricted coinage of that metal, as they 

 are to the unrestricted coinage of gold, coins of the two metals 

 would circulate together, and a double standard be thereby estab- 

 lished. But it is clear that the silver coins would inevitably be 

 accepted at their bullion value only. The effort of the national 

 administration to maintain the parity of the two metals, which 

 has been strained even under the restricted use of silver, would be 

 broken by the deluge that its unrestricted use would bring. The 

 four hundred and twelve and a half grains of silver that were 

 worth one dollar in gold a generation ago would be worth but 

 fifty cents in gold to-day. If four hundred and twelve and a half 

 grains of silver were still molded and stamped as one dollar, gold 

 dollars would be worth twice as much as silver dollars: there 

 would be two separate and distinct standards of value. If, not- 

 withstanding this, it should be the edict of Congress that dollars 

 of the two metals should circulate side by side, it is evident that 

 gold dollars would be hoarded, sent out of the country or melted, 

 for no one would pay a gold dollar for an article that could be 

 purchased with a silver dollar worth but half as much. The cur- 

 rency of the country would fall to the silver basis, and, as the bul- 



