172 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the same year to 45^(7. From January to September, 1887, tbe aver- 

 age price was 46*8f/., declining to A^d. in October. 



During tbe early years of tbe decline of silver, tbe opinion was ex- 

 tensively entertained, tbat it was primarily and mainly occasioned by tbe 

 new supply to tbe world's market, consequent upon tbe sales of silver by 

 Germany,* and tbis opinion found so much of favor witb leading Ger- 

 man bankers, tbat it is understood tbat Germany suspended her sales 

 of silver in 1879 in accordance witb tbeir advice, and witb tbe expec- 

 tation that a partial or entire recovery of price would thereby ensue. 

 But no such result, as is well known, followed tbe suspension of sales 

 thus recommended. How little, moreover, there was of foundation for 

 this opinion, will appear from the following circumstances : 



Tbe aggregate silver product of the world during the years (1873- 

 '79), when Germany was selling her discarded coinage, was 6581,800,- 

 000, or more than four times tbe amount of the sales ($141,781,000) 

 which Germany actually effected.. Again, during tbe same period of 

 years when Germany was increasing the world's supply of silver, 

 through her sales, to tbe extent of 8141,781,000, the United States drew 

 upon and reduced tbis same supply by increasing her dollar and sub- 

 sidiary coinage to tbe amount of $lll,307,187.f Surely the world's 

 status of silver during these years must have been one of extraordina- 

 rily unstable equilibrium from antecedent causes, threatening serious 

 fluctuations in price even in the absence of anything abnormal, if tbe 

 addition of so small a net product during six years as $30,473,000 to 

 the current market supply of silver could depress the average bullion 

 price of tbe world's mass of this metal from 59^ to 51|^ pence per ounce, 

 or over thirteen per cent. 



That the term " unstable equilibrium " is truly expressive of the 

 real status of silver in 1873 would further appear from the following 

 evidence : There was a well-recognized movement in France against 

 silver and in favor of gold from 1853 to 1865, and its influence would 

 probably have shown itself in a fall in value of silver, had it not have 

 been for tbe cotton-famine consequent on the American war, which 

 occasioned extraordinary shipments of silver to India, and so counter- 



* The amount of silver (old coin) which Germany up to 1880 was able to sell, as the 

 result of her policy of displacing silver by gold, has been estimated at $270,000,000. Of 

 this amount $141, '781,000 had been sold up to May, 1879, when the sales were suspended ; 

 and since then, it is understood, that only a few additional millions have been marketed, 

 i. e., to Egypt. In addition, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, which followed the lead of 

 Germany, and changed their silver circulation to gold, have since thrown upon the market 

 about $0,000,000 of silver. (See Laughlin's llistorij of Bimetallism in the United States, 

 pp. 111-115.) 



f During the twenty years from 1853 to 1873, the aggregate silver coinage of the 

 United States was $57,137,000, or an average of only S2,85(),000 per annum, and of this 

 aggregate but $5,538,918 was in the form of silver dollars. From 1874 to 1879, inclusive, 

 the silver coinage of the United States was 35,859,360 trade-dollars, 35,801,000 standard 

 dollars, 22,899,785 halves, and 16,747,042 quarters and twenty-cent pieces ; total, $111,- 

 307,187, or an average of $18,600,000 per annum. 



