advocated by a large and increasing number of thoughtful 

 business men, — bankers, merchants, manufacturers and agricul- 

 turaUsts. Several much respected Statesmen, and the Professors 

 of Pohtical Economy at the Universities of London, Cambridge 

 and Edinburgh were also in favour of it. He hoped to be able to 

 show that the proposal was practicable, I'easouable and just, and 

 essential to a return of prosperity. The terms in which his 

 subject was stated implied some historical considerations : — 

 Where, when and under what circumstances did the Joint 

 Standard exist ? When and with what consequences did it cease 

 to exist ? These are the first questions which came across their 

 path. But before dealing with them, some definitions were 

 desirable. What was meant by a standard of value ? What by 

 the Joint Standard ? There were two meanings attached to the 

 word Standard: — (1) The full aggregate amount of legal tender 

 money available for use. In England, this consisted of the bank 

 notes and gold in circulation and held as banking reserve, 

 together with the subsidiary token coinage of sUver and coj)per ; 

 in France, both gold and silver together with the bank notes, 

 all of which were legal tender, without limit. In Germany and 

 the United States, there was also a large mass of silver which 

 was used on equal, or nearly equal terms, with gold. All these 

 countries are said to possess a gold standard, but practically all 

 of them have more or less silver, which was kept at par with 

 gold, and was therefore in effect as good as gold. (2) The 

 " Standard of Value " also sometimes meant the monetary unit. 

 In England the gold sovereign, in Germany the gold mark, and 

 in the United States the gold dollar were frequently described as 

 the standards of value in these several countries. In India the 

 standard of value was silver, and the unit of value was the 

 silver rupee. 



At present the Joint Standard of silver and gold nowhere 

 existed, but between 1803 and 1873 it practically prevailed 

 everywhere. In France gold or silver were during that period 

 coined freely and for aU comers at a fixed ratio. This ratio was 

 preserved not only in France but throughout the world, and it 

 might be said quite accurately that even in countries which had 

 nominally the single standard, whether of gold or in silver, the 

 real standard was that prevailing in France. It was therefore 

 strictly proper to speak of the aim of the present movement as the 

 restoration of the Joint Standard. As soon, however, as the French 

 Mints were closed, as they were in 1873, to the free coinage of silver 

 the single standard countries realized for the first time what it 

 was to possess a true single standard, and thenceforward a great 

 change took place in the commercial relations of the silver and 

 gold standard countries respectively. Even previous to 1803 the 

 Joint Standard practically existed, because all countries using 



