THE SILVER ISSUE 157 



developed at this time was not directed against the 

 omission of the silver dollar from the list of coins 

 nor against the establishment of a single standard 

 of value. The situation was quickly changed, how- 

 ever, by the rapid decline in the market price of sil- 

 ver. The bimetallists claimed that this decline was 

 a result of the monetary changes; the advocates of 

 the gold standard asserted that it was due to the 

 great increase in the production of silver. What- 

 ever the cause, the result was that, shortly after 

 silver had been demonetized, its value in propor- 

 tion to gold fell below that expressed by the ratio 

 of sixteen to one. Under these circumstances the 

 producers could have made a profit by taking their 

 bullion to the mint and having it coined into dol- 

 lars, if it had not been for the Act of 1873. It is 

 not strange, therefore, that the people of those 

 Western States whose prosperity depended largely 

 on the silver mining industry demanded the re- 

 monetization of this metal. At the same time the 

 stringency in the money market and the low prices 

 following the panic of 1873 added weight to the ar- 

 guments of those who favored an increase in the 

 quantity of currency in circulation and who saw in 

 the free and unlimited coinage of silver one means 

 of accomplishing this end. So powerful was the 



