442 THE IMPENDING REVOLUTION. 



talked seriously of, and in some countries did demonetize 

 it. It will be remembered that the discovery of the 

 Comstock lode and consequent increased output of silver 

 had a like effect. Several countries of Europe demone- 

 tized it. In 1873 the United States, yielding to the 

 ( ' persuasion ' ' of Ernest Sey d, who is said to have been 

 sent over here by English capitalists with five hundred 

 thousand dollars for that purpose, demonetized silver. 



So great, however, was the public clamor against this 

 act, that in 1876, Congress restored its legal tender quality, 

 but restricted its coinage. It will at once be seen, by any 

 intelligent mind, that with the ever varying circumstances 

 governing the production of these metals, the chances of 

 discovering new mines, or the failure of the old ones, 

 together with the constant danger of demands for expor- 

 tation to foreign countries, that it would be impossible to 

 preserve a uniform volume of currency, or one relative at 

 all times to the constant and rapidly increasing population 

 and extended business of the country. "It is the limita- 

 tion of the quantity of money, without any reference to 

 the cost of its production, that regulates the value of each 

 unit of money, whether fiat or metallic. In the case of 

 fiat money the limitation is imposed by law. In the case 

 of metallic money, it is imposed by nature. The effect 

 of limitation upon the value of money is precisely the 

 same in both instances. In the one case the limitation is 

 regulated by the wisdom and justice of man; in the other 

 it is regulated by the variable and uncertain obstacles 

 which nature opposes to the production of the metals. 

 The value of money, of whatever kind, is measured by the 

 cost of obtaining it after it has been produced, and not by 

 the cost of its production, and this value is indicated by the 

 general range of prices. 



"The calculations of those who contract to pay 

 money are always based upon the general command which 



