48 Colorado College Studies. 



to send them out in place of the metal withheld and thus 

 maintain the equilibrium of foreip:n trade. But to put the 

 result of the inquiry beyond suspicion, it may be prudent 

 to allow for the one conspicuous effect through enhance- 

 ment of price of silver; and figures taken both with and 

 without that allowance will be limits between which the 

 truth lies. 



Evidently we must include in the cost not only the im- 

 ported metal, but the metal produced here, so far as either 

 has been used for money. And for this purpose we may 

 better allow for the Treasury holdings also, because if 

 there is an increase of metal there the country has bought 

 it by exporting goods or by abstaining from importing 

 them. The increase in gold used for money, either out- 

 right or through certificates, represents one large part of 

 our expenditure to procure new money. The other large 

 part is represented by the gold-value for export* of the 

 silver in the added silver dollars, 7)/?/s the silver bought by 

 notes of 1890. The supply of silver dollars in the middle of 

 1879, including the Treasury stock, was 41 millions; in 1882, 

 123 millions; in 1892, 414 millions. In the figures for 1879 

 and 1882 are counted several millions of silver bullion, 

 destined soon to become dollars; the much larger amount 

 of silver bullion in 1892, and the much wider divergence 

 of its coinage-value and cost-price, are cause for consider- 

 ing it separately below. The increase from 1879 to 1882 

 was 82 millions, which cost the government as bullion 

 about 72 millions; the international market value was a 

 little less, but we may neglect the error. The silver that 

 made the increase of 291 millions of silver dollars, 1882 to 

 1892, was substantially all bought by the middle of 1891; 

 it cost the government about 230 millions. Using this 

 purchase-cost as the upper limit of what the silver really 

 cost the country, we have yet to fix the lower limit sug- 

 gested above. Higher price of silver, caused by govern- 

 ment buying, afPects for this purpose not only the silver 

 thus withheld from export, but the silver still exported. 



♦This is the export-value from time to time ; not the present export-value of 

 the accumulated mass. 



