PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 55 



•exported as bullion for melting or recoinage, even though — by 

 virtue of the provision of the law which gives it the chai'acter of 

 a legal tender in limited amounts — it should have no value above 

 that of the bullion contained. 



When greenbacks advance to 92 (corresponding to a premium 

 on gold of 8.Y) — the existing prices of silver coin remaining 

 unchanged — the less perfect and less desirable silver coins will 

 circulate, as currency, side by side with the fractional paper cur- 

 rency. 



When greenbacks advance to 95 cents (correspoding to a pre- 

 mium on gold of 5.3) — the existing prices of silver coin re- 

 maining unchanged — the new and more perfect silver coins will 

 circulate, as currency, side by side with our fractional paper cur- 

 rency. 



When greenbacks advance beyond this rate, nearer to a par 

 with gold, silver coin will supersede greenbacks, and their asso- 

 ciated fractional paper currency. The intrinsic bullion value of 

 new silver coins, of legal weight and fineness, is now 88 cents to 

 the dollar, but their value as coin in the market is 95 cents. The 

 issuing and placing on the market of the new silver coinage in 

 considerable quantities, will tend to lower somewhat the price in 

 the market of these new coins, but will not reduce the price to 

 the bullion standard. The gold price of greenbacks in the 

 market, therefore, must advance considerably beyond 88 cents, 

 the present value of the bullion contained in silver coins of legal 

 weight and fineness — that is — the greenback price of gold must 

 fall considerably below 113.6, in order to secure the free and 

 general circulation of such coins. 



The higher price of our fractional silver coin, as compared 

 with silver bullion, of the same weight and fineness, is due, in 

 part, to the fact that, in limited amounts (not exceeding $5 in 

 any one payment), it is, like gold, a legal tender of payment in 

 the United States, and, in part, to a limited demand for its use 

 as money in the payment of balances for custom purposes, and 

 for the settlement of fractional amounts in the payment of interest 

 on our bonded debt ; also, for use in general circulation on the 

 Pacific slope of the United States and in Texas and certain 

 other portions of the southwest, where gold is the sole standard^ 

 paper currency not being recognized in trade ; and, also, in cer- 

 tain South American and other countries. 



