578 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



human volition, is admitted to be not the least of the forces 

 that affect economic phenomena. Wages and prices may be af- 

 fected by combinations on the one hand, and by legislation on 

 the other hand ; doubtless within limits, but within limits not so 

 narrow nor so easily defined as was formerly thought. So the 

 value of money is subject to legislation in no small degree. 

 Paper money, though of the purest fiat character, with no hope 

 or promise of redemption in specie, may yet perform with reason- 

 able efficiency the functions of a circulating medium. No doubt 

 the degree of effect is limited, and the expediency of particular 

 forms of legislative action is more than doubtful. But the possi- 

 bility of effect can not be denied. In granting so much, we may 

 give aid and comfort to those whose proposals on the currency 

 are mischievous ; but truth, fairly faced, compels the admission 

 that the value of money is not fixed by natural law in the sense 

 that it may not be seriously affected by legislation. Looking to 

 specie alone, it is clear that convention and legislation are at least 

 the immediate cause of their high value. If gold ceased to be 

 used as money, and if all the gold in the world were to be used in 

 the arts only, it is beyond question that its value would fall, and 

 would remain low for an indefinite time to come ; while a great 

 and sudden extension in the use of gold for monetary purposes, 

 such as legislation might conceivably bring about, would quickly 

 raise its value. 



Coming now more closely to the subject in hand, and the 

 question whether silver is likely to continue in use side by side 

 with gold, we encounter the suggestion that silver is doomed 

 from the operation of great and permanent causes operating with 

 the force of natural law. Silver at best is bulky in proportion to 

 its value. For transactions on a large scale it is inconvenient ; 

 and as it gets cheaper, a given value becomes bulkier, and the 

 metal less available for the great transactions of modern com- 

 merce. Iron, copper, and other metals have been used in their 

 day for monetary purposes, and with the progress of civilization 

 have given way to the " precious " metals. As the further advance 

 in wealth and progress brings the need of a medium of exchange 

 by means of which large transactions can be conveniently carried 

 on, must silver meet with a similar fate, and gold become the only 

 standard monetary metal? 



No doubt it is true that as coin, and for circulation in the form 

 of coin, obstacles of this sort are serious for silver. As copper can 

 be used only for very small payments, so silver can be used only 

 for moderate payments. A striking illustration of the impossi- 

 bility of using silver directly on a large scale is furnished by the 

 experience of the United States under the silver act of 1878. That 

 act provided for the monthly coinage and issue of a very large 



