Under this head he says again:
“The price of things estimated in gold—their gold price—may change, whilst their price estimated in silver—their silver price—remains unaltered. This will occur if the value or purchasing power of gold goes up or down, while the value or purchasing power of silver remains unaltered. Suppose, for instance, that gold is in any way scarce in relation to the demands upon it. Then, in any country where gold is the standard metal of the currency, those who wish to obtain, a certain quantity of gold, whether in coin or in bullion, will have to give a larger quantity of other commodities in exchange for it; or, to put the matter in another light, those who have only a definite commodity to part with will receive less gold in return for that; in other words, there is a fall in gold prices. Suppose, on the contrary, that gold is abundant in relation to the demands upon it, then those who wish to obtain a certain quantity of gold, whether in currency or in bullion, will not have to give so large a quantity of other commodities to obtain the quantity of gold they require; or, to put the matter as before in another light, those who have a definite quantity of other commodities to dispose of will obtain more gold in return for them; in other words, there is a rise in gold prices. If in either case there is no change in the value of silver, then the price of commodities stated in silver, that is, their silver price, will remain unchanged.”
In referring to the very prevalent notion, especially among the uneducated classes, that the gold unit of measure of value does not vary, he says:
“As for the tenant purchaser, he probably thinks that after the extra pressure of the first few years he may look forward to easy times for the rest of his life. He little knows what is before him. If things go on as they are, it will be harder for him, ten or fifteen years hence, to pay forty pounds a year than it would be to pay fifty pounds a year now; but of all this he knows nothing—how could he? His only idea is that a pound is always a pound, and a sovereign is always a sovereign; so, in the belief that the yearly payment, when it is reduced to forty pounds, will be well within his reach, he puts his head into the halter.”
The “Dump” of Silver.
All the world will dump its silver on us if we adopt free coinage, says the monometallist. How much, and where will it come from? asks the bimetallist. Oh, the world has billions of it ready for us, is the vague general reply; but when we ask for a bill of particulars we get instead a fine confusion of prophecy.
One answers that it will come from Spanish America. But we have already shown that all nations from the Rio Grande to Cape Horn have but $100,000,000 for their 60,000,000 people. The South Americans have but 83 cents apiece. The Mexicans have $4.54. The Central Americans have $2.14. And the South Americans have $550,000,000 in paper money, to bring which to par and maintain it there will require at least $300,000,000 more in silver than they now have. No “dump” from there.
From France, says another. Well, France has $487,000,000 in silver coin, and some bullion; only $12.94 per capita in coin, and valued at 15½ to 1 of gold. At her ratio an ounce is worth $1.3336; at ours $1.2929. Will she rob herself of coin, when she has none too much for business, and sell it to us at a loss of 4 cents on the dollar and freight charges? Germany has but $215,000,000 in silver coin, less than half as much as France, though having 13,000,000 more people, and Great Britain has but half as much as Germany. All the other Europeans together have much less than these three nations, and used at a higher valuation than ours. How then can they “dump” any on us?
From India, say a few. Well, India has a deal of silver—$950,000,000, according to our Director of the Mint. But she has 296,000,000 people, so it is but $3.21 apiece. And the best evidence that she has not too much is found in the fact that she is importing more. China has but $2.08 per capita; Japan has but $4, and is importing heavily; Australia but $1.49, and the black and brown races still less. In short, all the world outside of the United States has but $3,444,900,000 in silver coin, or $2.46 per capita. It is a plain case that there will be no “dump” from the coined silver.