per cent. interest.




DEMONETIZATION OF GOLD.


Gold has an intrinsic value, says the monometallist, which makes it the
money of the world. It is sound and stable, while silver fluctuates. See
how much more silver an ounce of gold will buy than in 1873, but the gold
dollar remains the same, worth its face as bullion anywhere in the world.

But suppose there had been a general demonetization of gold instead of
silver, how would the ratio have stood then? Would not the same reasoning
prove silver unchangeable, and gold the fluctuating metal?

Oh, nonsense! it is impossible to demonetize gold, because the civilized
world recognizes it as an invariable standard by which all commodities are
measured in value. The supposition is absurd. It would be very much like
deoxygenizing the air.

But, my dear sir, gold has been demonetized, and not very long ago,
either, and very extensively, too. It was deprived of its legal tender
quality by four great nations, comprising some seventy million people;
demonetized because it was cheap and because the world's creditors
believed it was going to be cheaper; the demonetization, so far as it
went, produced enormous evils, and nothing but the firmness of France and
the far-seeing wisdom of her financiers prevented the demonetization
becoming general on the continent of Europe, which would have reversed the