Page:Coin's Financial School.djvu/55

 Rh be as simple and as satisfactory as any we have yet encountered.

"From the tone of the press in this city, it will be readily understood that we do not agree on the cause of the present depression in business, and how much of it is properly chargeable to the demonetization of silver. Let us first find out the cause of this calamitous condition of things and then we will speak of the remedy.

"We have seen that the closing of the mints, first of the United States, secondly Germany in 1873, followed by France and the Latin Union in 1874, depressed the price of silver as measured in gold 35 per cent. And the closing of the mints to silver in India, in 1893. further depressed its price to 50 per cent.

"Before demonetization both metals constituted the redemption money of the world; and as both metals existed in about the same quantities, it gave us twice as much money of redemption as gold alone will now furnish us. There is in the world now, according to the report of the director of our mint, $3,727,018,869 in gold, and $3,820,571,346 in silver.

"The dislocation of the parity of the two metals by the demonetization of silver, and the attempt to maintain our credit in gold, has reduced the redemption money of the world from $7,547,590,215 to $3,727,018,869, or a little less than one-half the original amount."

"I want to know," said Mr. George H. Rozet, a real estate dealer, here interrupting "why you say silver is demonetized, when it is in circulation every day and handled by us as money?"