Page:Stabilizing the dollar, Fisher, 1920.djvu/193

. 2, A] merely transformed. They are the same gains and losses which, under our present system, are felt by the public as individuals.

The maintenance of a definite ratio of reserve to certificates compels both of them to expand or contract in unison and leaves the currents of gold between countries and between the arts and the currency substantially as they are at present.

An "indefinite" reserve system would disturb those currents somewhat, mitigating a flood of gold into the country or an ebb of gold out of it, and, if the country be a large one, affecting the value of gold.

2. Speculation in Gold

''A. Preventing "Overnight" Speculation. The best "brassage" fee.'' In the text (Chapter IV, §10) it was briefly stated that a small fee should be charged by the Government for the deposit of gold. This fee would correspond somewhat to the old "brassage" charge for coinage and may, for convenience, be so called. Its object, however, is not primarily to defray the expense of the mint office but to prevent speculation in gold, injurious to the Government.

Without some such safeguard the Government