Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/758

740 no silver coins of legal weight and purity would remain in circulation, but were either melted down or exported to foreign countries.” In 1816 the pound standard of silver was coined into 66s., the relative value with gold being as 1 to 14.287. Silver then became a legal tender for only 40s. and under, and has since only been coined for account of the government itself, at an apparent profit; but as the government maintains the circulation up to the standard, this profit is more nominal than real. By the currency bill of 1819, providing for the resumption of cash payments in 1823, all the old statutes against the melting and exportation of coin or plate were repealed, as well as the oath required that it was not melted plate or coin or clippings of coin. In 1792 the congress of the United States by law fixed the relative value of silver and gold at 1 to 15; and as a consequence, when a foreign balance had to be liquidated, silver being over-valued as compared with European standards, gold was exported, and it was found impossible to maintain a gold circulation. In 1834 the standard was altered to 1 to 16, while with other nations it was generally 1 to 15½. Now silver was so largely exported that the proportion was on March 3, 1853, altered to 1 to 14.88, and silver was made a legal tender only for sums under $5. By the coinage act of Feb. 12, 1873, it was again changed to 1 to 14.95. After the discovery of gold in California and Australia the economists of Europe predicted a great decline in its value. Prominent among these was M. Chevalier, who in 1859 published a volume entitled De la baisse probable de l'or, which was translated into English by Mr. Richard Cobden. Under the influence of the teachings of the economists, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany all demonetized gold and adopted silver as the only legal tender at a fixed rate. In those countries gold only circulated as a commodity, subject to daily fluctuations in value; and as a consequence, deprived as it was of its legal support as money, it was but little used. In 1861 Belgium, “at the urgent request of her commercial and industrial interests, and in defiance of the opinion of the theorists,” readopted gold as a legal tender. The German empire has now (1874) adopted gold alone as a legal tender, with silver only for subsidiary coinage. Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands have decided upon the same course, to be followed, as is believed, by Belgium. In India prior to 1835 gold and silver were both a legal tender, but silver then became the exclusive one. In 1841 the Indian government authorized gold mohars to be received when offered for taxes. In December, 1852, however, this was prohibited for fear that all payments might be made to them in gold, which was the cheaper metal, while they might be obliged to make all payments in silver, which was the only legal tender.—The relative values of silver and gold at different periods have been as follows:

The relative productions of these two metals have varied from about 42 oz. of silver to one of gold in 1800 to about 63 oz. of silver to one of gold in 1863. The following table, derived from the “indentures” made with the masters of the mint, exhibits the number of pounds, shillings, and pence which have at various times in England been coined out of a pound of silver, with the standard of fineness:

The last named proportions continued down to 1816 (56 George III.), and the standard of fineness is still the same, but the weight of the coins has been reduced, the shilling weighing but 87.43 grains, and a pound of silver thus producing 66 shillings.—Early in the latter half of the 17th century the public mind of England became deeply interested in projects for the establishment of institutions of credit which should economize the use and add to the power of the then limited metallic circulation of the realm. They had seen and appreciated how in Amsterdam the ownership of coins, and in Venice the ownership of these as well as of claims upon the state, were made to furnish the means for the adjustment of debts even more efficiently than the coins themselves, which were at the same time protected from clipping, sweating, wear, and tear; and how the bank of Genoa had even advanced beyond this, by furnishing its own notes for circulation. Indeed, they had noticed the success of the goldsmiths and other private bankers in issuing their own promissory notes, payable to the bearer on demand, as well as bonds or sealed bills bearing interest and payable at a fixed day, as currency. In 1657 Samuel Lamb, a well known merchant of London, published a pamphlet entitled “Trade, Shipping, Banks,” in which he took the ground that it was desirable to establish banks; “for no nation,” he says, “yet made use of them, but they flourished and thrived