attention. On the other side, see Bourne, “Statistical Journal,” vol. xlii. The claim that the value of gold has risen seems particularly hasty, especially when we consider that after the panics of 1857 and 1866 the value of money rose, for reasons not affecting gold, respectively fifteen and twenty-five per cent.
The very thing for which the precious metals are most recommended for use as the materials of money—their durability—is also the very thing which has, for all practical purposes, excepted them from the law of cost of production, and caused [pg 309] their value to depend practically upon the law of demand and supply. Their durability is the reason of