me is now so
favorable that I feel quite sure that Congress will adopt any
practical measure that will secure to the commercial world a uniform
standard of value and exchange.

"The only question will be, how can this be accomplished?

"The treaty of December 23, 1865, between France, Italy, Belgium,
and Switzerland, and the probable acquiescence in that treaty by
Prussia, has laid the foundation for such a standard. If Great
Britain will reduce the value of her sovereign two pence, and the
United States will reduce the value of her dollar something over
three cents, we then have a coinage in the franc, dollar and
sovereign easily computed, and which will readily pass in all
countries; the dollar as five francs and the sovereign as 25 francs.

"This will put an end to the loss and intricacies of exchange and
discount.

"Our gold dollar is certainly as good a unit of value as the franc;
and so the English think of their pound sterling. These coins are
now exchangeable only at a considerable loss, and this exchange is
a profit only to brokers and bankers. Surely each commercial nation
should be willing to yield a little to secure a gold coin of equal
value, weight, and diameter, from whatever mint it may have been
issued.

"As the gold five-franc piece is now in use by over 60,000,000 of
people of several different nationalities, and is of convenient
form and size, it may well be adopted by other nations as the common
standard of value, leaving to each nation to regulate the divisions
of this unit in silver coin or tokens.

"If this is done France will surely abandon the impossible effort
of making two standards of value. Gold coins will answer all the
purpose of European commerce. A common gold standard will regulate
silver coinage, of which the United States will furnish the greater
part, especially for the Chinese trade.

"I have thought a good deal of how the object you propose may be
most readily accomplished. It is clear that the United States
cannot become a party to the treaty referred to. They could not
agree upon the silver standard; nor could we limit the amount of
our coinage, as proposed by the treaty. The United States is so
large in extent, is so sparsely populated, and the price of labor
is so much higher than in Europe, that we require more currency
per capita. We now produce the larger part of the gold and silver
of the world, and cannot limit our coinage except by the wants of
our pe