tion in recent years, and industry and commerce have been more
hampered by this movement than they would have been had silver been our
standard. Every step taken towards the further demonetization of silver
must tend to the enhancement of the value of gold. It is true that much
inconvenience is involved in the use of gold as a standard in some
countries, and of silver as a standard in others, with no link to check
their divergent relations; but the advantage of having the same monetary
standard throughout the world would be counterbalanced if we made gold
that universal basis and tied all the fortunes of the nations to it."

The bimetallic sentiment in England is not confined to the mere theorist
and doctrinaire or statesman, but is advocated by some of the ablest
journalists in the kingdom. Thus, the _Statist_, which undoubtedly ranks
in that country as the highest authority in financial and economic
matters, is quite as pronounced as Mr. Balfour and others in its views
upon the effect the demonetization of silver has had upon the value of
gold. In its issue of July 1, 1893, it says: "The new policy is likely to
intensify the appreciation of gold. One consequence of the further
appreciation of gold will be to intensify the agricultural depression all
over Europe. Most of the charges upon land having been fixed heretofore,
they will weigh more and more heavily upon land-owners as gold rises in
value. So, again, rents will become more onerous, and it will be found by
and by that the settlement of the last few years was only provisional, and
that a further reduction will become necessary. Also it is evident that
the burden of debt, not only upon individuals, but upon governments, will
be much increased. Everywhere the burden of debt will necessitate
increased taxation, and so will weigh very heavily upon the general
population."

Hon. Robert Giffen, the well-known chief of the statistical department of
the Board of Trade, London, was long known as the most determined and
uncompromising monometallist in England. In 1888 he read a paper before
the Royal Statistical Society, in which he showed that gold had notably
gone up in purchasing power; that the increase was continuous and likely
to continue, and that this was the true explanation of the fall in the
prices of commodities.

In a former paper read in 1879 he had predicted the rise in the purchasing
power of gold, and in his paper of 1888 he said: "If the test of prophe