tion of its continuance.
But no one can foresee exactly, and most persons take little account
of, such a change until it has continued for several years in the
same direction. The adjustment is therefore never very prompt or very
exact. In some years the general level of prices has risen more than
5 per cent, or more than enough to offset the entire interest received
by most lenders. A man with dollars to invest would have been as well
off if he had kept them buried during that period.[14]

Sec. 9. #Notable changes in prices#. In most cases the true effects of
monetary changes escape recognition. In a few cases, however, the
change has been so great as to cause an economic revolution. Such
was the change in prices following the discovery of America, which
occurred soon after the old feudal dues had come to be generally
expressed in terms of money instead of labor services. In modern
times, since the mass of debts has become greater than ever before,
such changes bring even graver economic consequence. The increase in
the output of gold in 1849-57,[15] caused what was the most rapid, if
not the greatest money inflation that had occurred since the sixteenth
century. The substitution of gold for silver by some countries at that
time, by making a great additional market for gold, helped to check
the fall in its value. Indeed, a considerable decline in the output
of gold after 1870 combined with its widening use to cause in 1873 the
beginning of a great fall of gold prices. The resulting increase
in the burden of outstanding debts was felt by all debtors, but
particularly by great numbers of the agricultural classes both in
Europe and in America. Their tribulations were aggravated by the fact
that at that time (especially from about 1873 to 1896) the prices
of their products were falling much more rapidly than were general
prices, as a result of the very rapid extension of the agricultural
land supply.[16] There was complaint, agitation, and demand for relief
on the part of many interests in France, Germany, England, and the
United States. As a result, the money question became in this country
a leading political issue and continued to be such between 1873 and
1900.

Sec. 10. #Nature and object of bimetallism.# First came "the greenback
movement," which, lasted until after 1880.[17] This then gave way to
an agitation for bimetallism. _Bimetallism_ is the plan of using two
metals as standard moneys. Bimetallism is legally a