We have not to do with ideal theories. The two moneys have
actually co-existed since the origin of human society. They
co-exist because the two together are necessary, by their
quantity, to meet the needs of circulation. This necessity of the
two metals, has it ceased to exist? Is it established that the
quantity of actual and prospective gold is such that we can now
renounce the use of silver without disaster?
Baron Rothschild said:
The simultaneous employment of the two precious metals is
satisfactory and gives rise to no complaint. Whether gold or
silver dominates for the time being, it is always true that the
two metals concur together in forming the monetary circulation of
the world, and it is the general mass of the two metals combined
which serves as the measure of the value of things. The
suppression of silver would amount to a veritable destruction of
values without any compensation.
At the session (October 30, 1873) of the Belgian Monetary Commission,
Professor Laveleye, one of the most luminous writers on economic
subjects, said:
Debtors, and among them the state, have the right to pay in gold
or silver, and this right can not be taken away without
disturbing the relation of debtors and creditors, to the
prejudice of debtors, to the extent of perhaps one-half,
certainly of one-third. To increase all debts at a blow
(_brusquement_) is a measure so violent, so revolutionary, that I
can not believe that the Government will propose it or that the
Chambers will vote it.