Monometallism

“ To the contention that bimetallism is the necessary condition for a universal coinage system the answer is, that the idea of universal coinage is premature, and that the gradual introduction of the gold standard is desirable as preparing the way for a future universal coinage based on gold monometallism. On the practical question as to the actual introduction of the system, the monometallists deny the possibility of forming a universal bimetallic league which would not be liable to be broken up by war, or impaired by some of the states which composed it issuing inconvertible paper. ”

“ Bimetallism is the desired end, and the true friends of silver will be careful not to overrun the goal and bring in silver monometallism with its necessary attendants--the loss of our gold to Europe and the relief of the pressure there for a larger currency. ”

“ As a traveller I have studied the situation in other nations, and thus, I may modestly say, have enjoyed the great advantage of getting a view in no wise disturbed by partisan politics. As one whose prosperity depends almost entirely upon that of the farmers, I have naturally thought most of the effect monometallism has had, and will continue to have, upon them. ”

“ The theory of bimetallism contemplates the circulation side by side of two metals; that of polymetallism looks to the contemporaneous circulation of more than two. So long as several metals could be maintained in circulation together, the price level might fluctuate less than if one metal only were used. But all of the theoretical objections against bimetallism apply also against polymetallism. One metal would eventually drive all the others out of a country, or,—if polymetallism were international,—into the arts. ”

“ The semi-metals are bismuth, zinc, nickel, regulus of arsenic, of cobalt, of antimony, of manganese, of wolfram, and of molybdena.
All metallic substances are crystallizable, and each in a peculiar form, which is discovered by leaving a hole in the bottom of the crucible in which they are melted, and drawing out the stopper, when the mass is beginning to lose its fluidity.
Some of the metals will not unite to others when hot, and others of them will; [Pg 86] and such as will unite with others are called solders. Thus tin is a solder for lead, and brass, gold, or silver, for iron. ”

“ All metals, except iron, tin, antimony, and tellurium, have a tendency to decompose this compound, and separate it into oxygen and water. Some metals are oxidized during the decomposition, but gold, silver, platinum, and a few others, still retain their metallic state. If either silver, lead, mercury, gold, platinum, manganese, or cobalt, in [Pg 299] their highest states of oxidation, are put into a tube, containing this peroxide of hydrogen, its oxygen is liberated with the rapidity of an explosion, and so much heat is excited that the tube becomes red hot. ”

“ Among the platinum metals ruthenium, rhodium, and palladium, by their atomic weights and properties, approach silver, just as iron and its analogues (cobalt and nickel) approach copper in all respects. Gold stands in exactly the same position in relation to the heavy platinum metals, osmium, iridium, and platinum, as copper and silver do to the two preceding series. The atomic weight of gold is nearly equal to their atomic weights; [28] it is dense like these metals. It also gives various grades of oxidation, which are feeble, both in a basic and an acid sense. ”

“ Sulphur, phosphorus (the phosphide, PtP2, [377] is formed) , arsenic and silicon all act more or less rapidly on platinum, under the influence of heat. Many of the metals form alloys with it. Even charcoal combines with platinum when it is ignited with it, and therefore carbonaceous matter cannot be subjected to prolonged and powerful ignition in platinum vessels. Hence a platinum crucible soon becomes dull on the surface in a smoky flame. Platinum also forms alloys with zinc, lead, tin, copper, gold, and silver. ”

“ Mercury gives HgX2 and HgX, thallium gives TlX3 and TlX, lead gives PbX4 and PbX2. On the other hand, gold in a qualitative respect differs from silver and copper in the extreme ease with which all its compounds are reduced to metal by many means. This is not only accomplished by many reducing agents, but also by the action of heat. Thus its chlorides and oxides lose their chlorine and oxygen when heated, and, if the temperature be sufficiently high, these elements are entirely expelled and metallic gold alone remains. Its compounds, therefore, act as oxidising agents. ”

“ Whosoever he be that hath seen or experienced somewhat in metals, knows, that the separation of the more excellent metals from the more vile, is to be done by the benefit of the Fire: for if so be that Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron, Lead, Tin, should be melted together into one mass, and you would separate them by the Fire the one from the other; this cannot be done any other way, but by adding to that mixture some other adventitious and destructive thing whereby the baser metals may be dissipated and deprived of their metallick form, of which sort is common Sulphur and such-like ”

“ The object of bimetallism is, by joining the two metals together in the coinage, at a fixed ratio, to diminish the extent of the fluctuations to which the value of each would be separately liable, by generating a compensatory action between the two, by which the cheapening metal shall receive a larger use, while the appreciating metal drops partially out of its former demand, thus making the two fall together, if there must be a fall, or rise together, in the opposite case: or, conceivably, making the tendency of one to fall precisely counteract the tendency of the other to rise. ”

“ The chemists sought it in their laboratories and the mineralogists in the mountains and deserts. Platinum might have served, but it, too, had become a drug in the market through the discovery of immense deposits. Out of the twenty odd elements which had been rarer and more valuable than gold, such as uranium, gallium, etc., not one was found to answer the purpose. In short, it was evident that since both gold and silver had become too abundant to serve any longer for a money standard, the planet held no metal suitable to take their place. ”

“ Acetic acid precipitates the red lake of lichen.
ORES (Mines, Fr.; Erze, Germ.) ; are the mineral bodies which contain so much metal as to be worth the smelting, or being reduced by fire to the metallic state. The substances naturally combined with metals, which mask their metallic characters, are chiefly oxygen, chlorine, sulphur, phosphorus, selenium, arsenic, water, and several acids, of which the carbonic is the most common. Some metals, as gold, silver, platinum, often occur in the metallic state, either alone, or combined with other metals, constituting what are called native alloys. ”

“ The malleable metals are eleven, namely, Gold, Silver, Platina, Mercury, Copper, Iron, Tin, Lead, Nickel, Zinc, and Palladium. The brittle metals are Bismuth, Antimony, Tellurium, Arsenic, Cobalt, Manganese, Tungsten, Molybdenum, Uranium, Titanium, Chromium, Columbium or Tantalium, Cerium, Oxmium, Rodium, and Iridium.
Gold is the heaviest of all metals excepting platina; it is neither very elastic nor hard; but so malleable and ductile, that it may be drawn into very fine wire, or beaten into leaves so thin as to be carried away by the slightest wind. ”

“ Since bimetallism, as usually proposed, would greatly overvalue one of the two metals, the first great effect of its adoption might be not to steady prices but to disrupt them and upset the relation of debtor and creditor. While the great overvaluation of one metal is not a necessary feature of bimetallism, it has always been the feature which has made it politically popular. Thus, the bimetallism advocated in the United States during the last twenty or thirty years has been a bimetallism which would grossly overvalue silver. ”

“ Most of them, when melted in a common way, and exposed to the air, have an earthy crust formed upon the surface, which cannot again be reduced to metal without the addition of some inflammable matter. The base metals, eleven in number, have this property: but the noble metals, platina, gold and silver, are so firmly connected to the phlogiston, that they never calcine under fusion, however long continued; and after being changed into a calx in the liquid way, when melted in the fire, they re-assume their metallic form, without any other phlogiston than what is contained in the matter of heat. ”

“ It may consist of any number of the metallic elements, and in any proportion, provided they will chemically combine, always excepting mercury as one of the ingredients. In this latter case the mixture is called an amalgam. Chemistry has made us acquainted with about forty-nine metals; of that number, however, not more than fourteen are employed to any considerable extent for industrial art purposes. They are as follow: Gold, silver, copper, zinc, platinum, aluminum, nickel, iron, mercury, lead, tin, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth. ”

“ With many political institutions, likewise, the consequences of failure would be so disastrous that the statesman seeks to introduce a high factor of safety; but in the case of bimetallism no catastrophe whatever is to be anticipated, even in the event of failure. At the worst, after the drain of the dearer metal, in consequence of changes in the conditions of supply, is completed, the bimetallic country is simply in the same position with the countries of the single standard using the cheapened metal. While the process of substitution is going on, it sells the dearer metal at a premium ”

“ When the alloy contains platinum, the assay presents greater difficulties. In general, to separate the platinum from the gold with accuracy, we must avail ourselves of a peculiar property of platinum; when alloyed with silver, it becomes soluble in nitric acid. Therefore, by a proper quartation of the alloy by cupellation, and boiling the button with nitric acid, we may get a residuum of pure gold. If we were to treat the button with sulphuric acid, however, we should dissolve nothing but the silver. The copper is easily removed by cupellation. ”

“ If salts of platinum in solution are poured on to an amalgam of sodium, the latter element reduces the platinum, and the platinum separated is dissolved by the mercury. Almost all metals readily form amalgams if their solutions are decomposed by a galvanic current, where mercury forms the negative pole. In this way an amalgam may even be made with iron, although iron in a mass does not dissolve in [59] mercury. Some amalgams are found in nature—for instance, silver amalgams. Amalgams are used in considerable quantities in the arts. ”

“ The acid is used without dilution when no directions are expressly given to dilute it. It has no action on the following metals: gold, platinum, arsenic, and mercury; it very slightly attacks antimony, bismuth, lead, silver, and copper. Tin is more soluble in it, but with difficulty; whilst iron, zinc, nickel, cobalt, cadmium, and aluminium easily dissolve with evolution of hydrogen and the formation of the lower chloride if the metal forms more than one class of salts. ”

“ International bimetallism is at all events the form which has attracted attention in recent times, and it is certainly the most important.
Regarded from the historical point of view it appears that the failure of separate countries to maintain the two metals in circulation was the cause which produced the idea of bimetallism as an international system. We find first the upholders of a national double standard, as in France and the United States, and these are followed by the advocates of bimetallism set up by a combination of countries. ”

“ The heavy metals, those which are easily reduced and do not easily oxidise, are exclusively those which are directly applied in manufactures. Ores either contain the metals themselves (for instance, ores of silver or bismuth) , and the metals are then said to be in a native state, or else their sulphur compounds (blende, mock-ore, pyrites—as, for example, galena, PbS; zinc blende, ZnS; copper pyrites, CuFeS) or oxides (as the ores of iron) , or salts (calamine, for instance) . ”

“ Bimetallism spreads the effect of any single fluctuation over the combined gold and silver markets.*78 The steadying power of bimetallism depends on the breadths of the reservoirs, and not on the position of the film f. It remains in full force, no matter what may be the proportions of gold and silver money, and is as great when only one nation is bimetallic as when the whole world adopts the system. ”

“ In all these three cases the elements of smaller atomic weight (chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten) are able, in their higher grades of oxidation, to give acid oxides having the properties of distinct but feebly energetic acids (in the lower oxides they give bases) , whilst the elements of greater atomic weight (zinc, cadmium, mercury) , even in their higher grades of oxidation, only give bases, although with feebly developed basic properties. The platinum metals present the same intermediate properties such as we have already seen in iron and the elements of the eighth group. ”

“ There is hardly a single metal which holds out against the alkalis themselves when in the state of fiery fusion; even platinum is most violently attacked. In chemical laboratories fusions with caustic alkalis are always effected in vessels made of gold or silver, these metals holding out fairly well even in the presence of air. Gold is the better of the two. Iron, which stands so well against aqueous alkalis, is most violently attacked by the fused reagents. ”