THE DEPRECIATION OF SILVER.
[To MR EDITOR Of TRU "SPROTATOR.") SIR,—In your article last week on Mr. Lowe's memorandum, you advert to his objection that if he were bound to coin all the silver that anyone chose to bring him for that purpose the silver coinage would exceed the wants of the community, and would coneequently become depreciated, and you proceed to say that the objection " would be unanswerable if silver were legal tender to any amount, but being a legal tender only for 40s., we cannot see what Mr. Lowe is afraid of. Nobody would ask for silver coin which he could not pay his debts with, particularly if, as Mr. Lowe fears, there occurred an appreciation of gold."
What is Mr. Lowe afraid of? Why, precisely of this,—that there would be a depreciation of the silver coin, and would that be no evil of itself ? If a free coinage were allowed, the first who succeeded in getting possession of the Mint with their silver would make a gain of 10 per cent. at the expense of the country. As the silver coinage became depreciated, the gain of the bullion merchant would be diminished ; but it would still be profitable to bring silver to be coined until the depreciation reached 10 per cent., when the entire trade of the country would be subjected to the enormous inconvenience of a depreciation of one branch of the currency, and the possessors of silver would be no better off than
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