30 MODERN MONETARY SYSTEMS 
depreciation of silver, but, given the state of trade balances be- 
tween gold- and sifver-standard countries, it was bound to 
produce a fall, not, as the bimetallists contended, as a result of 
a restricted market, but because of the disappearance of the 
former minimum created by the admission to free coinage in 
double-standard countries. 
The fall between 1867 and 1872 and the depreciation 
which began in 1873 are therefore distinct phenomena ; 
the former took place under the influence of settlements 
between monometallist gold- and silver-standard coun- 
tries within the limits maintained throughout the period 
of Bimetallism by the convertibility of one metal into the 
other. On the other hand, the depreciation of silver which 
began in 1873 is a new phenomenon, which was no doubt 
partly due to the state of trade balances between gold and 
silver standard countries, but which can only be fully 
accounted for by the radical change in the silver market 
caused by the suppression of free coinage.