INTERNATION AL TRADE 
PRICES AND THE GOLD PREMIUM, UNITED STATES, 1867-1879. 
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fxport prices \ 
linport prices Base, 1860 = 100. 
Domestic prices 
=eosas Price of Gold 
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specie payments on January 1, 1879, the premium dissapeared 
entirely and the new era of the gold standard set in. 
Turn now to the prices of goods; and here, as the reader need 
hardly be reminded, it is\not merely the general movement of 
prices that is to be considered, but even more the trend in the 
prices of the different clasts of goods — exported, imported, 
domestic. As regards the geteral movements (indicated by an 
index number made up for goodsof all three kinds), a relation to the 
specie premium is clear. Taking the entire period 1866-78, both 
prices and premium go downward; the country is growing up to 
the currency. But the rate of mofement is significantly uneven. 
During the first stage, the price\ef gold in paper — that is, 
the gold premium ~— tends to be low than the prices of goods; 
during the second, the price of goldis higher. After 1874, that 
is, almost immediately after the cra which took place in the 
autumn of 1873, there was a relative Rll in the price of gold and