196 ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES

change, by the people, can these token coins be made to
exchange constantly for their face-value. In the case of
bronze coin the discrepancy between the value of the
material and that of the coin is yet greater. Token coins
are generally not meant to be used for making large payments,
 and their acceptance cannot be required in amounts
exceeding a fixed limit. Thus, English silver is only legal
tender to the extent of forty shillings in one payment,
bronze to one shilling.
For reasons which will be best appreciated in relation to
the theory of the foreign exchanges, gold coins are manufactured
 by the British and some other governments without
charge. In France a small charge is made, but it is so small
as not to differ greatly from the charge allowed to be made
by the Bank of England for its agency in the matter. The
Bank is required to purchase all standard gold offered it at
the rate of £3, 17s. 9d. per ounce. When coined, the ounce
represents 43, 17s. 104d. The difference is a small price to
pay for the convenience of having the value at once,
instead of waiting while the work is done, and awaiting
one’s turn as well, which would be required if private
persons went direct to the mint with consignments of gold
for coinage.
Though the above figures are quoted as the “ Bank price”
and the “ Mint price” of gold respectively, the Mint price is
not quite what the word “price” seems to imply. It means
simply that the mint is required to make, of 40 pounds,
Troy weight, of standard gold, 1869 coins of equal weight,
which coins are called sovereigns and are legal tender for
one pound sterling. The mint price of gold is the price of
gold in terms of itself, or rather a definition of how much
gold shall be the concrete representative of a pound. The
unit in terms of which values are stated is defined as
represented by so much gold, and no analogy exists between
fixing this price by law and fixing the price of bread, or of
coal, or of other like goods by law. To do the latter would
be practically to decree how much gold should exchange for
a hundred pounds of bread, a ton of coal, or the like, and
the law which defines the mint price of gold does nothing of