THE REIGN OF BIMETALLISM 25
in the year XI, which was adopted by many other coun-
tries, regulated international monetary relations for nearly
three-quarters of a century by ensuring stable exchanges
between monometallist gold-standard, bimetallist and
monometallist silver-standard countries. An inhabitant of
India, for instance, who only had silver at his disposal and
whose English creditor could only accept gold, was able
to have his rupees sent to France, re-coined, and trans-
formed into g-franc pieces, take 20-franc pieces out of
French currency, and then procure pounds sterling by
having them re-coined in London. The possibility of carry-
ing out this series of operations, if need arose, was suffi-
cient to restrict the exchange rates between India and
England within the limits of a go/d point and a silver point.
It 1s true that the final abrogation of this system might
be considered as a belated confirmation of the fears enter-
tained by the legislators of the year XI when they set up
the double standard régime in defiance of their principles.
Experience does indeed show that the working of Bimetal-
lism involves some risk for countries which have adopted
it, when they are surrounded by monometallist gold-standard
and silver-standard countries, which draw upon their stocks
of the metal required for monetary transactions, and sur-
render the other metal in exchange. Moreover, this danger
may become particularly serious in the event of over-
production of white metal or the demonetisation of silver
coin in a neighbouring country ; for silver will be sent in
enormous quantities to bimetallist countries, and as these
shipments are not provoked by the necessity of settling
debts, those who use this method of getting rid of their
silver will very naturally recoup themselves by obtaining
a corresponding amount of gold. This happened in 1873,
and it is for this reason that thenceforward bimetallist
countries suspended the free coinage of silver in order to
protect their stock of gold.
Thus Bimetallism, caught between gold- and silver-
standard countries, works to the profit of both, by suffer-
ing depletion alternately of the metal which is most in
demand, and receiving in exchange the one which is
