28 MODERN MONETARY SYSTEMS
between silver and gold standard countries accordingly
began to fluctuate ; for in the absence of a sufficient quantity
of drafts it was now necessary to export silver, which was
no longer convertible at a fixed rate either directly or indirectly,
 through bimetallist countries, into the currency of
a creditor country and only represented in this currency an
amount which varied with the market price.
This uncertainty was considerably aggravated by a
rapid decline in the value of silver after 1873. Public
opinion was much disturbed by this depreciation, both in
countries where it took the form of an exchange crisis and
in countries such as the United States, where it affected
the interests of a powerful group of producers. An important
 monetary phenomenon, it was the object of countless
inquiries and heated discussions which soon spread from
the economists to politicians.
These discussions do not, however, appear to have resulted
 in any clear explanation of the phenomenon. The
advocates of a return to bimetallism merely accused Governments
 which had suspended the coinage of silver of
having restricted the market for the white metal—an argument
 which was not conclusive, since the recent statistics
showed that the market for silver had not shrunk after
1873. The real cause of the depreciation of silver lay, not
in the suspension of coinage, but, as we shall see, in the
suppression of freedom of coinage.
Certain attendant circumstances prevented people from
seeing at the time that this was the true explanation. In the
first place, the depreciation of silver after 1873 seemed to
be a mere continuation of the fall which had been taking
place since 1867. Again, before the suspension of coinage
by the Governments, administrative measures had been
taken to relieve the pressure on the mints. Lastly, even before
 the decision to suppress free coinage of silver had been
officially taken, its market rate had been affected by prolonged
 delay in coining and even by the fact that further
ad libitum minting of silver had become comparatively
uncertain. Nevertheless, it is the suppression of free coinage
which marks the radical change in the conditions of the market.