30 MODERN MONETARY SYSTEMS
depreciation of silver, but, given the state of trade balances between
 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 countries
 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.