THE NOTION OF MONEY 177 
held to possess an “intrinsic” value and its position as a 
standard metal is ascribed to this circumstance. 
The truth is that the value of gold only remains constant 
when it is transported from one monometallist-gold country to 
another. Its value is maintained, ~fter it has ceased to be legal 
currency, only because it enters another country where the 
system cof free coin=ge and the fact that the monetary unit is 
defined in terms of a given weight of gold will also make it 
legal tender currency corresponding to that in the first 
country owing to the definition of the two units (metallic 
par). Ultimately there is nothing more than this in its 
so-called “commercial” rate; the proof is that in a country 
which possesses a fiduciary circulation convertible into 
gold but where the export of gold (e.g., Switzerland, 
Spain, etc.) or its import (e.g., Sweden) are prohibited, a 
constant ratio of value between its gold currency and foreign 
gold ceases to exist. On the other hand, it is true that gold 
is the basis of the monetary system in every mono- 
metallist-gold country, and other currencies are only held 
to have value in so far as they are convertible into gold. 
But the sole reason for this is that gold currency is the only 
one which is also legal tender currency in a large number of 
other countries and ensures stable exchanges with them, a 
situation which, as we have just observed, only arises 
when gold can be freely imported and exported. 
Moreover, it should not be assumed that a monetary 
system which involves the use of a precious metal neces- 
sarily rests on a metal basis. Spain, for instance, from the 
end of the 19th century until the outbreak of war only had 
a circulation of notes and silver écus, with an abundant 
supply of the latter. Nevertheless the Spanish exchange 
was never, during this period, governed by fluctuations 
in silver, and, although notes were in practice convertible 
into silver écus, they did not derive their value from these 
écus which were worth much more than the metal. The 
measure of values, i.e., the standard in Spain, was the peseta, 
whether it was embodied in silver or paper, and the value of 
the peseta in relation to foreign currencies varied irregu- 
larly but independently of the “intrinsic” value of the