The bimetallic sentiment in England is not confined to the mere theorist and doctrinaire or statesman, but is advocated by some of the ablest journalists in the kingdom.  Thus, the Statist, which undoubtedly ranks in that country as the highest authority in financial and economic matters, is quite as pronounced as Mr. Balfour and others in its views upon the effect the demonetization of silver has had upon the value of gold.  In its issue of July 1, 1893, it says:  “The new policy is likely to intensify the appreciation of gold.  One consequence of the further appreciation of gold will be to intensify the agricultural depression all over Europe.  Most of the charges upon land having been fixed heretofore, they will weigh more and more heavily upon land-owners as gold rises in value.  So, again, rents will become more onerous, and it will be found by and by that the settlement of the last few years was only provisional, and that a further reduction will become necessary.  Also it is evident that the burden of debt, not only upon individuals, but upon governments, will be much increased.  Everywhere the burden of debt will necessitate increased taxation, and so will weigh very heavily upon the general population.”

Hon. Robert Giffen, the well-known chief of the statistical department of the Board of Trade, London, was long known as the most determined and uncompromising monometallist in England.  In 1888 he read a paper before the Royal Statistical Society, in which he showed that gold had notably gone up in purchasing power; that the increase was continuous and likely to continue, and that this was the true explanation of the fall in the prices of commodities.

In a former paper read in 1879 he had predicted the rise in the purchasing power of gold, and in his paper of 1888 he said:  “If the test of prophecy be the effect, there was never surely a better forecast.  The fall of prices in such a general way as to amount to what is known as rise in purchasing power of gold is, I might almost say, universally admitted.  Measured by any commodity or group of commodities usually taken as the measure for such a purpose, gold is undoubtedly possessed of more purchasing power than was the case fifteen or twenty years ago, and this high purchasing power has been continued over a long enough period to allow for all minor oscillations.”

In 1871, when the discussion may be said to have begun, the French economist Ernest Seyd pointed out very plainly that the adoption of the gold standard by Europe and the United States would lead to the destruction of the monetary equilibrium hitherto existing, and then added this singular prophecy:  “The strong doctrinarianism existing in England as regards the gold valuation is so blind that when the time of depression sets in the economic authorities of that country will refuse to listen to the cause here foreshadowed.  Every possible attempt will be made to prove that the decline of commerce is due to all sorts of causes and irreconcilable matters.  The workman and his strikes will be the first convenient target; then speculating and over-trading will have their turn; many other allegations will be made, totally irrelevant to the real issue, but satisfactory to the moralizing tendency of financial writers.”