Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/99

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
81
*

BIMETALLISM. 81

  • ider area, the full supply of both metals offer-

ing a much more extensive surface, the effect Mould be far less perceptililc. "Imagine," says Professor Jevons. "two reservoirs of water, each subject to independent variations of supply and demand. In the absence of any connecting pipe, the level of the water in eacli reservoir will be subject to its own fluctuations only. But if we open a connection, the water in both will as- sume a certain mean level, and the effects of any excessive supply will be distributed over the whole area of both reservoirs." They point to the experiences following the discovery of gold in the middle of the century as proof. In 1840 gold was produced to the extent of $30,000,000 and silver to that of $32,500,000. In 1852 the figures were, for gold $150,000,000, and for silver $42,- 500.000. In other words, g(dd was advanced five- fold, but the combined product of gold and silver only threefold. This moderated the effect of the gold discoveries upon prices. The monometal- lists contest this theory and deny that it rests on a sudicient basis of historical fact. They hold that there are no inherent reasons why the com- bined production of gold and silver should not under a bimetallic system fluctuate quite as much as the production of gold alone. We have endeavored to state the ease between the two parties as one of pure theory. In so doing we fail to give any adequate idea of the heat of the controversy and the passions which it has aroused. To understand properly the ardor of the struggle, a brief reference to the historical setting of the discussion is perhaps de- sirable. The gi'eat bulk of the theoretical and controversial literature upon the subject ap- peared in the period between 1873 and 1898. This was a period of steadily falling prices — a period, upon the whole, of commercial depression. Trade languished, and the burden of debt grew heavier. The gold jiroduct was growing less each year, yet the genera! adoption of the gold standard with increased population, and an ex- tension of the use of a money economy made a constantly increasing pressure upon the gold supply. Bimetallism seemed to promise a relief from the deadening effects of falling prices, and the industrial world lent a ready ear to its plans. It was not so much a conviction that bimetallism was right as a deep-seated feeling that the gold standard was wrong which gave such wide ac- ceptance to its propositions. For the moment the pressure of immediate necessity has been re- moved. The new output of gold in the world, which brings the annual production higher than in the i>almiest days of California and Australia, has induced a rpginie of rising prices which has cured the evils of which men complained without any radical monetary legislation such as bi- metallism contemjilated. The literature of bimetallism is extensive, and no statement of references can be complete. An exhaustive bibliography on the money question was issued in 1878 as an appendix to the Ameri- can Report of the hitrnintioniil Monetiiry <_'on- ference. (Consult Ilorton, 'I'hr Monettiry fiituu- tion, Cincinnati, 1878.) Since that time the out- put has l)een enormous. The bimetallic theory claims the authority of Wolowski and Cernusi^hi in Krance; Malou and de Laveleye in Belgium; Mees. Vrolik, Van den Berg, and Boissevain in Holland; Seyd, Nicholson, and FoxwcU in F.ng- huid ; Arcndt in Germany ; Ilaupt in Austria ; BINDING. Horton, F. A, Walker, and Andrews in the United States. On the side of the single stand- ard are many of the older Englisli economists — Locke, Petty, Harris; later Lord Liverpool, Tooke, Ricardo, and J. S, ilill, and, more re- cently, Giffen — and among American writers, Wells and Laughlin. For a clear notion of the controversy, consult: Walker, International Bi- metallism (New York, 1806) ; and Giffen, Case Aitainst Bimetallism (London, 1896). Other works to be commended are: Nicholson, Honey and Monetary Problems (London, 1897); Hor- ton, The Sili-^r Pound (London, 1887) ; Walker, Money (New- York, 1878) and Money, Trade and Industry (New York, 1879) ; Andrews, An Honest Dollar (Hartford, 1894) ; Report of the Monetary Commission of the Indianapolis Con- vention (Chicago, 1898) ; Helm, The Joint Standard (London, 1894) ; Taussig, The Silver Situation in the United States (New Y'ork, 1893) ; White, Money and Banking (Boston, 1896) ; Laughlin, History of Bimetallism in the United States (New Y'ork, 1897); and Price, Monei/ and Its Relations to Prices (London and New York, 1896). In oflicial literature, the Report of the United States Monetary Commission (1876); the Re- ports of the Monetary Conferences (1878, 1881, and 1892) ; the Reports of the Royal Commis- sion on the Depression of Trade (1883) and on the Relation of Gold and Silver (1886); the Report of the Indian Cvrrency Commission (1893); and of the Berlin Silver Commission (1894) are important. BINALONAN, be'na-lo'nan. A town of IjUzou, Pliilip]iines, in the Province of Pan- gasinfm, 27 miles east of Lingayen (Map: Luzon, I) 2 ) . It is situated in a densely wooded terri- tory, at the junction of several high roads to the adjacent towns. Population, in 1898, 10,295. BINAN, be'nyan. A town of Luzon, Philip- pines, in the Province of Laguna, 41 miles west of Santa Cruz (Jlap: Luzon, F 9). It is situated in a great plain, near the Bay Luzon, and is con- nected b}' high roads with Cavite and Manila, as well as with towns of the vicinity. Population, in 1898, 19,780. BI'NAEY SYSTEM. See Double Stars. BIN - BIB - KILISSEH, ben'bSr - ke'le - s:i' (Turk, bin, thousand; bir. one; kilisseh, church, from Gk. eKKXijoia, ekkUsia) . The name of extensive ruins in Karamania, .-Vsia Minor, 20 miles north-northwest of the town of Karaman. The ruins consist chiefly of the remains of early Byz:intine cluirches, of which four or five are in fair preservation and over thirty are in ruins. Bin-Bir-Kilisseh is supposed to he the ancient Derbc. tliongb Hamilton identifies it with Lystra. BINCHE, bfiNsh. A town of Hainaut, Bel- gium, on the llaine, 10 miles east-southea.st of Jlons (Map: Belgium, C 4), It is well built and walled, has mamifactures of leather, cutlery, pot- tery, glass, etc., and a considerable trade in lace, paper, marble, and coal. Population, in 1890, 10.100; in 1900, ll,.-)00. BINDING, bm'ding, Karl (1841—). A German criminologist and jurist, horn in Frank- fort-on-the-Main. lie studied at the universities of Gcittingen and Heidelberg, and in 1873 became ])rofessor of criminal law in Leipzig. Of his works on jurisprudence, Die Normeii und Hire