ilver.'"

This paragraph needs only to be critically examined in order to show
forth the material of which it is builded. Mr. Lepper takes his two
nuggets, the one of gold and the other of silver. He goes to the mint.
The gold nugget weighs 25,800 grains; the silver nugget weighs 35,500
grains. Mr. Lepper adroitly slips in the clause that the gold nugget is
"_worth precisely a thousand dollars!_" In what units is the gold nugget
worth a thousand dollars? Why, in gold units. He says that the 35,500
grains of silver are found to be worth $50. In what units is that amount
of silver worth $50? Why, in gold units! That is, beginning with the
gold standard, and ignoring the silver standard, Mr. Lepper reaches
bimetallism! That is good. He assumes, to begin with, the thing he is
trying to prove! He assumes it in his major premise, implies it in his
minor premise, and reaches it in his conclusion. I say that is very
good. Twenty-five thousand eight hundred grains of gold are "worth
precisely $1,000," in gold dollars at the rate of 25.8 grains to the
dollar. Well, I should say so. The same would be true of tin, of
leather, or tree-molasses. Only assume that something is a standard, and
then measure that something by itself and you will get there. Mr. Lepper
gets there. Then again he assumes that the market equivalent of the gold
dollar at the date referred to, is 710 grains of silver; therefore,
35,500 grains of silver are worth just $50 in gold. Forsooth, it
requires a philosopher to tell us that; though a country schoolboy might
make it out just as well. It is only a problem in the rule of three. We
assume that silver is worth so much in gold; therefore, so much silver
will be worth so much in gold! That is, gold is the standard; but we are
a bimetallist, and we will write a paper on "Bimetallism Simplified"
showing how we can create a mono-bimetallic standard. The "mono" is the
essence of Mr. Lepper's scheme; the bimetallic part of it is sophism and
green cheese.

In his argument Mr. Lepper simply proposes to measure gold _by itself_;
and to measure silver _by gold_! That is all there is in it. He seems
not to know that anything measured by anything other than itself is not
primary money, and cannot be. Gold, when coined and made legal tender,
is primary money when measured by itself. Silver when coined and made a
legal tender is also primary money when measured by itself. Anything
coined and made a legal tender is primary m