general
rise of prices, in a revival of business, and in a universal restoration
of prosperity. Everything would again be well in the great Republic. All
this would happen without financial sin and without a redeemer.

Mr. Lepper very properly says that international bimetallism and
independent bimetallism "are founded upon the same errors and
misconceptions." He should have said that they are founded upon the same
_truths_ and _necessities_. For "errors," read truths, and for
"misconceptions" read necessities. The writer of "Bimetallism
Simplified" next goes on to say that whatever value may be created by
monetization is not a commercial value. Well, then, what kind of value
is it? Is it a social value, such as a man attributes to his child that
is not for sale? Or is it a political value, such as a party manager
attributes to a vote that _is_ for sale?

Let us see whether monetization does, or does not, create value. We will
not quibble about the phrase "commercial value," but come directly to
the issue of value in general. Take the case upon which the goldites so
greatly rely, that of the safe burned in a fire with a bag of gold coin
and a bag of silver coin fused within. The triumphant gold sophist says,
"The ten gold dollars fused into a lump will still be worth just ten
dollars, while the silver dollars fused into a lump will be worth only
five dollars." Of course the lump of fused gold will be worth ten
dollars when it is coined and measured by itself! Suppose that the lump
of fused silver be coined into dollars again; how much will that be
worth? Everybody who has a premonitory symptom of common sense knows
that the lump of fused silver will--_if coinable again into dollars_--be
worth just as much as the lump of fused gold. It is _because_ the lump
of fused gold is coinable again into dollars that it retains its value.
It is _because_ the lump of fused silver is _not_ coinable again, under
the present order, that it is not worth ten dollars.

What makes the difference? It is the fact of monetization for one of the
metals, and demonetization for the other. Does anybody suppose that ten
dollars of silver fused into a lump would not still be worth ten dollars
if the lump were re-coinable? Does anybody suppose that ten gold dollars
fused into a lump would still be worth ten dollars if the lump were not
re-coinable? The fact of monetization not only confirms the value of one
metal, but it insures the value of the