Certainly in many controversies facts far less striking have been alleged as proving it.

And indeed there plainly is a diminution in the purchasing power of money, though that diminution is not general and permanent, but local and temporary.

The peculiarity of the precious metals is that their value depends for unusually long periods on the quantity of them which is in the market.

In the long run, their value, like that of all others, is determined by the cost at which they can be brought to market.

But for all temporary purposes, it is the supply in the market which governs the price, and that supply in this country is exceedingly variable.