Currency Stability Quotes
Harvey was one of those who argued that silver and not gold should be the basis of American money. The country was growing and the amount of gold was relatively fixed; therefore money was scarce and many believed the English and American financiers were hording gold deliberately. The final solution was not a gold standard or a silver standard but what we have today—a currency backed only by the full faith and credit of the U. S.
Most modern economists argue just the opposite. The monetary supply for a growing world population would be insufficient for growth since the supply of gold is extremely limited. The United States was plagued by this problem from its earliest times as its growth was very strong, but there was not enough gold to support the growth. So silver was added, and then during the Civil War where growth rates were very large in the North, paper currency evaded the problem, which returned over the next century until the Nixon Administration—a very conservative one—shocked many conservatives by abandoning the Gold Standard and the U. S. has never returned to it.