I have thought it necessary, Mr. President, to state what I conceive to be the true principles of the science of money, the principles that, with the progress of time and growth of intelligence, must prevail the world over; because, without a clear understanding of the relation which the quantity of money in a country bears to the prosperity and happiness of its people, there would be no justification for an addition of either silver, gold, or any other form of money to the quantity already in circulation. If the value of money depends on quantity, then, as long as the world adheres to the automatic theory of money, my contention is that all the silver produced from all the mines of the world should be transmuted into coin; and even then, if the wants of the world continue to increase as they have been increasing, it is only a question of time, and that not far distant, when the combined supply of both metals will be insufficient to maintain the equities in time transactions. The world having decreed to stand by the automatic system we are now dealing with the question as a practical one. The only relief that can be had is to adhere strictly to that system, and give it full scope. Remove all legislative restrictions and let the world have the full benefit of all the precious metals that are yielded by the mines. THE WORLD'S SUPPLY OF GOLD AND SILVER. Since for thousands of years the world recognized both silver and gold as money, can anybody tell what has happened to render one of them unfitted for the money use? No argument based on fluctuations in the current supplies of either of the metals can militate against the use of both as money. The fluctuation in the annual yield of both, taken together, is much less violent and less frequent than the fluctuation of either taken separately. By the use of both, society has much greater security against the evil of an insufficient money volume. While a large yield, now of one, and again of the other, has taken place, there is no instance in the history of the world of an extraordinary yield of both occurring simultaneously, except in the single instance of the first discovery of the mines of America. When the gold mines have been yielding largely, there has been no special increase of silver, and during the period when silver has been produced in comparatively large quantities the gold mines have been less productive. This will be illustrated by the following table showing the yield of both gold and silver, from the discovery of America to the present time. _Annual average production of the precious metals throughout the world from the discovery of America to 1872._ [From Director of United States Mint.]