Blood-dripping dollars
The Game of Overdraft World: The Past and Present Lives of Dollar Hegemony
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Gold and Silver War 丨 Bloody War 丨 Fengyun World War II 丨 The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union 丨 Overdraft World 丨 Subprime Mortgage Crisis 丨 End
First, the gold and silver war
5.
Boiling a pot of "porridge" that is difficult to swallow, americans have made a lot of effort.
Gold, silver, dollars, green coins – how to mix these "ingredients" together, on the issue of the monetary system, politicians declare different positions, capitalists emphasize their own interests, people confide in their own concerns... Then, up to the White House, the parliament, down to the streets and alleys, people expressed their own opinions, disagreed with each other, and did not give in to each other. Discussions are endless, topics are endless — and there is only one outcome of such and such a situation — and that is no outcome.
No result, that's the beginning of chaos.
In 1894, if the anxious President Cleveland could suddenly remember something in his precarious state of affairs— I am afraid that in addition to the glorious Civil War, what haunted his mind must have been such a noisy year.
It was the 8th year after the end of the war, 1873. An era of chaos.
Everything that happened during the year seemed so calm in the first days. All actions seem reasonable. For the new era to come, no one complains, no one curses, and there is no relentless mutual tart by politicians. Everyone seemed so amiable.
On February 12, in such a harmonious atmosphere, in order to meet the real needs of international trade and the domestic market, their Congress passed a Coin Act. Times are progressing, the environment is changing—in fact, as for the bill on coin minting, it was introduced as early as 1793, at the beginning of the founding of the United States, and the purpose of this regulation promulgated by Congress is to revise the old bill in response to the current needs.
Yes, 80 years on, many things are bound to change.
Looking back at 1793, when the Mint Act was enacted, when the United States, any holder of gold and silver, as long as he wanted, the mint could serve him at any time, and could mint the gold and silver in his hands into coins at any time.
At the price at the time, 257.5 grams of gold earned $10 in gold, and 371.25 grams of silver in $1. The ratio between the two is 1:15.
At the beginning of the 19th century, according to the degree of depreciation of gold, this ratio was changed to 1:16. The official price of 1 ounce of gold is $20.67, and the official price of 1 ounce of silver is $1.292.
But later, a new trend suddenly rolled in— for some reason, the price of silver soared in the metal market at that time.
Prices go up and down, which in itself is not unusual.
However, what happened later was enough to attract the attention of the entire population.
In later days, the price of silver as an ordinary metal far exceeded the price of silver as money.
In other words, the silver that is minted into silver coins is not worth anything.
That's a novelty. In the face of this phenomenon, we do not know how the people will be surprised and how they will talk about it. But what is certain is that under such circumstances, any sane person will surely come to the same conclusion - they will never mint the already expensive silver in their hands into relatively cheap silver coins.
It is in this context that, with the passage of time, the number of silver coins in the United States is getting smaller and rarer every day.
By the eve of the Civil War, the situation had almost reached a peak.
——In the market during this period, the figure of silver coins has completely disappeared...
In 1873, when the new version of the Coin Act was enacted, there were so many things in the world that had changed.
Remember the great scientist Newton who was overseer of the Royal Mint of the British Empire? With his bold reforms, after 1717, under the strong leadership of the world's number one power, the European countries that had been in war for a long time and sought cooperation with them for a long time, either intentionally or helplessly, quickly moved their own monetary systems.
In the 1870s, when the international situation was in turmoil, the "gold standard" system pioneered by the British finally swept across Europe and became a major storm in the Western financial world. Under the guidance of this new system, in the new rules gradually formed by international trade, as the status of gold rises vertically, the status of silver also plummets accordingly. Because of its new standard currency status in various countries, gold has become the best means of payment in trade between countries. At the same time, it echoes that silver, which was once in the limelight, has now become a supplementary coin, and even once fell into the embarrassing situation of "not being able to spend".
The Flying Fountain in Nevada, USA
Domestic reality, international environment. As a brand-new and revised Coin Act, this new international situation will naturally become the focus of its attention.
Under the guidance of this new situation, in the monetary system, the center of gravity that once fell on silver will inevitably undergo a fundamental shift.
So, in this new bill, people see this:
Except for the $5 silver coin, the silver coin will no longer be used as a legal payment, and the U.S. Mint will no longer mint silver into currency.
This means that silver, the darling of the former monetary world, has henceforth been unspeakably beaten into the cold.
In stark contrast, the traditional dollar can still be exchanged for gold.
Gold itself can still be minted with gold coins.
In short, the definition of "money" by the state has undergone significant and subversive changes.
And so, in the 8th year after the end of the war, at the time when the chaos was about to begin—everything at first seemed so calm. All the actions seem plausible. No one wants to tart anyone, no one wants to curse anyone. This new regulation does not seem to be an exaggeration that offends anyone's interests, and at the time of its promulgation, even the most closely related silver miners showed no agitation.
If you don't want to, don't do it. Silver, as a metal, is expensive.
It's no big deal.
However, the wind and waves are brewing, the waves are converging - the flood blocked by mud, when it encounters any shock that occurs beneath the surface, may break through the fence.
Removing silver from the rules of money — in fact, this means that this precious metal, which has a long monetary history and enjoys a unique place in human civilization, has since lost a retreat that was almost exclusive to it. Prices are high and low, and when it walks on two legs, it can now only walk on a single road with a limp, and the balance of the past is no longer stable.
In the same years, under the same blue sky, just in 1873, when the United States still showed the people the serenity of the forced decoration, in another part of this vast continent, the flood that was about to shake the fence had been shaken violently under the surface, and it had been full of strength.
It was a "Nevada" in the western United States — a year when, after a cry of surprise, the local government suddenly announced a major news story.
It was a rugged, manly landscape full of strange rocks and peaks—a territory of beautiful scenery and traps, where idyllic cities echoed dangerous wastelands—and it was here, after a period of exploration and excavation, a super-large silver mine that symbolized wealth, was like a rainbow, and was destined to be written into the history of the United States, suddenly revealing its honor to the world.
After a scream, in the dazzling silver light, everyone's eyes widened.
What happened next, it is obvious— the capitalists, the politicians, the workers, the people... ... — almost all those who could be associated with them, all got on their horses, rolled up their sleeves, or used their brains, or exhausted their physical strengths— and under the simple and seductive guidance of wealth, they did the same thing madly:
Dig, dig, dig...
According to statistics, in the year of the excavation of silver in Nevada, the value of the silver produced by it was as high as $645,000.
What is even more exaggerated is that after 2 years, this data has climbed more and more straight, and in the end, it has increased by a full 25 times on the basis of the first year.
After mining, there is more mining; after the madness, there is even greater madness. And the outburst of chaos begins at the beginning of the excavation, and the fragile balance is destroyed by the crazy chase.
Standing on the high ground of the hereafter, we re-examine the historical context—with the keen vision of hindsight, the chaotic past finally reveals its simple archetype.
The times create contradictions, and contradictions distort the times. Against the backdrop of the widespread "gold standard" in Europe, in the days when the brand-new Coin Act mercilessly and almost completely wrote off the monetary properties of silver, a huge amount of silver, along the straight roads of Nevada, was transported in batches and tirelessly to the metal markets throughout the country, with a strong momentum, against the fragile balance, fully and completely rushing away.
What happens next?
Without the status of an international currency, silver lost its powerful exports to the outside world.
Without the identity of fiat money, internally, it loses its unique privileges.
Prices range from high to low, even this unique precious metal.
The logic behind it – supply outstrips demand, prices rise. Oversupply, prices fall – this simple law is well known.
That being the case, when an excess of silver, far greater than demand, poured into the market, it was so understandable about the results of its subsequent frenzied depreciation.
And when such an end finally broke out suddenly in that chaotic era— the anger that first ignited in the chests of the silver mine owners was self-evident.
- Conspiracy! It's all a conspiracy!
And the culprit behind this conspiracy can only be a banker!
At the Coin Bill, which kicked the silver monetary attribute out, the mine owners waved their fists and shouted accusations.
Worse still, under the spread of this sentiment, the group of such angry accusations is far more than the silver miners.
Western merchants, emerging capitalists, farmers, labor organizations, and many more... They all exploded.
In this way, in the history of the United States, this new "Coin Act" has a very inelegant name - "Evil Law of 1873".
To be continued
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