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XIX.

FANCY MONETARY STANDARDS. 1
T may be of some service to the study of questions
I of " money" if I take the opportunity furnished by
Mr. Aneurin Williams's paper on ''i\. Value of Bullion
Standard" in the last issue of the "Economic Journal,"
to refer students to a paper by Mr. Bagehot on what
is substantially the same topic published in the II Eco-
nomist" of November 20, 1875. The article in question
is entitled "A New Standard of Value," and is a critic-
ism of Mr. J evons's suggestion of a "multiple standard"
in his book on " Money," in the International Scientific
series which had just then appeared. Mr. Bagehot's
article is anonymous, but of course it is well known
that he was then the editor of the II Economist," and I
am in a position to state that the article was in fact his
own writing. The subject is one in which he took a
good deal of interest, as the article itself shows.
Mr. Williams's proposal of a "Value of Bullion
Standard" and Mr. J evons' s of a " Multiple Standard"
are not in all respects identical. Mr. Williams's pro-
posal, as I understand it, is to provide for an issue of
paper which is to consist of promises to pay a varying
quantity of bullion, the variation to be made according
to the average variation in the price of leading com-
modities arranged by an "index number." The paper
thus issued is to constitute the" pounds" of the new
system. Mr. J evons's suggestion was that, while pounds
are still to be so much buIlion, the number of pounds
payable for a debt was to be varied ;lccording to the
variations of the "index number." In substance, it
1 From the "Economic Journal" of September, 1892.
166