ABSTRACT
This was one of the classic periods of monetary pamphleteering, comparable to 1696 and 1810. There is an immense literature supporting and opposing bimetallism, and most of the heated views expressed on European Monetary Union in the late twentieth century were already being well rehearsed. In both cases much of the writing is of indifferent quality, but there are some gems. The best books on each side are by authors who were later to play an active role in monetary reform. J.Lawrence Laughlin (1888) an opponent, was to play the major role in the US Monetary Commission of 1897 which led to the formal introduction of the gold standard. Sir David Barbour (1885), perhaps the most readable and coherent of the supporters, was Financial Secretary to the Government of India and was to have the misfortune (given his views) to preside over the 1893 closing of the Indian silver mints.
