Bryan, Roosevelt said, would be as clay in the hands of the potter under the astute control of the ambitious and unscrupulous Illinois communist. The free coinage of silver would be but a step towards the general socialism which is the fundamental doctrine of his political belief.

Rome responded by reducing the gold silver content (the ancient equivalent of monetization), which led to sustained inflation in the empire. But the frequent discovery of Roman coins in India suggests that Roman coinage continued to be accepted internationally long after it must have been obvious that its gold or silver content had fallen.