Gold Standard Act, 1900: "An Act To define and fix the standard of value, to maintain the parity of all forms of money issued or coined by the United States, to refund the public debt, and for other purposes." United States notes became redeemable for gold at the historical rate of $20.67 per ounce. While the statute continued to allow for the use of silver coinage and urged an international agreement on bimetallism, this Act secured the primacy of gold in United States’ monetary policy. Therein became the problem when gold was assigned an arbitrary value. It's value should have been left for the market to decide, and only it's weight use in marking its denominations. Same goes for any certificates, payable upon demand, issued against it.