The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-27 00:00:00

UNIFORMITY OF CURRENCY.

In the Circular of Messrs. BOWLES, DREVET,
and Co., of the 7th instant, published in our
columns, will be found a correspondence on the
uniformity of currency, between SAMUEL B. RUG-
GLES, delegate from the United States to the Special ,
International Committee now in session at Paris,
and the Hon. JOHN SHERMAN. The importance of
Mr. SHERMAN'S letter may be estimated by the fact
that he is Senator from Mc), and Chairman of the
Finance Committee of the Senate. Mr. RUGGLES
takes the opportunity of the Senator's presgnce in
Paris to obtain from that gentleman, his views on
the work the delegates have on hand. With this
object he addressed to him a letter stating that the
opinions of the Committee appeared to be running
strongly in favour of adopting as the unit the exist-
ing 5-franc piece of gold. Supposing that to be
adopted, what, in the Senator's opinion, would be
the probable course of Congress, who, to bring Ame-
rican money into harmony, would have to reduce
the weight and value of the American dollar ?
If such a course commended itself to the honourable
I gentleman's judgment, the committee would be
materially strengthened by the favourable opinion
• of the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the
United States Senate, and the full weight of his
assistance might be looked for on his return to his
post.
It was a fortunate circumstance that Mr. SHER-
MAN was in Paris at this time, and Mr. RUGGLES,
by his tact, has managed to advance greatly
the objects in view. Mr. SHERMAN'S answer is
very distinct, and there are no ambiguous sen-
tences. Though as yet, Congress had not
committed itself to any opinion, having but little
discussed the subject, he was in a position,
from his knowledge of the views entertained by
several commercial bodies in the United States,
couplel with the favourable nature of the time
to make such a change, to feel quite sure
that Congress will adopt any practical mea-
sure obtaining for the world a uniform standard
of value and exchange. Having made this im-
portant statement the Senator proceeds to discuss
the method by which it can be accomplished. Those
who have read an article that appeared in our issue
of the 30th of March lasi, will see that he arrives
at the same conclusions. If Great Britain will
reduce the value of her sovereign twopence, and
the United States will reduce the value of her
dollar something over three cents, we then have a
coinage in the franc, dollar, and sovereign easily
computed, and which will readily pass in all
countries—the dollar as 5f., and the sovereign as
25f. He adds that as the gold sf. piece is now in
use by over 60,000,000 of people of several
different nationalities, and is of convenient form
and size, it may well be adopted by other nations
as the common standard of value, leaving to each
nation to regulate the divisions of this unit in
silver coin, or tokens. From the general
discussion of the subject, the American
statesman proceeds to enlarge on the measure
as affecting the United States. In the first place,
Congress alone can change the value of the existing
coinage. By section 8, paragraph 5, of the Consti-
tution, it is enacted, "that Congress has full powers
to coin money, regulate its value, the values of
foreign money, and to fix the standard of weights
and measures." As coin is not in general circulation
in the United States, the size, weight, and measure
of future issues can be more readily fixed, and it is
not worth while to negociate with other powers that
which can be done without negotiation, nor is it
advisable to limit the nation by treaty restrictions.
The United States is so large in extent, is so sparsely
populated, and the price of labour is so much
higher than in Europe, that more capital per
capita is required. The larger part of the gold
and silver of the world is also produced by this
nation, and for these reasons, Mr. SHERMAN
holds, that it is not advisable that the State
should limit its coinage, except to the wants of its
people and the demands of its commerce. He
observes that in England the change is so slight
that an enlightened self-interest will soon induce it
to be made, especially if the United States under-
; tabu 419 goat: change liewigary in t 149.4 COLIKieI