New-York daily tribune., 1844-03-16
THE TRIBUNE.
For the New. Yoa rribnne

,..re lust seen, in the Nev- York Weekly Tri-
J I af February Eth, two essa,s on the subject
'aa,s 'r-,.nev, Coins, &c. by wrrer who takes
do. .,sture of P. His opinions, anl his :" pre-
Bs s,nlicitn definitions, leave to r.e criti.
81 i,be Political Economist. Let me, hovev-
o W.. he commits any more errors of fact, call
q .sot;on to the following in essay No. II.
- own language in marks Of quotation.
BIZ lav recognized tender to the amount o
ssaas; q law of the writer's own enactment
- .;s none such in the statute book.
c.ns, as to matter Of fact. contain in value
,.sisy cents
hsa ,a,, informed, on the contrary, that the mint
: q cents for pound of copper planchets.
W .:.h r make but 4ls when coined.
,n.ycan hafessle, prior TO 1894 contains fraction
r1,ns standard gold, and l2a grains pure god these
a'anM cspu are S 80"
s,a p:ay 10 1894, the halfeagle contained 135
m:..apd = was of the fneness of9l63 thousandths
.,n,ained, therefore, 1893 grains pure gold
..h at $50. 81 10 per ounce is S. 33.
IRE statements respecting the halfeagle by
,.l,w of 1884" are slightly erroneous, but not
s.eotly so to require notice By that law the
, 1,ndsrd for gold was e99.225 thousandths, which
m - near the present standard that the difference
.,,,ue becomes appreciable only in large amounts.
spp seems to have written, however, in entire
..oraaee of the fact that the law of 1884
=. besn repealed. The Act Of January IS, 1887,
.s our standard, both for gold and silver, at 900
h,csaadths. Again:
s. standard weight OF the English sovereign is 1895
{tcopsins Of pure gold ll3 grains these at 3l.lOO
The TIE standard weight here given is not exact,
ae legal standard being not quite 1898. If the
t,sl standards Of weight and fneness actually
,Gsed in the so,ere gn it would be worth 81 81.
Bt although remarkably uniform in 6neness,
bsv fall short of the standard; being only 9l5d,
instead of 9l6s thousandths. They also fall short
IN weight. Upon inquiry learn thatin deposite
.ahem;nt of above 100000 OoOsovereigns, ,theaverage
vsadt of the single piece was found to be 1928
sans. This weight at the fneness of 9l5 5 gives
liz, grains pure gold; which at $40 Ct 2-l0 per
ounce is little above 81 81. This corresponds
the valuation given to the sovereign by the Act
Of March 8, lS43, which makes it legal tender,
1855 thousandths fine, at 946 cents per dwt.
"sandard OF the American silver dolars 39s grains
keoans Of pare silver 1858 grains; these a2 70 mills give
,iattion over 81"
Worse and worse! The standard weight of the
dollar is 4l2.5, and never was less. 1t contains
dpure silver 37l.25 grains, which, at 81 1929
pa ounce, is of course exactly 81. How can a
thing be worth more than itself?
s Spanish dollar contains Of standard silver 400 grains
Of pure silver $40 grans these at 272 mills
slto4'
The average weight of Spanish and Mexican
aouars IS about 4lG grains, and their fneness from
S97 to 900 thousandths. Consequently they con-
an of pure silver 373 or 374.5 grains, which at
81 90 90 per ounce, is 81 001 or 81 OIL.
1t may be well enough to add that the half-ea.
,e prior to 1884 contains 65 grains more than
be coins of the present standard, and is worth
aore by 80 cents. "P" states the excess to be
D weight grains, and in value 80 cents.
tits a very loose way of ascertaining larger
slues to adopt SO minute a measure as the single
rain, unless its value be exactly given. Now
81 cents is not the exact value Of grain o.
Ire gold, nor is 2.72 mills the exact value of 6
ain Of pure silver, as assumed by "P": both
trifle in error. But this trlfe, by being mul
,l;ad Ceu thousand fines amounts TO some
ing Many mickle makes 'nuckle," a
C Scotch have it. Q. OF PHILADELPHIA.