Flag of the Union. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1850-18??, 1853-02-11

The CoINAGE.-The report made By Senator
Hunter, on the subject Of coinage, last March,
has been before the country ever since, and has
never been acted upon. 1t il a subject Of daily
increasing interest 10 the whole community, be-
cause all persons are put TO serious Inconvenience
in consequence Of the delays, necessary and M
necessary, that have arisen in the action Of Con-
gress upon the proposed bill. We extract the
following from the New York Courier, on this
subject:
The new Coinage advocated by the Treasury
Department was fully discussed 10 the Annual
Report Of Secretary 0DfWin in December, 1851.
He then adyerted 10 the increased legal value Of
silver in Great Britain as compared with our
n, and recommended such alteration Of the
law a. would give silver in this country such
an additional value as would prevent its export
He then stated the relative values Of gold and
silver 10 be
In the United States. -. as TO 1888
In France. las l to 10, 499
In Great Britain. .........as to l4,2eS
In other words, IA, 9Ss ounces of silver coin
in Great Britain are equal to 1898 in the Uni
ted States. As a consequence, the silver coin
existing in this country three or -four years since
has been gradually exported to Europe, where
it had greater value than with US, and now we
nave scarcely enough to convert into the new
coins that have been suggested.
The Director of the Mint suggests such a
modification az will make the relative value of
silver to gold at 1884 to l..
Mr.. Hunters Bill proposes to diminish the
quantity of silver in the halEdollar, and in the
coins Of smaller denominations, by about 6.9l
per cent. without disturbing the present value
of the larger coin. IL is not intended at present
TO fix new relative value between the two me-
tails; nor until their production throughout the
world can be so nearly sscertaned, that such
values shall be permanently fixed by new law.
With a reduction of only ORG per cent. in the
value Of silver, this coin would not be exported.
The report says
with this reduction, silver on the smaller
coins would bear 10 gold a ratio of nearly 1928
to /, which gives il a greater value than the ex-
listing laws Of Russia, Holland and France, in
which il bears to gold the respective values of
1888 to !. and of 1875 TO /. In England il
bears higher value; bot there it Is legal ten
der for only small sums"
The Report concludes:-
1.-THE committee have also adopted the recon-
mendation of the Secretary of the Treasury in
relation to a seignoFage. The mints of this coun-
try are likely TO become so expensive, and the
quantities of the precious metals manufactured
in them already 30 large, that Il would seem
10 be proper 10 impose some legal charge upon
the manufacture fer the purpose of sustaining
the mints. The amount Of seignorage is ques-
lions of some practical difficulty; but the charge
now proposed is somewhat less than that exact
ed In England or France. In France the charge
is one-half per cent. on gold, and one and ONE
half per cent. upon silver. In England one
and one-half per cent, 10 paid upon gold, and
two and. one-eghih per cent, on silver. We
propose 10 charge 10 depositors one-half Of one
per cent, for both gold and silver; denying them,
however, che right Of having the new silver coin
struck on their own accounts"
We earnestly hope that Congress " IN not per-
nit the present session to terminate, without
adopting the measures jointly proposed by the
Treasurer and Mr.. Hunter.
Il is in fact matter of no importance, what
ever, to the community at large, as TO what de-
gree of alloy shall be allowed in the new coin
age of three, five, ten, twenty five cents, and
fifty cent pieces. 1t is very clear that the pro-
posed change, or something near it, will be the
only means of retaining ia the country the small
amounts of silver now held. We now have
two standards, when one only would be sufi-
cient. Tie increasing supply Of gold points to
that metal as the true and sole legal standard
with US as it is now in Great Britain. As Mr..
Abbott Lawrence says :-"It will hereafter be
found source of great inconvenience to attempt
to maintain more Than one standard, which
should be of gold, and the silver coinage adopt
cd 10 it. In case gold should continue
to be abundant in California, and sums to the
amount Of forty millions annually taken from
that State for three or four years to come, with
4 prospect Of a cont nuance of large supply,
hen the standard Of value may be materially re.
iuced, and the United States, Great Britain and
FHnce, and doubtless every country in Europe,
would be forced TO conform to it,"