Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-06-10
WHAT IS THE PAR OF sTBRG


Hunts Merchants Magazine for March thus
explains the reason why the sterling of exchange
is said to be at premium of 8, 8 or 10per cent,
as the case may be- The information viii be
interesting, as Welas new. to many or our read
ers:
'sWhen the first Spanish dollars became
known IN England, it required four and forty
four one-hundredtb&only of these dollar to
make pound sterling, according to the then
value of silver and gold. Since that time the
relative value of the two metals has been slight
IL altered; but, what is of more importance In
this matter, neither the Spanish dollar of more
recent date nor the American dollar Of any date,
contains nearly so much silver MS was contained
in the early dollars of Spain. The changes IN
the quantity Of pure silver in the dollars Of va
rious governments, have been numerous, but
the essential result is that, including the minor
changes in the relative value of gold and silver,
it now requires four and eighty four one-hun-
drelths ofthe present dollars, American, Next
can and Spanish to be worth one pound ster-
ling in Liverpool. And as during tho last two
centuries, the actual--in silTer-of the dollar
varied, from time to time, while the pound ster-
ling-in gold-was almost Interchangeable, it be-
came convenient in England to quote foreign
exchange lat an advance" when it began to
take more of these debased and diminished dol
lars to make pound sterling. In other words,
the English very properly took their unchange-
changeable dollars by it The practice, begun
long before money was coined in the United
States was continued when this country adopt
ed, essentially, the Spanish Dollar, for its unit
of coinage 1t prevails, as is well known, to the
present day, but its origin is not generally IN
derstood
1t is simply the English idea of the present
value of dollars, as compared with par that
was the true one century ago. Should our
dollars become so debased, at some future time
that five would be required to make pound
sterling, it Is obvious that the real par Of ster-
ling exchange, instead of standing at 9 per cent
premium, or thereaboutS, as at present quoted,
would be called 1913 per cent. premium. And it
is equally obvious that If the silver in our dol
lars were increased to the quantity found in the
early Spanish dollars, it would require but four
and forty-one hundredths to make pound ster-
ling. Thus, sterling exchange would be quoted
at par, and the real nominsl par would again
| correspond, as in former times
Those interested in the Details of the subject
arc referred to the elaborate Congressional Re
ports of 1884, that resulted in an alteration of
our own gold coinage. The present manner OF
quoting sterling exchange has long custom in
its favor Upon the whole, we can see no better
way OF stating it. that shall be recognized and
understood, both here and in Europe. Were
the American idea to prevail, it would be easy
and correct, Of course, to say that sterling eX-
change was at par, instead of per cent. ad-
vance. But after so long aIlse of the gold sys-
\ TEN, the prevalence of the American view, on
both sides of the Atlantic, is hardly to be cx-
| pectcl. And the present mode is perhaps as
generally ineligible and easy reckoning as that
employed in calculating French exchange-the
only other mode that suggests ITSELF as likely to
be employed, both here and in Europe, If tho
present system were abolished"