New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-04-01
REFORM PREVENTED.

REFORM PREVENTED.
Mr.. Senator Hunters bill, embodyiag the plan
Of Mr. Fish for removing Spanish coin from circu-
lation has been reported in the Senate Whatever
value il has consists, so far as we can see IN Illus
.r.tpg the confdlng and unsophisticated character
Of tbo.e gentlemen. 1t car certainly have no prac-
teal bearing upon the question: unless il be to pre-
vent every hope Of single specimen OF that tnte
and indecipherabe coinage making it' way INTO
the Mint. a.d experiencing the risk OF remission
% member Of the decimal family. The bill pro-
noses 70 remedy universal and yexatious evil.
The buying community has grown old in com
plaipts that the use Of these foreign interloper'
subjects it to the loss Of endless quarters halves
and other extremely vulgar fractions OF a cent
which the well-prscticed fingers OF petty dealers
uniformly grasp as with thumb screw. The Ia
borer--whose every dollar comes to him with
more effort and toll than it deseres-protests
against the discount Of four per cent to
which he is thus exposed; and beside
the loss. there is the annoyance. Prices are
arranged with reference TO the shilling ana SIX
penny scale. wherewith the decimal system OF the
country is irreconcilsble; and we have thus inces
sant perplexity and the need of arithmeticd gifts
"a rare az Zerah Colburns TO comprehend the
most trihng transactions. Such IL the diagnosis
submitted TO Government; and what cure does
Government propose This new bill tells US.
Other dealers it says, swndle you out of four per
cent Bring your silver to US and We will do bet
ter by you We will clean you out OF twenty per
cent at once, and proceed TO recon the money alta
handsome profit to ourselves. Express this hand
some offer in the solemn legislative phrases known
70 the Circumocution Office, and we have the
whole substance and scope of Mr.. Hunters re-
form. II proposes to receive the reG, or shilling
niece. at the rate of q dime; its diyisor aud multi
ples in the same ratio as if the world, dissatisfied
with the loss of half-cent on the shilling, must
eagerly embrace the opportunity Of losing two cents
more. All the additional machinery that will be
required in the Mint to convert the coin thus called
in into the current mintage of the country might
be contained in a spece-box.
The only means of recalling, recasting and re-
stamping this Objectionable money lies in receiving
it at its proper value in payment of all dues to the
Government. The moment lower appraisemeDt
is fixed upon it, the chance Of its recOinage disap-
pears. The experiment has already been tried.
For years the quarter. dollar Spanish and Mexican,
was received when offered at the POst-Office at
the valuation determined in Mr.. Hunters bill.
There is no evidence that any Of it entered the
Mint There is abundant reason to believe that
the whole bulk of it was paid out and used by off,
Gals receiving it, at the vulgar rate; the very
clerks at the windows VIGOROUSLY slipping them
into one pocket, while out Of the other they pro-
duced two dimes for the money-drawer There is
nothing in the new measure to prevent the repeti-
tion of this swindle 1t has been stated that some
years ago the Postmaster Of New-York added
-, 500 to his income by such misuse of the Span
ish currency, with the additional harvest of odds
and ends derived from shaving the half and quarter
cents in making change. There is no reason why
| it should not be so again, if Mr. Hunters bill
become an act.
The objection to receiving Spanish coin at the
conventional rate in payment Of Government dues is
confined to the fact that the average Of those coins is
actually below sach standard; in other words,
that Government cannot undertake the reform,
however necessary, and indeed Indispensable,
unless the thing can be done without disturbing the
balance sheet of the Mint. The same class of re-
moDstrances encounter US when We talk of reducing
postage or aboshing the Thanking privilege. Red
tape always holds that the people are made for mint
masters and poStmasters; not they for the people.
Why, if the reconage of the Spanish silver involve
q cost however vast, cannot you pay for so vast
public benefit out of the public purse What else
is Government for but to appropriate the peoples
money for objects generally beneficial to the peo-
pie! We are turned away with the pOrtentOus
absurdity that it is important for the routine
Of Mint and POst-Ofice to be unperturbed than for
any amount of useful, and needful, and DANGEROUSLY
called for changes to be effected 1t is in this quint-
essential spirit of fogyism the scheme of Messrs.
Fish and Hunter is conceived: the country has
asked to have the strange and wornout money of
the Spaniard recoined, and the bill provides how
% 40 ~