New-York daily tribune., 1858-12-16

oTt ty Ar'le Aa <Ufs sIcHl'e0t oi hu""e
i-l.nd, ron -EJsSrt of a universal uniform
decimal Lcltfas~< TITS paper appears to have al
,racted much sttep;on. and l. priried with aP-
probation IN msuy Of toe London Journals.
OF the desirsbility Of such = reform, were it
orly prscrcabe. there can be but one opln-
ion. Indeed, tde necessity OF i increases e'ery
day, with TIE growing extension by means oi
steam, of international Intercourse ana trade Bn'
to render such change possible, it lie esseuti, to
nuke ss lite alteration as possible in exl'tiog
coins, so az to avoid coming in contact with fixed
habits and established idess With this necessity
in view. Dr. Tefft proposes TO make the monetary
systems Of Great Bit Jn, France AID the bG'ted
States the basis Of bis plan, well assured that If
once sdop.cd by these three leading mercantile na-
tior = it would not Re lotg 10 makloc is wsy toto
al other comIuercal countries. He proposes to
adopt gold niue-,cnihs fle IA the standard OF
value. ano the French ne,rcal system in determir-
irc the w,;aht 0f coius-,he monetary unit 10 be
gold dollar, Lot Ike our Americ ~ goIi dollar
which is too small To- ca, yeLieut use, out Ike the
French fve-irauc piece Of gold THIS new dollar
he propos 10 make of the light Of 10 erammes,
to cor.cslond to oar American dcusr. TO four
,hiliir - Eueh,h ard 10 f7e francs French, though
a triir less in value thsn either. The reasoas for
assuming TIE dollar as the standard are these: lt
is rot only the Oldest, lar as Europe is
concerned, it is the most universally
known Of all existing money units. 1t exists IA
name or as mouey TYPE in sii America 10 the
G,Imaa, spanish, Russian and Italian countries,
and - well-kpown ia many pats Os lndIa cnd
China. Il is the most economical uuit, because it
,tsrts with the c0mmonest suiall coin 10 use for
It's cent or kundreiIh part. The h"Peh 10 Russia,
The baiocch in Italy, the kreuzrr in Austria the
SOU or pece of nye ceutimes in FTaoce, the cent
in America and the halipenDy in England are the
smallest coins in common use. \ unit with cents
smaller than the ordinary copper coln@ AZ is the
ease in France, mikes unnecessary hgares, add u
unit SO lgrge that u cent ia ABOVE the common
small. 4 on az would be tie with the English
pound, incuIs the use of the ulll third decimal,
and thu- becomes uha ieldy.
1t is proposed to coin 10 gold, pieces of one dol
lar; and OF two dollars, TO be known IN France as
ten franc pieces in Eng gland as eight shilling pieces
both these nations beng thus allowed TO retain
their accustomed noInanclstlre also. pieces 0 two
dollars aud half for use in England and America.
of four dollars for use in France, OF i've dollars
nnd Of ten dollars The following table will show
the comparison in point of weight in fine gold OF
the proposed new coins, with those now in use:
5dollArs pe,eut American s,sndari.....Troy srhll6
porrd rrcseu. Fnrsh s'and4rd......Ir"y grs ii5ul
- francs rrscut Fr, nch Toy grs il'WS
5dolaIs pro posed universal Troy srs iil2
OF silver coins Mr.. Tefft proposes ftty-cent
irce cquiyalen, to our half dollar, to two sblings
English, and two and half francs French:
twenty -fvecent piece TO be shilling in England,
end a quarter in America; twenty cent or franc
piece for France: II ten-cent and fye-ctnt piece.
lhe following table viii show the comparative con-
tents in fine slyer of the existing and the proposed
new coins;
f francs present French standard
couer pr, Au.-rcan standard I2s
- r sent rueish stat 10
dol ar qIopoed universal stand S0
Another table, which We give below, will serve
10 explain some other points OF diversity between
the existing systems and the proposed new one:
l.ne in sod cloths ue present standard srammes lt9
rhs sd 5rsIc-rG g'snmeS..tD
r.nc. In silver 9oth. ne present stanoari
dollar in silver gtths tue, sed tsndd gram nes@'
ratio Of ID silver france II 5W- plus
alto Of gold 70 silye. N A'n' cs...i@Toi
PIc5cp. ratio II acid . silver IN Ensani..it 20 pcs.
Proposed ratio " zoio - silver
Present e. eus,s u gold II 'aod ll2
?r.sert h4-ne-s Of silver coin Ia F. gland
Er... tfr-r Of g.Ll 4ff az