The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-07-21

tugucss millreis is worth five francs sixty cen.
| tim 8; 70 would have TO be reduced to the rate
of our gold dollar Tine Russian dem-impe-
riale of five roubles is worth twenty francs
sixty-six centimes The reduction of each
rouble by thirteen centimes in gold would
m ke the dem-inperiale equal to the gold
Napoleon.
Ii will be sen that the friends OF this none
tary reform do not at all aim a! introducing q
new system of coins in place of those in circu-
lation. They only desire that the coins in cir
culation in the various countries, and which
will, under this system, have free course in
other countries, may have a fixed relative
simple comparison of value between each
other; that the French twenty-five franc piece
shall be equal to one En- glsh sovereign. to ton
Austrian forms, to five American dollars, TO
five Portuguese millries, to one Spanish doub-
loon and to ten East Indian rupees, and that
the five franc gold piece shall be eqaal to one
American dollar and to one Portuguese millreis.
The inene,s Of the gold standard is to be nine
tenths or nine hundred one thousandths, and
any attempt to lower that standard In the coin
age of any country would be guarded against
by provision that 1t should be followed by an
exclusion from the union of the coins Of that
country.
The proposed reform for uniformity OF
cOnlge is very we'll in some respects, and
certainly better than the present confused
sys en-, or rather want of sysem, among the
commercial nations. But it evidently leans
too much in favor Of Europe. We hold that
the decimal system of the United States is the
simplest and best, AMI that If change be
made by international consent it should be
thorough We have BEEN too long at the
m ,rcy OF European nations, and particularly
OF England, in monetary matters, waich have
controlled the exchanges against u.s. We
CANTON tn government, therefore, to de-
liberate web before it commits itself to any
alteration proposed by the nations Of Rurope.
Lottery and Liquor Dealers and the Revenue
Law-The Authority OF License.
We give in another column the judgment Of
Chief Justice Chase on those knotty points Of
law that arise when the United States confers
license to carry on o trade that is forbidden
by State statutes. There are trades that are
lawful in certain States and unlawful in Others
as the dealing in liquor and lottery tickets !;
and 1t Is upon these that the cases arise. All
is in harmony in those States where it is quite
lawful to deal in those articles; but conflict
arises in other States where, though the traffic
be unlawful, 1t is actually carried. on
winked at in most cases by the local author
tiles. The United States revenue officers, not
having any authority to discriminate between
States, tax these trades wherever they find
them, and issue licens. and it results, in
the States where the trade is forbidden, that
the Illicit dealer, brought before local courts,
pleads this United States license az an author
ity that lifts him above local law and permits
him to prosecute his otherwise forbidden traffic.
Chief Justice Chase decides that the United
States license is not an authority in any sense,
but is simply part Of the machinery for laying
tax, and cannot for q moment be considered
as touching the general principle of constitu-
tional relations, that the United States govern
ment has no power in the internal commerce
of any State. This is sound, though perhaps it
might have been more technically accurate if
he had held that the license is a limited author
ity-a permission to carry on the trade so far
as its taxable relations to the general govern
ment 60, and no farther, inasmuch as while it
is the evidence that the dealer has performed
his obligations under the revenue law, it does
not pretend to touch his relations to the State.
The Chief Justice purposely laid aside all
question of public policy as beyond his pro-
vince, and Of course was estopped by his po-
sition from rejecting on the morality of trades
that are legal in many States.