The New York herald., 1869-05-26

experiment and made It less pre)uoical tnan ~ was
or forty per cent to the weight Of public and private
Mr.. Edward strache, In his valuable treatise on
Austrian currency Vienna, 1891, has some perth
isIois in Austria was less cruel In its effects than
the resumption OF l816-20 IN Great Britain was. We
quote the relevant passage-
What happened Austria after 1918 ana 1878 WAS is true
ssas.as sH:s,ss f,S.
much easier e. 20 redeem metal sum Of paper
Il al dvsahs, ss England did Moreover there at that
from Ike paper TO The metal By financial
9 @ s.a fes i % ns
poverty S capital had
q The consuming @ q the nation The
had Ss aa IN o
Sf Austria. ana linen fabrics which repre-
were then fun bloom. Moreover Ausra copseqaencs
Ike K
cStsss q whs. stschnissy
d aorin. IN smcun and series Of Brought a
that period sum Of sni a inc ts
debt was an the foreigner buy and to
s ss HI the
to metal standard were extantf
That transfer into gold OF public and private obi.
CATION contracted In deprecated paper as carried
out in Britain and as demanded by the bullionsts In
the United States, that operation which was, in my
Granam In iii his pamphlet on ''Corn and Currency;
"a fraud upon every debtor, public and private"
was avoided by the aesoust statesmen tesa OF M9st
specie payments has left no such melancholy traces
upon the page of history as those left by the British
Nevertheless the general policy pursued by Aus
trian statesmen at this uncture was such as no ad-
statesmen had before them the experience, in the
matter Of State notes, Of more than half century
notes In moderate quantities had proved to be emf
nently beneficial to the r. community and and. con,
to as state cr state so
able to circulate a. par, with gold and silver
standard during the whole time OF peace and
of the said period had likewise afforded an example
OF the agrant abuse of the prerogative Of the issue
BILE deduction from this long OF experiments
contend that that deduction was that the State
loo COO ooo f,or,ns of faxaon mcne, and that such
a measure would not even have been inconsistent
with metallic standard. as experience had
already proved that such quantity OF notes would
circulate at par with coin. In making use Of this
argument as good one against the bullionist l
in favor OF o metallic standard l advocate the
issue Of taxation money by the State, whether or
hand the doctrine on Which the then Austrian states
men proceeded was to pass condemnation on and
surrender IN toto the prerogative of the State
to issue paper money and TO give charac.
ter to a body Of private capitalists. incorporated
as the National Privileged Austrian Banking Com
pany, which charter, granted IN 1916 Tor term OF
twenty-five years, conferred upon this company the
exclusive privilege OF Issuing paper money in the
ambt of the Austrian empire. These notes were, OF
course convertible into coin on demand. To the
new bank also entrusted the duty OF exchanging,
at twOifths nominal value the old State notes for
the new bank notes, and an interest bearing debt,
amounting to no. 900 forins, due from the State
to the bank was incurred on this account. This
debt be it said en- pasSont was gradually llquidated
by sinking fund.- but was only finally got rid Of ON
the 3st of December 1860. Such was the conse-
quence OF converting non-nerest bearing floating
debt into interest bearing funded onea stroke OF
finance which seems to have capuvated Nh. McCul
IS1s-4s.@Matiers remained on this footing until
1s4s, the Bank charter having been renewed for
second period OF twenty-five years on the expiry
OF the first term in 1s41, the taxpayers the while
paying Off In bank notes the nstalments OF capital
and interest for the extinction Of the debt due to the
notes on the last day Of lS47 the State debt to the
bank OH all accounts was 1872 452, 36A horins. The
smallest denomination OF note was Ave FORMS
being desr0us of enabling others TO follow over the
track have traversed. mention as my principal
authority for this period "Hauers Betrage Zur FL
nanz- -Geschichte Gsterreichsn Vienna, ls4s
FROM MARCH, 1s4s, TO MARCH, lses.-rhe French
period OF currency repose and threw the citizens
and statesmen OF this empire upon the open sea OF
currency experiments, painful indeed to those sub
jeced to them, but instructive to the rest OF the
world, and 10 none more 30 than to the American
ton broke upon Austria In March, 1s4s, and one OF
the consequences thereof was that the BANK sunored
",
had stood at 7o,oO0.OO0 forms IN round numbers,
had fallen ON the lst June OF the same year to O00
zero. Under these circumstances, and very unwiil.
ingy, the government on the "a June, authorized
the suspension OF specie payments. AT the same
time IL declared the new inconvertble bank potes to
be legal tender between man and man. 1t at the
same time allowed the bank to issue notes OF one
and two fiorins denomination ana from that day TO
this, in form another the citizens OF Austria
have enjoyed the advantage Of small note crcula-
tion The one orin note detested by the bullion
ists has never since then departed from the land
Immediately after the issue OF the rescript OF June
the bank ami notes M M 70 he sg5 discount INT sgn S
excessve-a little over 220 900 1orins. In August
1s4s, the premium on silver was the nearly nominal
Il was the october revolution in Vienna the revo-
lutionary attitude Of Hungary and the difficulties in
regard the bank charter and to resume the preroga
tive inherent in every state-a prerogative which
ought never 70 have been aenated-of Issuing state
notes, receivable In payment OF taxation at the
state treasures The paper money issue at this
juncture must be divided into three categorles-
namely: FIRST the West Austrian; second, the Lom-
bardo-venetian, and third, the Hungarian. The
West Austrian category OF state notes Cirst ennis.
son) bears date January 1s49 and ranges from the
denomination OF norins upwards TO 1000 norins.
The one fault Of these state notes, called cassd-
dntcetsagen, was that they were interest bearing.
The and 10 form notes, carrying interest at
AS per cent and the higher denominations at per
April l. Is49 ranged from res up to 2 400 llres the
and 10 lire notes being non-interest bearing and
the higher denominations, like the higher cussd
dn,reistingen In West Austria, bearing interest at
the rate OF three per cent The Hungarian series OF
notes differed from the West Austrian IN form and
substance. In the first place they were all non
interest hearing, and IN the second they were Issued
at the low denomination OF forms. The formulary
which subjoin was printed on one side In German
and on the other In Hungarian. 1t ran as folows:-
check on the revenues o Se q Hungary, The
chief oalce receipt OF In 0fen all fiscal
Offices Hungary will accept the present check instead OF
coin for FORMS and citizen IL bound TO accept the
same good for the said amount In all payments.
OFES, March /, ls4g.
AS even In spite Of futile prohibition against the
export of coin, even the metallic small change dis.
appeared paper currency Of the denomination OF
tentn part OF q form was issued by the Austrian
government both at Vienna and Ofen In July and
August 1s49 respectively. At the same time
rational attempt was made to supply the public with
metallic small change By the emission OF silver pieces
OF the tenth part OF silver form, which ''dmes'
seignorage of no less than % per cent was levied.
Nevertheless. this high seignorage did not prevent
the great majority OF these pieces from ernsratng