, 1869-06-04

In the meanwhile we viii give them "a good
commercial treaty a. is accorded to the
most favored nations, but no better one,
I o
sPEcE PAYMENTS IN AUSTRIA,
Ihe Now York Hrald publishes from its
Vienna correspondent long resume Of the
expenanees ID Austria IN the use Of Gov.
e1nment and NaSonAl Bsnk currency, and
In VARIOUS assumptions and attempted 70.
sumptons Of specie payment. Unlike
France and most other European Govern.
rnsnts, Anssrias issna Of paper currency
BEGIN much earlier than The French Reyo.
iohon, to-wlt. in 1862, during the famous
"seven years war" against Frederick the
Great of PEnssin- The Austrian notes have
never been in form like ours, promises to
pay money, but eimply promi.ts to receice
she note - the equivalent Of money for
taxes The Inst iasro vaa IL. 900, 600
aot1na -They were not legal tenders, but
were receivable in payment Of one-half the
taxes, and were convertible into coin On
demand, and fundable into bonds bearing
I'VE Per cent interest. The correspondent
says,
'Ine increase Of The circulation gave much
| hecded tu1petus to the national indnstry. Thc
general public preferred tbs new notes to tuetaI
And such glow Of confidence and optimism TOOK
IutseAAcn o. Tue community that In less tnAn
eishteSn moaths after the MS. tasue Of State
| NOUS the government was able in couseouencs
se @9nsg % IL ss ISL css @ 70 e
9sss +, 5 = 60; q sso nsnae M ts
These notea circulated without dep,ecia-
ton, AZ did also FIVE additional issues, to-
Wit, IN 1'7f, in 1855, 90, '95 md 9G.
when the total Of Issues Ind increased to
49, GOO forms, and there was still no
| premium on gold or silver. Seyeral of
these Issues were not Legally convert
Ole INTO coin, nor made legal tenders
nor fnndable into bonds, and the issue Of
l7W WAS not even limited in amount by
Legislative enactment, though they were ali,
alter the hrst, receivable in .uu in payment
oa ~ ta1ea, and were, In fact, paper cur.
renc'es based on taxation instead OF speoie
Between 1888 and 1909, the Austrian
Empire wss under severe strain IN its in.
edectual efforts to put down Napoleon
Bonaparte, and its paper issues were e1.
panded from 46, 100000 to ss7, 900, 900 flo
rims, which induced q rise in the premium,
Of silver to 20 per cent From 1903 10
1873, during which years Austria was near1y
crushed under the overwhelming power Of
Fspolean, her currency xas inarted, though
70 whas amount Is not stated, and fell to
swo-nfths Of ita nominal value; i. e., two
silver forms would buy five in paper Of the
nser lssuea, the old issaea dated prior to
l'o still remaining ut par with silver.
which waa tho standard mouev OF the
realm The peace ID Paris was signed
on November 20, lsl5, and, though the
currency Of AustziA was deprecisted
10 s~o-hfths Of its Nominal value, the coun~
tzJ resumed specie payments within twelve
months, by the simple process Of 1epuiiat.
ing three 6fths IF its debt. This waa done
BY retiring the government paper at ita
actual value or two-ffths it's nominal sum
IN exchange for new notes, redeemab1e at
par IN gold-by giving two aorins Of the
nav foF 3re Of the old-at the same time
authorizing contracts to be converted from
the paper standard into the gold standard
~ such reduction o. their nominal mn
as would balance the increased whine of The
currency in which they were paid. The
government thus contracted the volume of
its currency three-dfths without any ten-
dency to ssrlngency, because the pu5chas.
ING power Of tRo-fftha Of aorin at par
with coin exactly equailed that Of tho entirr
hoE1n, II it were at throe-ffths discount.
From 1916 to 1913 the paper currency Of
Austria, including both the isspes of new
and Fedeenable notes, and the, rede,aution
OF tie depreciasing notes ut two-ffths of
their face, until they were retired, was en-
der the chnrge OF body Of private csnitaI,
lists Incorporated ns the National Privileged
Austrian Banking Company. The notes of
this company formed two-thirds the paper
currency Of Austria, and were maiuta,ned
at par with coin until the Hungarian Rebel-
lion Of 1913, when the bank after drain Of
It's bullion from 70, Cox, 900 forms down to I
2ooOo,o 600 forms on June 2, 1913. was
Obliged to suspend specie payments. The !
government decreed the bank potes To b. |
legal tenders, provided for the ISSUE Of |
small notes down to form, aud from that
sarne to the present silver has ranged at q
premium over these notes varyiug often
and widely from Sc Tn 1850 down to IL OF !
per cent Gin 1859.
In 1855, silver being then at a premium
OF 2e, under the counsels of Baron Won
bruck, Aust1ia A1ed upon August, 1858, %
the period at which ahe would resume spe-
Gle payments, and solemnly bound herself
IN 1857, by treaty with the other States of
the Zollverein, that she would not only not
Issue any mora incanvertbIs paper money,
but would withdraw it MI By the 1at Of Jan
ua15, 1858. By what means is not explained I
(tor the contraction Of the currancy during
this period Eas only from ss3, 900, 900 to
to a7o, ,ooo, 900 aorins), the premium on sill
var steadily diminished, SO that by LIST of
April, 1856, it Ind fallen to Il, md on Sep
tenbcr 90, 1855, it was only one-half Of one
per cent The bank waa thus enabled To
resume AZ to its notea OF ten forms and up- I
wards, but On III Of lcssas denominations it |
could not resume, because OF the absence Of |
smaller coins from circulation. Bu: the !!
three years in question are represented IS
having been characterized by heavy and |
universal decline in prices.
In the yea1 1859, On the first day OF
which Napoleon III made his famous war
speech to the Austrian Minister, WIS signal.
ized by the Wrestling Of LombArdy and
Venice from Aust1ia, IN the battles of
Magenta and Solferino. During this ycar
100, ,ooo, 900 more Of forms Eere added to
the currency, and the premium on silver
ross to 10.
In 1861 the Austrian Finance Minister,
Hen roa Pleimer, adopted and pressed
through bnllionist contraction and speGe
resumption policy, very much Ike that pro
posed by Al1. McCulloch for our own
finance. The Austrian bank notes, which
in 1861 amounted ia 4Gs,s74,423 were
contracted in two years to ss6, ,65s, ,Ge6, md
in flye years Nlarrh, 1860 to as6, ,ooo, 600
forms, with the following results:
"Ths premium on Elves which on January 2.
1s6l, ~ sneentea ,ses g ~ sas psgsse, dorn "
"a ttopped tas pzocess oi e,nEseton as asne,
1s TIE Iass 5esT Of tne sehia,sxis Niatsisy, con
cass aesn sP s1d II 1ns9 ras
BY March !, 1850, when The bank note ctrEnssslou
wss u ~ lowest. TIE premium Ind been doxuto
The WIZ with Prssia, and lts financial
incidents IN 1865, sens silver again up to
u premium Of 40, from whence it has slow
y recedcd, until February 18th, 1863, it
stood At l9a, with daily fluctuations like
those Of gold here. -. 80:
THE IRISH CHURCH BILL,
The British House ct Commons las
epa3 sfa .asa.s4>k,1snh:-- AZ.