The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1871-11-15

we must at times, unless somebody is at
the expense of bringing them hither fol-
special service, be liable to a scarcity Of
them.
There will always be GIBBS and flows Of
the gold coin-plenty and scarcity-fluc-
tuations dependent upon the needs or the
speculations of business, so that it NAV.
or may not, always be here in sufficient
quantities to act as circulating medium.
The same results would happen with our
silver coins, were they more valuable
elsewhere than they are here, or were it
made possible to export them proftably
1t Is not possible to keep Mexican dollars
afoat among us as currency. If, per-
chance, any are disbursed here by pass
ing ship, or by passengers, they disappear
directly, and find their way out of the
country. The five franc piece stays with
us, because we give it value above its
worth elsewhere, so that it does not pay,
under any circumstances, for either mer-
chant to send it, or passenger to carry it
away. 1t remains here, to serve as a
constant basis for metallic currency.
There is no other silver coin that can be
so conveniently loaded with small pre-
MUM, and yet serve us to represent either
a dollar or its fractional parts or that
viii take care of itself, without interior
ence either by the authorities or private
citizens, both as regards coming in as
well as flowing out.
We must regard the means by which
coin gets here, since we have no national |
coinage, and we must remember that most |
of our coins have cost US from one to two
per cent. upon their face value, and that
all we get hereafter will cost us about the
same rate. Our par coins only come when
specially sent for. Some one must bear
the expense of sending for them, but in
the case of the five francs no sending for
them is necessary. They seek US out by
the natural sequence of cause and effect.
1t pays the buyer to send them or bring
them hither, and the only care we need
exercise about it is, to avoid redundancy
Of them. While, therefore, we use an
Exclusively metallic currency, we can not
get one more cheaply, or retain it more
than with the use of the five
rancs as the representative of dollar. !
Again we see no good reason to depre-
late it, since such a course would destroy I
II the present convenience it affords as a a
ounter. Rating at five cents, or more,
ess than the full value of dollar, it would
Don cease to circulate from hand to hand
nd would become an idle coin, to be
nally gotten rid of as an incumbrance at
loss to the public. Its place must then
e supplied with other silver pieces, at an
dditional expense to the public for i'm
with the knowledge that the a
hange will give us no more convenient r.
lrrency, nor one more adapted to our t.
eeds and circumstances than the discard
l piece. 1t makes but little difference
hat sort of a coin we use as counter in =
1r domestic transactions, so long as it is
ceived and paid out at the same valua-
on, and it bears simple divisibility or
of the unit of value This
especially true of silver coins, as these
e mostly confined to domestic exchanges, ,
ID seldom, or never, are used to dis !
large foreign balances. We certainly
e not likely to export silver for this pur- U
Use, and as our look out should be to -
cure sufficiency of coin always on
md to give us an easy circulating me n
UNI, we can reach this object, and do 4
ach it, more certainly through silver
an gold coins. We are accustomed to
e use of five franc piece at its present
luation, and we can certainly see no
,od reason for turning away valuable
d convenient servant. =