Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-11-09

The proposed new coinage of Germany has
the advantages of establishing uniform sys-
ten of coins and account keeping for the whole
German empire, in place of the perpleXing va
riety Of currency in the several states, and of
fixing gold standard for the empire, where it
was very much needed. The gold coins are TO be
pieces Of the value of thirty, twenty and ten
marks respectively, Of which the twenty mark
piece will be worth trife less than the Eu-
glish sovereign. II the domestic uses Of money
were alone to he considered, little fault could be
found with the new system. The variety of
coins and standards that has prevailed hitherto
among the petty states has been source of I'M
told perplexity, and no little loss Of money, as
well as time and patience, to travellers. AT
every frontier one passed into new.
monetary labyrinth, having its own sys-
TEN of coinage, whose values, even where the
names were identical, was sure to have some
peculiarly perpexing relation 10 those for which
they must he exchanged. The money changers
profted exceedingly by this state of things, al
though it is said that they were not always able
TO master the intricate problems which every
days business presented but, as these problems
were invariably too much for their customers,
the brokers were always able to make an allow
ance large enough TO secure then selves against
loss through possible error in calculation. But
however convenient the new coinage may be, the
change will be unpopular with the conservative
Germans of the non-Prussian states, and espe-
cially in Alsace and Lorraine, whose inhabitants
avail themselves of every pretext for complaint,
pleased as when they can indulge in extreme
dissatisfaction at some of the consequences of
German rule
1t is somewhat remarkable that in establish
ing new coinage and new monetary units, it
did not enter into the plans of the imperial
finance minister to adjust them so as to make
an international coinage easier Of attainment
Everybody admits that it would be Of very great
advantage to all nations if all of them could
agree upon one common coin 10 which all Others
in each country might be referred as standard.
Various plans for attaining this object have
been proposed, most, if not all, Of them based
upon taking, as the comtl0n standard, the En-
glish sovereign, the F.ench twenty -fyc
franc piece or Napoleon or the American half
eagle, which three coins are nearly equivalent in
value. But to adopt either would require the
two other nations to abandon their own stand
ards and recon their money at considerable
sacrifice. Neither is willing to make the con
ccsson, aud SO the inconvenience remains, and
is likely TO remain. If the new German coin
had been made exactly, instead Of approximate
ly, equivalent 10 either the sovereign, the half
eagle or the Napoleon, it might have
helped towards uniformity, but it differs
from them about as much as they differ
from each other,ani so only adds to the difficult
~ instead Of aiding TO solve it. The half-eagle is
worth little more than the sovereign, the latter
a little more than the twenty five franc piece,
and the new German piece OF twenty marks is
in value between the two latter. A small diff
ference is just as atal to uniformity as a large
one. We can and do say, reckoning in round
numbers, that pound sterling, or a sovereign,
the coin representing that value, is worth five
dollars or twenty-five francs but no one would he
willing to exchange a hundred half eagles for
an equal numoer Of soyereigns or TWENTY-FIVE
franc pieces. To obtain the benefits of an inter
national coinage: these pieces must be made alb
solutely equivalent the one to each Of the Others,
and other commercial nations must adapt their
coinage TO the same standard. The prospect of
this seems as remote as ever, perhaps even more
so, since the familiar arguments in its favor
have not sufficiently impressed the German
Statesmen as to induce them to pay any regard
10 twhen adopting new coinage.