Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-07-08
The Silver Trade Dollar.

increased production, and also by itsdisuse as a
circulating medium Our production of sill
YER has been steadily increasing for the last
three or four years, and now amounts, exclu-
siye of the gold in the bullion, to about twenty
and half millions per annum. further In
crease is considered certain On the other
hand its dsuse as money is increasing. Ger
many has, by it's recent Coinage act, changed
the standard from silver to gold, and even il
silver be retained in that empire for subsidiary
coinage, not more than fifty millions will be re-
Quired for the purpose, whilst the amount here
totore required for use there is estimated at
three hundred and fifty millions, or equal to
five years production of the whole globe. In
other countries silver coin has been wholly or
partially expelled from circul alton by paper
money. These facts indicate the gradual but
certain adoption of the gold standard and cou-
seoueDt decentralization of silver by all CONNER
cial countries. The true policy of this country
seems, therefore, to be, under these clrcum.
stances, to seek market in China for it's silver
bullion and to do this, it must be put In a
form to meet favorable reception in that en-
nire. The old United States silver dollar,
4loA grains, was never we'll received in
China, nor amounted to much as coin Of COM
merce, for the reason that its bullion value
was less than the old Spanish dollar, and its
successor, the Mexican dollar, both of which
have played an important part ln the COM
merce of the world. The standard aimed at
when the United States silver dollar was first
authorized to be issued was the Spanish dollar.
The act of 1892 provided that the dollar
should be of the value of the Spanish mied
dollar, as the same was then current in the
United States The act also provided that it
should contain 37l9 grains ofpure silver. The
contents Of pure silver should have been within
a fraction of 37111i grains. The mistake made
in specifying Silt, instead Of 317t grains, was
due to an error III determining the quantity OF
dollar been issued to correspond in its contents
of fine silver with the Spanish dollar, as was
originally intended, it would long since have
become an important agent Of commerce. The
new tradedollar is now issued to effect the OBJ
ects originally intended by our silver dollar.
1t will contain 37S grains of pure silver, and
weigh 420 troy grains. If this new coin be ac-
ccpted at all as medium in our trade with
China and japan, it will doubtless supersede
very soon the Mexican dollar, and it is claimed
there is no reason why, in short time, 1t
should not command premium OF SIX or eight
per cent. 1t will be readily seen, from this
view Of the matter, why the receipt in Mexico
Of the news that the United States had authori-
zcd the issue of the trade-dolar, so much ex-
ctement was created, and which caused the
Mexican Congress to restore the old eagle-dol-
lar in place Of the coin of lesser value, intrnsi-
cally, which was adopted in lS67.-Ba|tnaore
4imcrcan.
STOVES AND TIE STOVE TRADE.-The Bos-
ton Commercial Bulletin says Americans are
blessed with better cooking appliances and
cursed with worse cooking than any nation on
the face of lie earth. The stove is distinctive
y an American invention. 10 be sure, the
Germans have their 'sstube, from which our
word 'stove" doubtless comes, but it is not at
all stove in the American sense of the word.
1t is bulky, clumsy affair, built of fire brick
glazed on the exposed surface, and has the dis
advantage Of consuming an immense amount OF
fuel in heating itself before giving out par
tlce of caloric, and the advantage OF giving out
heat for long time after the fire has gone out.
1t is permanent arrangement, and once placed
remains throughout the year.
In the matter of cooking appliances, Euro
peau invention has progressed no further than
in heating. The arrangement upon which the
world-famous cooks of France depend is simply
Il brick structure in the corner OF dimlnutlve
Kitchen over which hangs a faring fue to
catch gases and steam, and in the top OF which
arc number of round holes In each of these
aS separate charcoal fire is built, and each pot
and kettle has its own fire, large or small,
brisk or slow, as its needs demand. in
America, on the contrary no article used IN the
household has received more attention than the
stove; word which we use here in its general
sense, covering cooking and heating stoves,
ranges furnaces sc. In times past, when
fuel was plenty and cheap, when the wants OF
the family were few, when luxury was unknown
among the masses, and labor-saving appliances
derided as tending to effeminacy, the open fire,
which partly warmed one room-perhaps it
would be better to say one side OF one room
was considered ample for oil purposes of cook
ing and warmth. But times changed. Wood,
The principal fuel then, became too costly to
allow people of small means the luxury of an
open fire that swallowed up cord of hickory a
week. Besides, prejudice crept in in favor of
warm entries and bedrooms, and this has gone
on until people expect, when the mercury gets
Ho"n below zero, that every man in their
houses shall be comfortably warm. Our sturdy
,sereiaihers would have looked upon this as
fearful and dangerous lapse into luxury, and ap
;;s'oent sign of the decline Of manhood, but it
=. ~, a pardonable weakness, and most people
take to it kindly.
, n' liners is another of those remarkable
1.-TWO s'.n VINO come to the city Of which they are
,n.v'"ardS ,ru Mayor or represent in the Legisla-