The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-03-14

intrinsically four dollars and eighty-six cents, are to
be dubbed BY the government with the more preten-
tious name of five dollars, or i've hundred cents.
Now with the new system inaugurated, how abou,
our American n~sighbors with whom we do more
business than with aI the rest Of the world together.
who may come to rs with halEeagles in their peck
cts: Is not the fact that they must suffer TO the
amount Of fourteen cents On every half-eagIe, entitled
10 any consideration Such q course, like all doc
trines Of legislation on values, now happily exploded
in most places. could result IN nothing but increased
confusion and public Inconvenience and loss. No
nation and no class can ask with p~ropriety that their
money or any macy shall circulate anywhere at
more than its intrinsic value. This position IS so
natural, sensible and clear, that it IS difficult TO i'm
it is Enthusiastically wrong for Us TO pass sovereigus
at four dollars seyenty-hye cents but if We pass
them st four dollars eighty-six cents, which change
ought to be effected Immediately, We viii be doing
all that any one can ask. As well might the Ameri-
can government Re requested TO enact that sover-
eigns should be worth five dollars in America as
ours, the trade between America and England being
exceedingly great and the same reasons existing for
such a measure as here.
It is easy TO be confused in measures pertaining to
the principles of the various kinds of paper currency.
but in regard to acurrency Of coin, its Office as a rigid
measure Of value, exactly as o yard stick is q meas
ue Of length, is tSo well understood and recognized
to be triied with Walker, in his Science Of
Wealth. speaking of such a currency says: "Of
all subjects, this lSOne OF the most simple, most free
from all complexit! and mystery. No one can fail TO
understand it. Government has not the slightest oc-
casion to interfere with or regulate it. 1t obeys Ger
tain natural laws. which cannot be improved by men.
All that Government can u~sefully do is to certify to
the weight and fIeness of the coinage. 1t has no
further concern with money. The main point TO be
borne in mind in relation TO coinage is, that Govern
ment does not determine the value at all, but simply
certifes to the weight and purity The principle is
fully established ly all the authorities in political
economy, and cannot be intelligently questioned nor
ever properly com, up under any circumstances as a
matter even Of debate.
In regard to oU need Of geld, there is no doubt
but that it is a convenience, perhaps a necessity in
our foreign trade, but as we have discouraged its
presence by our own legislation, the first step to be
taken to bring it buck to our circulation, is to rectify
such perniciOus legislation, not to carry it to greater
lengths. The fact of exchange being against US for
a long time has KEEP gold from coming here: but this
is a temporary circumstance, the present tendency in
trade being to make exchange in our favor at an early
period. For our Internal circulation, we have not
the slightest necessity for gold, silver and silver GER
tifcates being equal to all possible demands Of con-
venience or necessity.
There is no doubt but that travellers from Australia
and New Zealand would be greatly benefited by the
proposed change. Spectators would have a chance
for profits, and a few business men here would per-
haps find the new arrangement a temporary conven-
fence. But for these tri1ing advantages, should our
Government wound its own prosperity, impair its
contracts and those of its citizens, and injure its
credit, by the passage of indefensible currency regu-
lations7 S. B.. Dole.