Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-02-08

total amount is equal to 100000
! francs, and as the sudden withdrawal
of so great mass of metal presents
difficulties of all kinds, Germany has
decided to accomplish it gradually,
and has therefore retained the thalers
as legal tender, assimilating them,
however. to gold pieces of three
marks, and adopting their value with
regard to gold the ratio of l to 154.
accepted by the bimetalic States, SO
that every thaler, now worth three
marks weighs Isl times as much as
the three mark gold piece.
Therefore, though adopting as a
principle the monometalic system and
declaring the lhaler to be provis.
ional currency, which is retained, but
not allowd to be increased, Germany
belongs de facto to the class of bime
talic States. since the thaler, or silver
mark, and the gold mark are, in that
country, exchangeable at par The
consequences of such state of things
were not slow to appear. AS the
value of silver abroad was everywhere
declining, while it suffered no depre-
citation at home, the Germany bank
ers exported German gold to meet
their payments in foreign countries,
and kept the German silver for their
liabilities at home, so that the Govern.
ment was obliged to buy and import
its own gold. for which it paid for the
silver called in, and then sell that same
silver at loss.
Such being the situation, all the
bimetalic States had reason to fear
that Germany might send to their
minis the silver she withdrew from
her own circulation, and which she
could dispose of only at heavy loss
in London, the great mart of the pre-
cious metals of the world.
In fact, at that time, 1874, silver
which was then, and still is, legal
tender in France, Belgium, Italy, and
Switzerland, could be coined to any
amount in those countries. There
was no law to prevent French.
Belgian, an Italian, or Swiss citizen
from carrying to the mint all the sill
yer he could obtain; the coming of it
could in no case be denied him. 1t
would, therefore, have been an easy
matter for Germany to have her for
ms, and thalers, which could not be
advantageously disposed ofin England
or the United States, converted into
francs and lires, circulating at a par
with gold. France hoped to avert the
danger-if there was any danger in
the case--by the formation of mon
etary league, the object of which was
to restrict the liberty of coming. This
is what is known as the Latin Mono
tary Union. 1t was constituted in
1874 by a convention signed at Paris.
These countries bound themselves not
to produce during the year 1874 more
than l20 100000 francs in silver coin
age. Such an agreement was OF real
ity nothing else than step toward
the adoption OF gold as the sole stan
dard, since the measure of precaution
was against silver alone, while leaving
the coinage of gold completely free.
The result of this measure, how
ever did not correspond to what its
authors expected. The value Of sill
yer still declined, and at the end of
1874 it was per cent. below par. In
1875 a second conference of the Latin
Union fixed the limit of the coinage
of silver in the four states at $50 000,-
900 francs for that year. Neverthe
less the decline continued. 1t had
reached per cent. when the confer
ence held its third meeting at the be-
ginning of the present year. No
other remedy was sought for than
that which had been attempted so far,
and the amount of silver coinage was
still further reduced for 1876. France
was allowed to make five-franc pieces
only to the amount of 81 100000
francs instead of 75,000,000 which
had been authorized in 1875; Italy,
36,OO0,000 francs instead of 50,000,-
900; Belgium 10,800,000 francs in
stead of l5,OOO,OO0; Switzerland, T.
100000 francs instead of 100000.
Greece, which had recently joined
the Union, was authorized to coin 15,
600, 900 francs, of which 100000
francs were allowed in the place of
the old silver specie withdrawn.
This determination had scarcely
been adopted when silver suffered a
new decline much more rapidly this
time than previously. In the space
of two months it lost and even
per cent, so that the difference be-
tween the commercial and the legal
value of the metal reached II and Is
per cent.
Such was the state of things when
the new chamber of France met. One
of the first acts of the new Minister
of Finances was to present bill en-
powering the Government to restrict
the coinage of silver in so far as it
might be deemed necessary, or, in
other words, not to avail itself to the
fill extent of the right granted to
France by the monetary convention.
1t must be observed, in fact, that
while the convention established a
maximum amount of coinage, it estab-
fishes no minimum, and that in 1874
and 1875 France coined the maxi
mum allotted to her only because her
laws did not allow her to do other
wise.
The object of the bill introduced
by Mr.. Leon Say is to alter this state
of things; it was brought before the
Senate on the 21st of this month, and
gave rise to a long and interesting de-
bate, in which Mr.De Parieu, a man
eminent by his special knowledge of
monetary matters, attacked the prin-
ciple of the double standard vigor-
ously, while Mr.. Roland, governor of
the Bank of France, with marked
ability, defended it. The bill will
certainly pass, but the question now
is whether the new law will produce
the result expected from it. When
France has completely stopped coin
ing silver, will the depreciation of this