Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-09-03

Instead OF decreasing, the mum Der of inQuir.
les concerning the trade dolIar received by
Treasurer Gilfllan, and at The office OF the d!-
rector OF the mint, increases daily. The fo'-
lowing letter from the Treasurer to the cashier
OF the First National Bank, at Milton, Pa.
IS ole among many. and similar replies that
b Is bige6 to send:
am in receipt Of your communication o.
the 29th instant, inqutring relative to the vllue
Of the trade dollar, aud in reply thereto have
10 inform you that the coin named is no a
iegaLtend,sr; , Is legal ender qualities win"
teen abolished by the Second section of tn
joint resolution Of Congress OF July p, lS76.'
The JOINT resolution quoted Isl i" Tha he
,rade dollar ,l shall not hereafter be l-gal-
hereby authorized to limit, from time to time,
'he coinage thereof to such an amount as b.
nay " de e. 1,s sufficient to meet the export de
Since the passage of this resolution com
parativeiy few trade dollars have been coined
The only coinage of any considerable amount
This was at the instance of merchants In
San Francisco, who represented to the de-
partment that it would be great convent
lion deposits for coming the dollar to meet
the Chinese new year settlements. The
mints at San Francisco and Carson City Were
however, OF going to China most of it was
shipped east, and has with what was pre-
yiously held in this country become source
OF great annoyance. and has been attended
with considerable loss to persons holding them.
A large number of eastern manufacturers
purchased the coin at discount and paid it
is now afoat throughout the country. through
similar sources, about three mil ions and
half trade dollars, which came into circulation
at their face value but which, not being legal
tenders, are in fact worth only their value "a
bullion. At this rate the government pur-
chases it, and, according to the London quo
tation of silver. it is worth 92.7 cents. Mer-
chants and banks no where in the country
give more that ninety cents for it. Thus it
will be seen that large amount of money has
been lost Oh account of the presence Of the
coin.
Inquiries about the Mexican dollar con
tinue to come in also; some of the curious
ones and several newspapers out west are
contending that an old statute unrepealed
makes it a legal tender This is incorrect a.
section 1854 of the revised statutes says No
foreign gold or silver coin shall be legal ten
can dollars there are in circulation it is i'm
possible TO tell. The only outlet for thu
trade dollar at its full value is in China. But
even hele the demand Is very small, and the
value. The cost of transportation is also il
the way OF sending the Mexican dollar tn
Mexico: once there, it would be a long time
before il could be disposed of.
There is great feeling throughout the
country against the government On account OF
i,sulng! the trade dollar, and its consequent
foreign trade: Its depreciation is owing to its
egal ,ender character being done away with
by Congress, and to the fall of gold and the
consequent appreciation of greenbacks to the
Getriment of silver.
A number of members OF Congress have ex-
pressed the determination to secure some
legislation at the next session in favor of
the holders Of the trade dollar. In expecta-
tion of this banks and brokers are buying
large quantities of it at lis present value.
pa sed making the government take these
d liars in exchange for the standard silver
dollar.