Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-07-12
tnr crRRrN.r nrrsrtnN.

OF Macaulay's England and all are
included IN Chapters 81 and MI.
which treat ol the reign OF William
III IN zoos We need not enlarge
upon them, except by mere running
comment Tor the suggestion OF their
to the currency question OF
these islands We are indebted to Nh.
George u Airy, who writes to the
ondon DAILY News under date OF May
o, discussing the new coinage bill Of
that country He says
I have remarked with much pleasure TINT
the coinage bill t. To br opposed IN the ground
of The liability, Iu the instance of The proposed
nine shilling pieces, to Illicit coinage and
am surprised that apparently this eonsidca
uun has not presented iisclfto the minister
who introduced the scheme Smasheu can
coin, | believe. as well as wotkmcn pl the
royal mint. though nn quite SO cheapy and
] do not doubt that many a thought ha.
already been turned to the cmciblc and the
coinage press should expect that in No
long time the country would bc flooded with
nine shilling pieces, created by the destruction
OF soyeuiens. and more especially of the noble
Victoria ,oycrcigns ol late date.
Bui there is a stronger objection than this To
the terms OF the introduction Of the new coin.
In .ome way which do not profess TO under
stand, the treasury is to issue these pieces al
ledger value OF los, each and 10 receive them
at value on the opposite page Of the ledger at
o.. This is Of noimportancc for foreign trade
rs foreigners will receive and pay by The
weight Of pure gold But how it IS to he man
aged between the treasury and the Bank of
England, the Bank Of England and the local
banks, the local banks and the master trades
men, The master tradesmen and the workmen
how this Is to be managed entirely passes
my understanding. There Is fraud, and how
this fraud will be divided cannot conjecture
Certainly there would be doubt, uncertainty,
suspicion in every transaction.
He goes on to quote briefly from
Macaulay and his quotations are
included in the following citations
The silver coin which was then the
standard coin Of the realm, was in state at
which the boldcst and most enlightened states
man stood aghast. Till the reign of Charles
II our coin had been struck by process as
old as the thirteenth century.
In these operations much was lett TO the hand
and eye OF the workman. 1t necessarily hap
,,r,cI that l,,,, ,,;.r,. cn,t,;ncJ , I;tfI, ,,,r.
and some a little less than the Just quantity of
silver few pieces were exactly round and
their rims were not marked. 1t was therefore
- discovered that TO clip the coin was
profitable. - \ mill was set up in the
Tower Of London worked by horses.
The pieces it produced were the best in Eu.
rope, II was not easy to counterfeit them !;
and as their shape was exactly circular, and
their edges inscribed without legend clip
ping was not to be apprehended. The
lnnnciers Of that age seem to have expected
that the new money, which was excellent
would soon displacc the old money, which
was much impaired. Vet any man of plain
understanding might have known that, when
the state treats perfect coin and light coin as
Of equal value, the perfect coin will not drive
the light coin ott Of circulation, but will itself
he driven out. the inferior pieces
would rctnain in the only market in which they
coubi fetch the same price the superior
pieces, and that the superior pieces
would take some form or Ay to SOME
place in which some advantage could zoe
dcsiVed from their superiority. The poli,i.
clans of the age, however, generally over
looked these very obvious distinctions. =
Readers may not see at a glance the
connection of the foregoing quotation
with the present situation. 1t is true
that we have here no clipped coin, or
coin likely to be clipped, but if the
Mott-Smith gold bill should prevail
over the Dole gold bill we shall be in a
very similar predicament with gold
and silver circulating together, an i'm
possibility here, erds~ in Tie b,obsy1,ons
6ompyrlieRded in M Dele MX
The evils produced by this state of the cur
rency were not such as have generally been
thought worthy to occupy prominent place
in history. Vet it may well be doubted
whether all the misery which had been inflicted
on the English nation in quarter OF a century
by bad kings, bad ministers, bad parliamen,s
and bad judges, was equal 10 the misery
caused in single year by bad crowns and bad
Shilhnns
All the long paragraph of which the
foregoing are the initial sentences
might be quoted and aptly applied to
our present currency crisis. We have
not space TO print at length what many
readers have already read, and what all
our readers may read. But one or two
detached sentences deserve to be
remembered now
The misgovernmen, Of Charles
and James, gross as it had been, had not pre-
vented the common business OF life from going
steadily and prosperousy on. While the
honor and independence OF the state were sold
TO ioreign power las circumstances compel
the belief that they have been, at least, bar
gained about in this kingdoml while chartered
rights were invaded, while fundamental laws
were violated las herel, hundreds Of thousands
Of quiet, honest and industrious families
labored and traded, ate their meals and lay
down 10 rest in comfort and security.
But when the great instrument OF exchange
lthe cunencyl became thoroughly deranged,
all trade, all industry, were smitlen as with a
palsy.
1t was--as always "a wind more i'll
than had yet blown that brought no
one good and Macauley's pitiless
directness brings out one truth it will
be well to remember now
In the midst OF the public distress
one class prospered greatly, the bankers.
nj Honoluh, th,pl he l,-L,, e,,,.