The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-29
THE CURRENCY.

Those dreadfully learned men who
know everything about the subject
of money as circulating medium in
its relation to the circumstances of
every community on the face of the
earth and of this community in par
ticplar are not in the least satisfied
with the ARRANGEMENTS which have
been made by the Government and
Col. Spreckels to relieve of their sill
yer coin all persons who find they are
in receipt of M ore of it than they can
pay away under the new law They
have talked about "depreciated A"
currency, and about v"debased" coin
until nothing will satisfy them but
seeing K alakaua dollars sold at
eighty cents each, so that their ad-
jectives may be proved to be correct
AS the chance of this, which they at
one time chuckled over and thought
imminent fades away they are getting
savage and do not feel at all well.
They are disappointed men. They
hate the image and superscription
of Kalakaua on our current coins-it
il the emblem of the ascendancy of
ideas which they, fear, and of men
whom they despise. They had set
their hearts on seeing the Kalakaua
silver melted up. With some this
sentiment may have arisen from a
mistaken fear that its presence here
will interfere with the working of the
new Currency Act, but with the ma
joritg it is just an ill-tempered desire
to spite the King and the Ministers
who are responsible for the coinage
OF Hawaiian money, and they are
mortified accordingly at the present
aspect of affairs.
However . man may condemn the
importation of million of silver coin
into country Of small population
already Gas it turns out) possessing
more than half million of that COM
modify he will not, if he have
an honest regard for the welfare
of his country, desire to see that
coin melted up at q great loss to
the community, unless such a course
Is found to be absolutely inevitable.
No man can as yet pretend to say
what the actual requirements of this
country for subsidiary silver coin are.
There are very few communities in
the world that adhere to the gold
standard, and their experience is. OF
little use to US, because their circum-
stances are so different. Only on one
point can they enlighten Us, viz: that
where the gold standard is adopted
the silver coin in circulation will
assuredly adjust itself to the needs OF
the country and any. surplus will sim
ply go out OF circulation. What surplus
there is here will go out of circulation
through the channels that have been
opened for it. It will net take very
lOng to ascertain what amount will
stay in circulation in natural man
ner. Whatever the quantity so re-
CURED may prove to be, one thing is
very certain-if the country is not to
come to astand-still it will require
more and more of the subsidiary cir
culating medium year by year as it
progresses in population and in pro-
duetion. If silver be laid by in the
Treasury just now it will gradually
be called out again, because the need
for 1t will always be increasing. To
melt up the silver coin we have to-
day and then from year to year to
import United States coin to keep the
supply In harmony with the demand
would be indeed a foolish and waste
ful proceeding, however gratifying to
the minds of those who think Ha-
waii ought to be incorporated with
the United States.