The Irish standard., 1891-03-14
CHANGING II ExlcAhi COINS
Values and Designs viii Probably - ~
slipht1v Altered BY the Republic. aG#

Values and Designs VIII Probably -
slightly Altered By the Republic.
General Pacheco, the Mexican Min
lister OF Public Works, has recently sub
mitted to the Mexican Congress re-
port on the proposed changes in the
coinage with bill to carry them into
effect. The report, says the Chicago
Herald, says that the design on the
Mexican dollar should be much better
as precaution against counterte1tlng.
The present design was adopted IN 1923,
and an unsuccessful attempt was made
to improve it in 1867. That failure and
the report that Asiatic countries would
not accept the new coin irnpelled Con-
gress to re-estab lish the old design, which
was done SO completely that the sub
stitute bore the words s'ocho leightI
reales" instead of decimal subdivision,
while the fineness of the silver was ex~
pressed in ''dinero'' and "sgrammes.
In order to improve the current silvea
dollar :sun peso" lone dollar) are to take
the place of s'ocho reales." Instead OF
indica ting the fneness in S'dineros" and
"grammes, it will be expressed by q
simple decimal number. TO do so d.
slight change will be made in the fine
ness, which will be O.903 instead Of
O.9277. The present design Will be bet
ter executed and rendered more artistic.
General Pacheco says that he would
like 10 reform the monetary system OF
the Republic and put it On 81 more scien-
tifc basis, but he has decided to make
only these changes, because the Mex
lean dollar is not only the basis
of the National coinage, but it is
also quoted in the principal markets
of the world and is current in Asiatle
countries and even in some OF the Antil-
les. As regards small currency, it Is
proposed to coin new piecs-20 cents.
The design Of the 30, 10 and scent
pieces will be similar to that Old tI1e dol
Lar. The coming of 50~cent and 25-eens
pieces is to be discontinued, as they do
not harmonic with the decimal system.
In respect to gold it has been deemed
expedient to make some important
changes. General Pacheco says; In
the first place it is proposed to raise
the fineness from ,a75 to 500, the former.
grade being an exception for which
there is no warrant, In the next place
this would place the two metals i'll The
ratio of l to l515, which is the legal
ratio In several nations. BESIDES, this
would lessen the depreciation Of silver,
which now stands In the ratio Of to
1917"
In the interest Of silver no smaller
gold piece than s. is to be coined. TIE
design OF the gold coin is to Fes improved
and altered. On the diverse it will re-
sembie the silver coin, but on the re~
verse will be the bust Of Hidalgo, iii
order that no one may mistake It gold
coin for silver one.
Copper CONS will bear on the ohverst.
the National arms, as on the silver dol.
lar. The executive is TO be empowered
to use bronze instead Of pure copper,
as it wears better and is not likely to-
be melted down for use in the arts.
The bill which General T'acheco has:
prepared declares that the monetary
unit shall be the silver dollar, 900 fine
and 27.o73 grannnaes in weight--that Ii,
as at present. The executive is given
ample authority to carry the bill i11to
effect.