The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-26
SILVER IN SAN DOMINGO.
Troubles That Arise From the Silver
Standard.


The Century for July contains an edito-
rial on ''The Latest Cheap Money Expert
ment." This is based on the efforts of
the republic of San Domingo to improve
its debased currency. A few months ago
Prof. James Laurence Laughlin, of Chi
cago University, was invited by the gov
eminent of San Domingo to visit that
country and devise for it currency sys-
TEN. He spent some time on the island.
and returned to Chicago in April last. He
found on his arrival at San Domingo that
the finances of the country were in a cha
otto condition. The only circulating me-
dunn was the Mexican silver dollar,
which had fallen in value with
the price of silver till it was
worth only forty-eight cents. This
was the only money in the country and
the inhabitants had no choice about using
it, though they did so at constant loss.
They sold their products, and bought
goods in the markets of Europe and
America, where gold was the standard
Yet when they came to retail the pur-
chased good at home they had to sell them
at silver prices. The constant fiuctua-
tions in the price of silver made exchange
so uncertain that the bankers conducting
II guarded themselves against loss by de-
Quoting heavy percentage.
The effect of these conditions In San
Domingo was the same as it has always
| been under like conditions everywhere
else. THE price of all commodities, -
| says Prof. Laughlin, began to rise,
although the scale of wages remained the
| same. While laborer did not receive
| any less money for his work, its purchas-
! ing power diminished one-half Conse-
| quently the distrust of silver money per-
meated all classes, and the necessity for
| devising some better monetary system
was universally felt
Professor Laughlin's remedy was a
| very simple one. 1t was to lift the coun-
try at once to the gold standard. He drew
a law making the unit of value one dollar
| in gold, of the same weight and fineness
as the gold dollar of the United States.
| The gold coins were to be in five, ten and
| twenty-dollar pieces. AS a subsidiary
coinage, for ordinary currency use, silver
| dollars of $50 grains with halves and
! quarters of proportionate weight were
to be coined. The Mexican silver dollar has
! BIT a grains and the American BIZ This
| silver currency was made redeemable in
gold in amounts from five dollars upward
! and was receivable in customs duties. Be-
ing based upon the gold standard, the silver
currency will circulate as freely as gold
so long as the government redeems it on
demand. AS an incentive to prompt re-
| demption, the government was enabled to
! make profit of so cents on the seigniOr-
age of each silver dollar only by keeping
! the silver circulation at par with gold
! by a system of redemption. In order to
rid the country of Mexican dollars, their
acceptance at the custom house was per-
mitted only at their bullion value, less )
cents. This deduction is ? cents greater
than the cost of shipping these dollars
! from San Domingo to New York, so that
! it will be more profitable for bullion deal
ers to ship them out of the country than
TO dispose of them in San Domingo.
The Century declares that the same
lesson can be drawn from this as from all
other cheap money experiments 1t is
that no country, however large or how
ever small, that has commercial dealings
with other countries can prosper with any
monetary standard save that which other
nations of the world have. The expe-
rience of civilized nations, through many
centuries, has convinced them that gold
is the best standard thus far discovered,
and upon that all nations must agree in
their domestic and international dealings,
until a better one shall be found The
nation which alone attempts TO set up u
different standard must do so at great
loss to itself.