The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-10-07


ers IN bonds The rumor spread that all
the silver thalers deposited In the gov
crnment bank were 10 b. seized and cop
per tholfrs given TO the depostors In
stead. and that n they refused to agree
to this exchange their deposits were 10
be forfeited a. the crown This immedl-
cte consequence Of this loss Of CONT
lenoe o, tho good faith Of the govern
mcnt ras tho disappearance. as n BY
magic of all silver money from cIrcula-
tlon.
This che ip money would buy nothing
except AT ruinous prices II citizen
Of Sweden presented himself to his tall
or TO DO clothed the tailor demanded for
each ell Of fne broadcloth four thalera
In silver or nfty thalers In copper. Ev-
cry article offered for sale had two
prIces-one in honest money and the
other In cheap money
In order TO put a stop 10 double val
uation Of goods the decree was issued
making II crime punishable by not
less than four times the value Of the
goods for which higher price was
asked In copper than In silver.
THE result Of this decree was an Inn
mediate cessation Of all traffic Of every
description. except In primitive form
OF barter. The overvalued copper mon
ey drove the silver money into hiding.
The Swedish people no longer dared to
use the silver coin in the transaction
Of business The next step taken by the
government was the issue Of decree
requiring all persons In possession Of
silver. either native or foreign. wheth-
er in form OF coin or bullion. to forward
the same on or before July !, l7lS. 10 the
national treasury and receive calamity
coin IN exchange for It. An silver there
after found In the possession Of any
subject ~ the crown would. it was said,
be- confscated. This caused an immedl-
ate expectation Of silver from the coun-
try, To prevent such expectation law
was passed requiring every swede who
left the country to declare in advance
how much silver he had on his person
or in his possession. This law was. OF
course. dead letter. In n very short
time more than 9,O0O. 600 silver thalers
were exported.
"a story is told OF a merchant, who
shipped large amount to Holland. but
dared not take receipt for II or men
tion the matter 10 his wife and chill
dren. not even when he found himself
upon his ieathbed. His family would
have been losers TO the amount. of 20. 900
rixthalers had not the honorable Dutch
man with whom they were deposited
written to Sweden in 1927 that he de-
clined TO be any longer responsible for
their custody Persons who were unable
to send their money out OF the country
buried It in the soil In
stead Of silver and copper hmetallism,
the free and practically unlimited coin
age of iut copper resulted In the estab-
lishment OF copper recommendation.
THE amount of copper money in cir
at the time Of the death of
Charles MI as has already been stated.
was 625.l6S,0OO thalers, and the paper
money 2,OOG 600 thalers. In spite Of the
abundance of cheap money the national
lebt had risen to the enormous sum OF
iO,OoGoOO SILVER thalers, The first and
most pressing question for discussion
by the Swedish parliament, which as
'embled in 1919. was how to get rid Of
his debt.
The decision finally reached was that
he calamity coin should be redeemed
It one-half its face value: that Is, at .
he rate of one-half OF a silver thaler,
n l6 silver ore. The government in .
'ited the people TO bring their copper
money to the treasury and exchange IL
or silver at the ratio of 16 to /. The
government, Of course. had not the sill ,
'er with which to redeem It. but II re.
urned to the owner for each thaier de.
'osited the identical coin deposited by
lin, which was thereafter to be valued
i only two silver ore, and in order
o make up the difference It gave him
aper money valued at IA silver ore.
such OF the Swehes as had by indus ,
ry and thrift accumulated a small fund !
With which to support themselves In (
heir old age. beheld with dismay the I
udden disappearance of one-half of
heir little savings, while they felt the O
ang of terrible doubt as to the ulti- d
lae redemption blythe government OF y
he paper which 1t had issued and in n
'hich their savings We're invested.
I'm point Of fact, the government was c
nable to maintain the credit either of
he paper money which 1t had issued or
{ the copper money which it had guar
nteed to uphold at a deprecated valu.
tion, but a valuation still above the
ltrinsic worth Of the bullion Of which
was made. The net result of this y
lanipulation of the national finances .,
as n nation reduced to poverty and n
lany thousands We're compelled to re- fl
,rt to beggary as the only means of a
eeping soul and body together. 9,
"On August 20, 1928, the desperate de- q
sion was taken to reduce the legal
'nder value Of every one of the copper ~
lins In circulation to one ore copper. !,
Continued on Fourth Pags.) lo