Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-05-28
NEW IDEA IN COINAGE +
NEITHER SILVER NOR GOLD STAND
 ARD, BUT A UNION OF BOTH.

NEITHER SILVER NOR GOLD STAND
 ARD, BUT A UNION OF BOTH. sIr. Greefss suggestion-Coins Made of an Alloy of One Part Gold to Four Parss silvsr-Designed For Use by All Na- tfons.
 That universal monetary standard, arrived at by international agreement, would be an immense boon to the com mercial world is matter which does not admit of argument The difficulty arises with the question, What shall that standard be?'' -"Gold!' cries the goldbug as soon as the question is put. 'Silyerp' shrieks the silver crank. "A union of both metals at certain fixed ratiop' yells the bimetallist sharp. And so the discord goes on and harmony seems impossible.
 But now arises fourth party with new idea, which he thinks will meet the acquiescence of all thoughtful men It is a species of bimetallism in the sense that it admits the use of both metals. But 1t has none of the dangers of a double standard which must result from any attempt to fix arbitrarily the relative value of two metals whose rela- tions to each other are ruled only by the ever shifting law of demand and supply
 MT. Emil Greeff, an American citi- zen, born in Germany, but who has re- sided in this country since 1860 and Is at present the senior member of large firm whose interests are on both sides of the Atlantic, Is the originator of this new idea
 Briefly put, he believes that the union of gold and silver in single coin in 8 definite, unvarying proportion of weight and measure would solve the problem of q common money standard or measure of value This coin could be used as universal legal tender, with which all international debts could be 1iquidated.
 Mir. Greeff believes that all these ex- cellent results could be achieved by an alloy containing one part gold to four parts silver. The universal legal tender unit would be coin containing one fifth of an ounce of gold and four -flfths of an ounce of silver. This coin he calls tentatively a talent. The hundred null tiple thereof he calls great talent
 One ounce of pure gold is worth about $20. or, or one-fifth part of it very near ly $4. 14. The present market value of one ounce of silver is about 67 cents, or four-fifths of an ounce a little over 5S cents, making total of $4.67 as the present market value of talent
 He points out that in the talent we would have a unit that would always retain it's gold value of $4.14, even should the value of silver totally disap- pear-whieh, however, is not very likely The legal tender qualification alone would certainly increase the value of the silver contained in it. If, on the other hand, silver should rise to it's former value of Is to l, the talent may increase in commercial worth to about $5 IT, It is apparent that talent there fore comes very near in value to:
 One American half eagle, s. as against
 s467; approximate difference. .......71s p. C. One pound sterling, S4.eO, as against
 $467; approximate difference. D. .. Twenty five francs $485 as against
 $4.67; approximate difference. .......37s D. c. Twenty marks, s4.S0, as against $467;
 approximate difference. ..............22ss4 p. c.
 One-ffth of talent would, at the current value of gold and silver, be worth iii our money 99 2-5 cents. A coin could be struck to represent one- fifth of talent. This would be used as the future trade dollar. It would be analogous to shillings in English money, marks i'll German money or francs i'll French money.
 In order to see exactly how coin made of the proposed alloy would look, Mir. Greeff employed jeweler to make one talent coin and fifth of a talent coin He showed me the coins when 1 called upon him the other day. The first is trifle smaller than a silver dol lar, the other exactly the size of silver quarter. The weight is respectively on ounce and one-fifth of an ounce The trifiing surplus is copper, to give the coin better ring. Both coins have hemispheres engraved on either side, the obyerse bearing the inscription, 'Argentum Universale, 1896, ;" the re- verse, United States of America, , and "One Talent and "One- Fifth of a Talent" respectively. New York Her ald