The herald., 1897-08-12
SILVER BARS
Continue Their Downward
Career
MEXICAN DOLLARS FOLLOW
FINANCIERs FIND FOOD FOR
DISCUSSION
japan Expects to Suffer Some Little
Loss, But Thinks She Can
Stand It
Associated Press Special Wire.

Associated Press Special Wire.
NEW YORK, August 11.-Silver bull
lion continued on its downward career
yesterday and made new low mark
London price for bars dropped to 25Ss
pence per ounce and in this city the COM
mercial quotations fell off to 55ss @55R
Mexican dollars shared in the depression
having sold down to 43.
The Mercantile Safe Deposit Com
pany holds 351073 ounces of fine silver
bullion against which 351 certificates
are outstanding.
The st. Louis, sailing for Europe to-
day, will take 6S1 900 ounces of silver
shipped by the following houses: Full
Ter & Co., 250,000 ounces; J. & w. Selig-
man & Co., 250,OOO ounces; Handy &
Harmon, $4,000, and Levisohn Brothers
81, 900 ounces.
Gable advices from London said there
was no actual agreement for gold ship
ments to the United States, but inquiries
in that direction have been made.
The new phase that has been given to
the coinage and currency question by
the market decline in the price of silver
is causing wide discussion in financial
circles. Several questions arise as to
the effect it will have on the free coin
age of silver problem, an issue that, ac-
cording to the free silver advocates, was
laid aside in. the recent election; again
on the possible change of standard il
Mexico, rumors of which are current
n q ri np he eit IN ~,
Japan, which country on October 1st
1897, will adopt the gold standard.
Gokuro Nagasaki, special agent for
the Yokohama Specie Bank in this city
said in connection with the recent fall
of silver: Had Japan remained silver
country there would have been every
chance of her mourning loss in trading
with gold countries, on account of the
fluctuations of exchange, and as Japan
forges to the front the necessity fol
greater facilities for monetary transfer
is felt. Heretofore the exchange, both
in China and Japan, followed therise and
fall of silver, while now with the great
fall in the price of silver, China shows a
great falling off in exchange whil5
Japan remains the same"
What effect will the drop in silver
have on the arbitrary value of 80 to ]
already fixed by the Japanese govern.
ment?"
"A loss is Immediately seen, for at the
ratio of 80 to 1 the value of silver is
29Bd, sterling. Silver is now quoted at
e5&d, which brings silver to the ratio
of 1866 to 1 and shows loss of over ter
per cent already to the government, bu,
with the amount of silver and notes in
circulation a ten per cent loss woulG
hardly serve to embarrass a country
with national currency revenue of
10000 900 yen, even if it all could come
at once, which it undoubtedly cannot.
THE loss, too, looks greater than il
actually would prove to be for this
reason. The new coinage will be adopt
ed and as they have stopped issuing sill
yer yen, on being redeemed they can
be reissued as subsidiary coins, care be-
ing taken to issue only enough to satisfy
the requiremtns of circulation.
Their silver yen now being 80 per
cent pure, will serve as bullion for the
reissuing of new coin and the new gov
eminent has taken long step in the
right direction by making, the gold and
silver coins relatively of the same value,
accomplishing it by reducing the size of
the gold yen one-half."