The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-02-26
Unifying National Coinages.

II Is to be hoped that the Committee on
Coinage, now celebrating, will come to a
wiser decision than to recommend an assimi.
lation Of the present American gold coinage
TO that of France and the Latin Union. The
gold unit of that system resulted from the
division OF 1.-THE weight Of pure silver in a franc
by 1917, the obsolete bimetallic ratio: and
any one who looks at the string Of decimals
thus produced will admit that the quotient,
as regards an international unit Of value
based on a definite quantity Of pure gold, is
appalling. The weight of a French gold
piece 1t is not necessary to state in terms Of
standard gold 900 fine, since the alloy does
not affect its value; but the pure gold in
each piece is, for every franc Of its face
value, O.20O3225+ Of a gramme. Whether
these figures be multiplied by ten, by
twenty, by twenty-five, or a hundred, there
will be decimal fractions enough and to
spare in the product, and the addition Of
one-ninth for alloy will only make the
quantity still more fractional.
Germany has n gold unit by no means
more ideal in its perfection han hat of
France. 1t is, of course, based on the guam
tity of pure gold which the old silver mark
purchased before the depreciation. That
quantity is O.~35s42293 Of a gramme. 1t does
not harmonic with the French figures and
II would not soothe German feeling to ask
the German nation to melt down all it's gold
and recoin IL for no other purpose than TO
assimilate its money unit to the imperfect
one which accident has set up in France.
Both units Of value are Objectionable for
the irregular quantity Of gold represented,
hut neither one of them has the slightest
ground to claim superiority over the other.
The English unit Of value represents the
most extraordinary quantity of fractional
gold that can he expressed In figures. The
sovereign is of gold Of HIP purity and its
legal weight IL ~123.27447 grains troy,
equal to 7.9ssO5 grammes. 1t contains
113.0Ol59 grains troy Of pure gold, equal
to 7.32237 grammes. The proposed p .franc
gold piece would not be the exact equivalent
Of this quantity, but O.O843065 grammc
short Of It, or nearly 4 Ia cents. /,
What would happen TO America In the
course OF compliance with this proposal Ia
that the value Of the American dollar, now
exceeding by a third Of a cent that of the
Japanese yen, which Ii the most nationally
conceived unit of gold value in the world,
would he reduced about three cents below
that unit, and made TO represent n value in
pure gold as irregular in its arithmetical
expression rs any Of those cited from the
European systems. The quantity Of pure
gold in American coins il now, for every
dollar Of face value, l.5O482 grammes;
that in Japanese coins, for every yen Of face
value, being 1900 grammes exactly.
In the monetary system Of the Meth.
a.Ia -htNL --~-Al1a H. A.
Dutch colonies OF the Indian Ocean, the
guilder is the unit, and a lO-guilder piece
slightly exceeds four dollars of United
States money. The lO-guilder piece con-
tains 6.O4s grammes Of pure gold, and the
unit Of value, the guilder, therefore approx.
mates closely to 40 cents American. Com.
pared with the more perfect standard OF
Japan, the guilder is worth 40. "a sen, as the
hundredths of the Japanese unit arc called.
The 2O.kroner piece Of Denmark is iden-
tical in weight and fineness with the SINH
larry named pieces Of Norway and Sweden.
The weight of pure gold in each piece is
s.O645l4s grammes, and II is thus a coin
Of appreciably greater value than the Brit
ish sovereign. The value Of one kron is the
equivalent Of O.4O322574 of a gramme of
pure gold, something more than the Ger
man mark or the American quarter dollar.
Measured in Japanese sen, 1t Ia 90. To
change 1t to any other value than q ser
would not be worth the doing.
From Scandinavia to Japan extends the
vast empire of Russia, in which the gold
rouble is the standard of value, the purity
Of the metal being ll.12, az in England.
The pure gold in a Russian coin for each
rn,lIn - Re-. IL. l. 4 Inn-n
almost an exact 4-5 Of the Japanese unit,
and consequently a close approximation to
II cents Of American money.
Argentina has, theoretically at least, a
gold unit called the peso, identical in
weight and fineness with the yen OF Japan.
Though struggling with present financial
difficulties, there is no doubt that this
young giant among South American repub.
lies has a great future assured to IL, and is
entitled to a voice in the determination OF
any International question Of monetary re.
form. II is not to be expected that a nation
which has proved its sagacity by legalizing
the use of the best monetary standard in
the world will stultify itself by eonsenting
to the substitution of any worse one.
The new Austro-H Hungarian unit, the
crown, Is of greater value than the franc,
and the 2O'crown piece of the empire Ia more
than the equivalent of the French 2o.franc
piece. Therefore, no international agree.
ment which would suit France and the
Latin Union would suit Austria. Hungary.
II is evident, therefore, that in any inter
national conference for the purpose of pro.
noting greater facility in gold exchanges
the interests OF Russia, Germany, Holland,
al nh -
England, France, Austria hungary, and
the nations of southern Europe generally.
Probably there would be found no way to
make either group give way entirely to the
other, and neither would have a single log.
ical reason TO show why the policy of give
! way should be conceded. In such q di.