The record-union., 1898-12-25
Not Positively Known What Currency Gus
toms Are to Be Paid In.
Havana Merchants and Bankers
Advance Strong Arguments
Against Any Change in the
Present Systematic Use Of Sill
yer in Daily Transactions the
Most Troublesome Of All Cues
tions..

possible to see clearly the work ahead
says the Havana correspondent Of the
| Tribune" Maintaining order by
| means of troops is a preliminary con-
dition so well understood that it does
not call for explanation. All classes In
| Cuba know why the soldiers are here
| and, knowing, they acquiesce. That
| knowledge in itself is the best guaran-
| tee of tranquility. Isolated instances
may arise which will call for repression
| but these will not affect the genera.
good order. They will be no drawback
to the measures of industrial and COM
mercial reconstruction which neces-
sarily precede the political government
| of the island as it may be determined
in the future.
The commercial classes are showing
the greateset .adaptability to the new
conditions. Within a fortnight after
the tariff is promulgated business viii
be moving smoothly in it's accustomed
channels. The only uncertainty of the
future is that which will come from
the shifting Of the money standard.
| So far as preparation can be made
for a change of this kind, the business
houses of Havana have made it. They
do not as yet know positively that Gus
! toms duties are to be paid in the cur
irency of the United States, and they are
| not certain that the imitation will be
! squeezed out of the Spanish and French
| gold coins, but they anticipate a modi-
| fication of some kind. This is the ons
cloud that hangs over the business
community. The sentiment against
changing the present artificial relation
of values appears to be growing.
The merchants and bankers who are
| opposed to a change advance some
strong arguments against modifying
the present system. They take the
ground that since the United States ex.
poets to collect the customs revenues
in trust and to expend them in Cuba
a change is not desirable. BY the infia-
ton in. the gold coins, by which every
thing from an ounce down to doub-
loon or French Louis receives a value
greater than it's actual worth, Cuba. has
been kept on gold basis. Through al
the periods of internal war and in
dustrial anarchy gold has stayed in the
island, and the paper, known as 'Wey-
ler's scrip did not make headway or
debauch the currency. That is one rea-
son the merchants who oppose a change
IN the present artificial values advance.
They think that as gold has kept in the
channels of trade it will continue to
flow in the same channels without the
necessity of squeezing out the imitation
The readjustment of financial value In
it's influence on the debtors and credit
ors of the island is something that
cannot be fully analyZed.
The banking houses and firms which
receive deposits will all adhere to theil
agreement and repay their deposits or
the basis Of SIT for an ounce, $3.50 fol
a centen, So. 25 for a doubloon and S424
for a. luis. Because of the uncertainty
many of them are arguing the with
drawaI of deposits while these values
prevail. 1t is peculiar condition
which causes this course to be taken
though only temporary one. The
debts on the island were contracted on
this basis.
AS the sugar planters and everybody
else are in debt, the repayment under
new conditions promises to be difficult
of arrangement. Firms in the United
States, which had occasion to make ad-
vances or to loan money during the Pc
riod of the insurTection, usually stipu-
lated that repayment should be IN
American money or its equivalent
They are not certain what will be con-
sidered the equivalent.
The use of silver in the daily trans
actions promises to be the most trouble
some of all the questions that must be
settled by the United States. The mer.
chants and sugar planters who are op-
posed to a change in the present sys-
tenn say the transition to a different
basis cannot be made without indus
trial disturbances and without great
hardship to all employers Of labor. Sill
yer is the currency of every day life
Wages and salaries are paid in it. Not
withstanding the fluctuations in value
as measured by the daily quotations
against gold, it serves all practical
purposes, probably because it is clear
ly recognized as subsidiary coinage In
the country districts the mass of the
population meyer see any money ex-
cept silver pesos" or dollars, "pesetas'
or 2O-cent pieces and "reales'' or dimes
The rate of daily wages is ordinarily a
silver dollar. The purchasing power
does not follow the fluctuations sc
Closely dS IllSnl DG SuppOSSu, lilOu5u
when silver is falling in value prices OF
necessities rise faster than they fall
when it's value is appreciating. This
has been illustrated during the last
three months. Though the ''centen
now buys only seven Spanish silver dol
lars where formerly it bought eight, the
wage earners are not able to purchase
more with their wages. The prices OF
retail commodities have remained sta
tionary.
The opinion of the employers Is that
if a change is made they will be COM
PEELED TO advance wages 10 per cent.
for that is about what the elimination
readjustment to American values will
cost They do not believe that the la
borers on the sugar plantations and
elsewhere can be argued into accepting
reduced wages in money of an increas-
ed purchasing power because that re-
adjustment would come slowly The
experience of the laborers has not been
ly for the natural change under which
values would regulate themselves.
They know what a Spanish silver
dollar has meant to them. They will
not be easily convinced that 90 cents
in either Spanish or American silver
means just as much. On the other
hand, employers as a class. either on
the sugar plantations or in other
branches of industry. cannot afford te