The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-25
MERCHANTS AND BANKERS FA-
voR THE PRESENT SYSTEM.
Silver Is the Money of the People,
and Laborers Are Paid a Dollar
Day-Change In Standards Means
An Advance In Wages-Dificul-
ties In Payment of Soldiers.

troops Is g. preliminary cOuuItiOll %
well understood that it does not call
for explanation. All classes in Cuba
know why the soldiers are here, and
knowing, they acquiesce. That knoWl-
edge in itself is the best guarantee OF
tranquility. Isolated instances may
arise which will call for repression but
these will not affect the general good
| order. They will be no drawback to the
measures of industrial and commercial
reconstruction which necessarily pre-
cede the political government of the IS
land as it may be determined in the
future.
The commercial classes are showing
! the greatest adaptability to the new
conditions. Within a fortnight after the
tariff is promulgated business will be
moving smoothly in its accustomed
channels.
The only uncertainty of the future is
i that which will come from the shifting
of the money standard. So far as pre-
paration can be made for change of
! this kind the business houses of Ha-
vana have made it. They do not as
yet know positively that customs du-
! ties are to be paid in the currency of
/ the United States and they are not GER
! tain that the imitation will be squeezed
out of the Spanish and French gold
! coins, but they anticipate a modihca-
| IlOn OIL SOME XIII. Ills ID lAlC Vic
cloud that hangs over the business
I 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
/ expects to collect the customs revenues
I IN, CT nd fn ayTen6 them in (Nl1h9
| a change is not desirable. By the inf1a-
| ton in the gold coins by which every
| thing from an ounce down to doub-
! loon or a French louis receives a value
/ greater than its actual worth, Cuba
/ has been kept on a gold basis. Through
all the periods of internal war and in
dustrial anarchy, gold has stayed in
j the. island and the paper, known as
'sWeyler's Scrip" did not make head
way or debauch the currency. That is
one reason the merchants who oppose
a change in the present artificial values
advance They think that as gold has
been kept in the channels of trade it
will continue to flow in the same chan
nels without the necessity of squeezing
out the imitation.
ATTITUDE OF BANKERS.
The REIMBURSEMENT of financial values
! in it's influence on the debtors and cred
itors of the island is something that
cannot be fully analysed The banking
| houses and firms which receive depoS-
| its will all adhere to their agreement,
| and repay their deposits on the bass
of ST. for an ounce, $3.50 for a centen,
$4.25 for a doubloOn and $424 for
louis. Because of the uncertainty.
many of them are urging the with
drawal of deposits while these values
| prevail. 1t is a peculiar condition which
! causes this course to be taken, though
| only a temporary one. The debts on
! the island were contracted on this ba-
sis. AS the sugar planters and every
| body 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 advances or to loan money dur
| ing the period of the insurrection usu-
ally stipulated that repayment should
be in American money or its equivalent.
| They are not certain what will be con-
sidered the equivalent.
USE OF SILVER.
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
opposed to a change in the present
system, say the transition to a differ
ent basis cannot be made without in
! dustrial disturbances, and without
great hardship to all employers of
| labor Silver is the currency of every
| day life. Wages and salaries are paid
in it. Notwithstanding the fluctuations
in value, as measured by the daily
quotations against gold, it serves all
practical purposes, probably because it
is clearly recognized as subsidiary coin
age. In the country districts the mass
of the population never see any money
except silver pesos or dollars pc
setas," or 20-cent pieces, and reals"
or dimes. The rate of daily wages is
ordinarily a silver dollar. The pur-
chasing power does not follow the fuc-
| tuations so closely as might be sup
posed, though when silver is falling in
value, prices of necessities rise faster
| than they fall when its value is APP
preciating. This has been illustrated
/ during the last three months. Though
| the "centen'' now buys only seven
! Spanish dollars, where formerly it
! bought eight, the wageearners are not
able to purchase more with their
wages. The prices of retail commodi-
! ties have remained stationary.
MEANS INCREASED WAGES.
| The opinion of the employers is that
| if a change is made, that they viii be
/ compelled to advance wages 10 per
| cent, for that is about what the elimin-
/ alton of the Spanish silver currency or
/ its readjustment to American values,
will cost They do not believe that the
! laborers on the sugar plantations and
/ elsewhere can be argued into accepting
/ reduced wages in money of an in
| creased purchasing power, because that
readjustment would come slowly. The
experience Of the laborers has not been
such as to cause them to wait patiently
for the natural change under which
values would regulate themselves. They
know what a Spanish silver dollar has
meant to him. They will not be easily
convinced that 80. cents in either Span
ish or American silver means just as
much. On the other hand, employers,
] as a class, either on the sugar planta-
tons or in other branches of industry,
cannot afford to give the equivalent
| of a 10 per cent increase in wages.
The payment of the American troops
viii add to the difficulties. A small
amount of United States currency is in
circulation, but it is in bills in denom-
nations of SIS and upwards, as these are
large enough to command the ocular
exchange, which varies from ~ to 8
! per cent. One dollar and 81 bills, " here