St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-11-19

SOUTH SEA CURRENCY.
Queer Results Are Brought About b.
the Mixture of Foreign
COlnaEes.

/ COlnaEe1.
Money values in the South Pacific are
| everywhere computed with reference
more or less remote to the dollar ard
the cent, probably because the Yankee
Hhalcrs of the early days were the only
people in the position where money
talks. The beginning of the financial
instruction. of the islanders was to
teach them the relation between large
| heap of their goods and certain disc
Of silver. When the budding financial
| scholars had familiar:zed themselves
| with the size o: the dollar disk, the
keen competition of trade discovered
that SO long as the disk was of the prop
er size the mintage was of little conse-
quence. Business doomed when il was
| seen that a profit lay in the introGuc-
tion of the rubbishy dollars Of South
America. the peso. the sol, the bolivar,
| all of the proper dimensions of dollar,
but lacking in other essential qualities.
After some years this money fell into
disreputc as trade was reduced to a
regular business basis, and the only ex-
traordinary profits which could be re-
allied were shaved off by skillful use
of irregular weights and measures. In
Hawaii a silver coinage was established
in which the pieces were exactly like
American money in every respect ex-
cept the ornamental part, which dis
played the head of Kalakaua. In Samoa
the treaty provided for the expression
of values in American currency, and
took no particular account of the soft"
money condition of affairs. Because OF
The nearness Of the Australian colonies
ii was most convenient to bring in Eng
lish gold and silver in return for the
soft" money which the united efforts
of the traders were shipping away to
be melted down for bullion. The Ger
mans made an effort to introduce the
mark. and a large consignment was
landed at Apia for German firm. Ri
val business houses were prompt in
showing the Samoans that the mark
weighed less than the shilling and that
they would be the losers by the intro
duction of the coin. This stopped that
German aggression-a more effective
method than the stir which diplomacy
made about it months after common
sense had settled the affair. Very rare
" mark is seen in Apia. After the
mail steamers have passed there is
small amount of American coin in cir
culation. for tourists will buy. and the
prices are run up for their benefit.
~, &c vrsf n
British coin. but il is used in way
differen: from that in vogue elsewhere
and likely to puzzle the newcomer who
thinks to settle the matter by reeling
off flour farthings make one penny"
That will not assist, for neither farthing
OF penny would be of any use on that
beach. where the lowest price of any
thing is sixpence. Nor 90 the shillings
and the pounds accord with the table.
The Apia table of money values would
have to be constructed to slip back and
forth between English and American
money. A dime. 10 begin with the low
est coin which has any use on the
sixpence. A quarter is shilling. The
form of two shiIlings is half dollar.
The sovereign is five dollars. 1t is sup
posed TO even up in the long run, like
those calculations according TO the
doctrine Of chances which make win
ming so much more proba bic than prac-
tical. One who pays dime for six
penny article is ahead by two cents
and a half. AT the next step by paying
quarter for shilling article the bank
gets a cent ahead. which becomes two
cents when half dollar is paid. When
it comes TO paying out five-dollar gold
piece where sovereign would do just
as well. you lose Ia cents. From that
ii is easy to calculate what is the av-
erage gait Of the evening-up process.
II can only be done with dimes. The
wide gulf between the results of the
DRY and those Of practice will be strik-
ingly shown when yon attempt to pay
a dime for the four eggs which Samoan
trade allows for sixpence. The same
thing may be seen in any shop by prof
fering two dimes as the equivalent OF
a shilling. The most lucid arrangement
of the Samoan currency is in a table:
Two dimes don't make shilling.
A dime and sxpence make a quarter.
rs cents make half dollar.
A.S6 make s..
That table has not the sweet har
mony Of the tables in the arithmetic
books; it is little jerky in some of Its
steps, but it represents the financial
idea as it has been developed under the
torrid sun in the Pacific.-N. \. Sun.