The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-12-12
TRADE SITUATION
In Porto RicO--The Currency Ques-
tion.-Compllcated Condition..

- = 0ANV @NAEl1 e@AAR 1NAAANAA~a
tion---Compllcated Conditions.
WASHINGTON. Dec. H. Assistant
Secretary Vanderlip. who Is not expected
here until December 20, In hih second in-
formal report Of his obssrvEsiona in
Porto Rico. says that the history Of The
currency situation ls about this;
THE island some twenty-five years
ago, was using American currency. At
that time OF the emancipation the Span
4sh government found the value Of sil-
yer declining and It discovered 1t would
be profitable to make payment IN Mexl-
can dollars, and in that way the curren-
cy was brought TO q silver basis The
heavy payments for crops made q re-
duniant currency and grear deal OF Il
was shipped away, Eventually the gov.
ernment decided on coinage for the ISL
and. making. a further profit By debasing
the silver inethe peso. The silver In the
peso Is 800 fine. The Spanish govern
ment gave this new peso certain re-
deemablllty by Offering TO redeem II at
the Bank OF Spain In Madrid IN % In
gold. and understand that some OF the
coins have been redeemed at that rate,
although comparatively few OF them
have been carried back 10 Spain.
zone Of the American commanders re-
ports TO me that condition that must
be taken into account Is the ownership
OF most OF the plantations. They are
nearly all owned by spanlards; a great
many OF them by Spanlards residing In
Spain. This has resulted, Instead OF an
apparent balance OF trade considerably
d o. - I'D IN a hufhnHa
against the island. The great sugar
plantations, owned by people residing IN
Spain, have, year after year, raised a
crop OF sugar at an extremely low labor
cost. The sugar has been sold abroad
and practically the whole return for 1t
has remained abroad. creating no de-
mand for exchange against the island.
About the only thing that has been I'M
ported Is q little calico. and, while the
trade returns show large excess OF eX-
ports, the value of those exports never
return In any form 10 the island. When
the American troops landed 1t was
thought an easy temporary solution OF
the situation to fix the rate of exchange
as between American dollars and pesos
ut two for one. That worked satlstac-
torily for a little while, but the ex-
change dealers soon found that they
could make more profitable rate OF ex-
change and our ratio, therefore. became
ineffective and imperative. The settle
ment Of the question lies between two
extremes; on one hand the fixing OF the
value Of the peso at the exact value'of
the bullion, and. on the other, giving 1t
an equivalent gold value equal to che
nominal redeemable rate Of So, which the
Spanish government fiSeu.
IAN army officer, with whom l talked,
Is in favor OF an immediate forced sub
stltutIon of our currency, for the present
Porto Rican currency and thinks thlE
might be done by military order fixing
the rate OF exchange. The question is,
what rate should be fixed. 1t is not be-
lieved the average rate OF exchange for
series of years should be taken. Bx-
change dealers have controlled the sit
uatIon with little reference to the actual
balance OF trade. II would be a hard
ship on the debtor class to have the peso
too high, and the debtor class is the
whole working population of the Island,
There is a great amount OF small debts
No one seems to work without the spur
Of a debt behind him, and TO compel the
repayment Of these debts in a coinage
more valuable than that In which they
were contracted, would be great hard
ship. II is believed by some that 10 IN
der-value the peso. gauged by the aver
age exchange rate, would work much
less hardship and would really come
very near being Just.