Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-09-26
SIL YER IN NICARAGUA

Silver is the standard of value in
Nicaragua, and al present sol is
worth 40 cents in United States cur
rency or, as it is expressed here, gold.
There are no banks on the eastern
coast, although an abundance Of mon
ey, such as it is; for not only is the
country flooded with soils, but paper
money as we'll. Of the two the sol is
considered the safest money for it's
value is the market price of silver,
and though liable to fuctuate, is at
least tangible. I have failed to find
anything behind the paper money but
"gall." 1t is therefore looked upon
with suspicion by the business m en-
who are more or less tempted to use
it for convenience sake, and totally
rejected by the laboring classes, eX-
cept in such cases where it is to be
used Immediately AS the paper mon
ey, however, is receivable for taxes,
duties, ETC., most Of it is dumped upon
the government. A study of the ways
of business in a country store which
really has a double standard Of value
is not only interesting, but in some of
its phases positively amusing.
For instance, all goods in the stores
must be marked at the gold value,
| both cost and selling price, for if they
| were not SO marked every rise and
| fall in the silver market would neces-
state a remarking of everything on
hand This system makes a little men
tai calculation necessary in q uoting
prices, but clerks soon become ac-
| customed to that. For instance. the
selling price of an article is so cents,
exchange is $3.50, you ask your Gus
toner $3.50, which is it's price in soils.
A storekeeper comes down to Blue
fields to buy goods, enters one Of the
largest wholesale houses with his list,
makes his purchases, gets his bill, then
gets couple Of strong men or dray
and returns to his hotel for the money
to settle it. Money is carried around
in great canvass bags. Like COM
modify, it is at once blessing and a
burden. Yet the country is fairly
prosperous, everybody has money to
spend; all who are willing to work
can readily find employment at fairly
good wages; some have amasse6 fort
unes. One reason for this is that the
merchants spend all their surplus in
buying up the productions of the
country for exports. Rubber, gold
bust tortoise shells, etc., are eagerly
sought, and owing to competition
among buyers and stiff market, in
the case Of rubber especially the mar
ket generally having an upward tend
ency, commands fine prices. Rubber,
| too, is the principal medium through
which the merchants effect their ex-
| change. The Bluefelds merchant,
through his agent in New Orleans,
/ buys goods for which he pays in gold
or United States currency. He sells
| these goods in Bluefields for soils. in
vests the soils in rubber, which he ships
! to New Orleans and sells for gold, of
! ten making two profits, one on his
I goods, another on his rubber. Then,
too, the resources of the country are
being slowly but constantly develop
ed, and the future, especially now
that the canal is again being promi-
nently brought before the public mind,
is very encoura ging Richmond Times.
CASTORIA
Bears the signature of CHAs. H FLETCHER.
In use for more than thirty years, and
The Kind You Haze Alzgays Rouehk