The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-04-07
POPULAR USE OF GOLD COIN.
Arguments In Favor Of Coming
Smaller Denomination, Of the
Metal.

Arguments In Favor of Coming
Smaller Denomination, Of the
Metal.
Philadelphia Record: The current
number Of the Bankers Monthly. Qs-
sued March 15). contains communion
ton showing that in 1898 more than
Gtwo- thirds of the value Of gold coined
at the mlnts went into the form OF dou-
BILE eagles. After citing several valid
arguments In favor OF the coinage of
smaller denominations OF gold money,
the author states that as he Is contem-
plating a further exposition of the sub
ject he would be glad to have any fall
lacy in his reasoning pointed out; to
which the editor replies:
Gold coins of denomination OF 81 so,
So and $40 would certainly be preferable
to the dirty bills now in circulation.
Besides, 1t would be beneficial from an
economic standpoint to have gold thus
brought into use. If the government.
instead OF colning gold in large denom-
nations suitable for export and board
Ing would coin the denominations
above mentioned, and put the money in
circulation. 1t would so q long way to-
ward curing the free silver folly. Many
people who never. see any gold mot
even in the form of certiticates) except
in the figures published by the bank
and government reports, have come to
regard its existence as mythical"
The editor Of the Bankers Magazine,
in common With other writer's on
finance who have discussed the matter,
Endorses the arguments in favor Of the
coinage of smaller denominations of
gold; and 1t is difficult to understand
why the authorities of the mint persist
in disregarding the suggestion, 1t is
true that 1t entails less labor to coin
double eagles than to coin eagles, half
eagles or quarter-eaSles; but as there
are three or four times us many OPP
eratives in the mint to-day as there
were In 1861, (when the coinage of gold
was about three and half million
dollars in excess of that OF 1888. the
fact that additional! labor would be re-
qulred by the change does not appear
to be n good explanation for the contin-
ued preference for the coinage Of
double eagles.
A gentleman who has just returned
from n tour to Porto Rico, Cuba and the
islands in the Caribbean Sea, relates q
rather curious experience. corrobora-
tive Of the arguments in favor of COIN
Ing small gold pieces. He provided him.
self, before leaving home, with num-
Der of S. gold pieces and also with
clean, new bills. He found that while
American money, other than gold, was
eagerly accepted everywhere except on
the Danish Islands, American gold
coins were looked upon with suspicion.
because they were SO rare as to be I'M
familiar to the people. New bills were
also closely scanned. while old and
filthy notes weretaken without scruple
the dirt apparently being n guarantee
of genuineness. ti
Although this traveller visited more
than a dozen islands, and received
many different kinds OF gold and sill
Yer money in exchange from hotel and
shop-keepers, there was not single
American gold piece in the lot: and a
cabman in Porto Rico refused an
American gold piece. and took notes In
preference. These incidents may not
in themselves be very important, but
they serve to show that the acquisi-
ton of new territory has given addi-
tional force TO the suggestions as to the
desirability Of u modification of the
regulations in regard to the coinage of
gold