Arizona republican., 1899-07-13
Its Appreciation in China Drives
 it Into Hiding,
CHEAPER SILVER COMES IN
Ihe Celestial Kingdom Experiencing inc inevitable inconvenience of a Double Standard Of Currency. Other Interesting Facts Regard ing Chinese Coinage and 1one- fary System.

Washington, July 12-(SpeciaL)- The recent reports which indicate that the Chinese copper coins known as cash" arc disappearing because of their appreciating value and that sil- yer coins are to fill the vacancy thus created in the currency of China lends special interest to a statement recent ly prepared by the treasury bureau of statistics regarding the currency of China. No accurate estimate has been made of the amount of money in circu- latfon in the empire. while no accurate statement can be made today of what its value will be tomorrow Based up- on silver. it's value f1ucsuates with the changes in the market price of silver. The copper "cash." valued at about one-tenth of 2 cent. is the actual cir culating medium. it being merely a given weight of silver. and not a coin. Actual silver cireulates in two forms. the dollar" and the ''sycee." The dol. lar was originally the Mexican dollar. and became a popular and generally accepted form Of currency wherever obtained. So convenient was it than large quantities were imported for use as currency. More recently. however. mlnts for the coinage of dollars pur- porting to be of weight and finenass equal to Mexican dollars have been es- tabllShed, not by the central govern meRt, but by the authorities of the va r1eus provinces. and the result is that the rivalry between these provincial hints has reduced the weighs and fine ness of the dollars" which thev jss,5e until the provincial silver dollars, are looked upon with distrust. Addi- uonal hints. however, are being estab- hshed, the machinery for them being from the United States. Some half dozen of the cities of China now have their hints for the coinage of dol lars, and work is in progress upon local hints in other cities, so that by the end Of the present year. accord ing to a recent issue of the North China Daily News. at least ten differ ent kinds of silver coins purporting to be dollars" will be upon the mar ket- In addition to this uncertainty may be pointed out the fact that the
 tael' differs in various cities and provinces, the we;ght Of silver recog- nized as a tael being greater at some points than at others. The conse- quence is that while the haikwan or customs, tael was worth. on January lS99, 72.2 cents (gold), the Annoy tael was worth but T cents. the Can ton tael 7O.S cents. the Chinkiang uael 69,S cents, the Nngpo taeI 6S.2 cents. the Chefoo tael 67.9 cents. the Hankow tael 66.4 cents, the Foochow taeI 65.6 cents, and the Shanghai tael 64.S cents. Even the "sycee," which is an actual of silver cast in the form of a shoe with the weight written upon it n Chinese characters. is somewhat un- certain as to its value. both by reason. or the constant fuetuation in the pnce of the silver which it contains and the as to the fineness of the silver utilized.
 All efforts to learn the exact fine ness of the standard silver used in the sycee have been unsuccessful. though the estimates put the rate at ninsty- seven one-hundredths. which is con in excess of the American eoin, which is ninety-one one-hun- 1redths fine. The sycee is merely an Indefinite quantity cast in the form of woman'S shoe, it's actual we:ghS be- ng determined by agents or officers appointed by the merchants to weigh he sycee, accuracy and integrity on .heir part being insured by actual physical decapitation of those who are ound dishonest. Even the cash copper and zinc coin about the size of 'ur 25-aent piece, having a square lole in the center for convenience in quantities of them together, -aries greatly both in fneness and weight, in some eases 1000 of them ,eing equal to 3 dollar" while in .thers nearly 2,OOO are required to qual a dollar" Gold coin is praot;- ally unknown in China, no coins of his metal being made at the mints. nd gold coins of other countries have S1uuii' II efei' S4lOuLetteu, tHJush tHe alue of the metal is fully recognized, nd gold. whether in coin or bulk, 'roves a medium of exchange upon eterm mination of it's weight and fine .ess when occasion requires.
 The uncertainty as to the quality nd quantity of the metals contained i the various coins and measures of
 
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