Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-02-18
Wounon.


| of money II always troubloEomc-not
whether he should have plenty Of IT,
Cthcre II never any question about
thaU. but In what form he would bet
ter put II In carrying out lagos ad.
vice. As yet there Is not much change
In the antc-bolium currency OF cuba.
except that one sees less " Spanish
gold than formerly. American
money" ns United states silver IS
called. has always circulated to a con-
siderable extent IN the island. and the
dcpor;cd spaniards. dlspite their wall
of poverty. mansgod TO set away with
most " the golden coins u the mother
country. one who Is visiting cuba In
these days OF her reconstruciins can
bring no better financial prop than
American Frccnbaoks; they are so
much easier TO carry than geld. and
the premium ON them u the same. II
| he brings the usual letter 20 credit.
or draws on home through oue Of the
Island banks. he VIII md that tho
/ cafhicr's charges for the accommodate
| ton are quite In kocping with thO Gu
ban idea that everything American II
| lawful prey. to b. made the most Of
| The hotel. keepers atiil require their nay
on the basis NJ spanish gold. but viii
| readily allow six per cent on American
hills. The local merchants ate glad to
| get our grcenbackH at the same rate,
IN exchange Tor their goods or the
coin Of the country. 'bechu-- most 81
/ their business N done in New York
philadelphia. Boston and baltimore.
on the credit system. ana the notes are
| convenient for transportation without
the expense of getting them changed
Il HNaaHN To- ut A.
| portcrH. servants and others ~ their
class. accustomed to being cheated at
| every turn by their late rulers. will
have nothing to do with any money
they do not understand and insist on
the familiar twcnty.ccnt pieces ~ the
island. American dimes and nickcla.
aud copper for small change. or the
dirty. bcRHhr. handled. discnHe-infcatcd
nhin.plaHtcrr. n you oftcr them an
American half.dollar fresh and shin
ing from the mint. they viii eye II
doubifully, Try It's edges IN their teeth
ana ring I, ON the sidewalk. " they do
not refuse II outright
Some sharper Of other days seems 60
have Hooded Cuba with American aii-
Yer In five and ten cent pieces. after
having punched fraction out ~ each
Tor his own profit. You may pick on
ha,full of thca. small coins In the
| course ~ days transactions In any
4
among them. Not only do the mutt
lated pieces pass at their fac. value
without question. but the Islanders APP
pear 90 plac. most confidence In the
coin that has the greatest number ~
holes Ia u. az proof that ID IL gene
ulnc-clH" why did somebody take the
trouble TO punch ~ a great deal OF
paper scrip. similar 20 that used In the
| United States before the resumption
~ specie payment. circuiatca In Cuba
but with this important difference.
when ours became sollcd or torn. we
could exchange IL for new while In Gu
ha there are no such facilities and the
nlthy bits ~ paper. handled by lepcr-
ana carried about In the rags OF the
lowest classes. become 80 lOnthnomo
that one would rather fofeso his
change" than touch II. one dollar ~
our silver win purchase nj least tg.l5
| 81 this fctip-oftcn more. according TO
the rate OF exchange at the moment.
Though based upon nothing. having
been Issued Unfortunately by bank
| fupt government, u answers all the
| local necessities OF trade. and II al
ways used for car.farc and small
! transactions, II was ground out Of the
paper mill-nobody knows TO exactly
what nmount-ln nvc, ten, nifty and
| tWUnty-crnt "plnHtrrH" one thing II
well known-that every authorized h..
sue ~ a given sum was enormously
/ exceeded, Seven years ago an issue OF
bank bills 81 this small currency was
entrusted to an establishment Ia the
United Stntcs-and fourteen million
dollars was printed In addition To the
! authorized amount All was duly re-
coiptcd Tor ana signed by the corrupt
spanish officials, whose the quld
nunra rny-dlyided the extra millions
among Themselves. Il II asserted that
the captain general. under whose adj
miniHtration this financial stroke was
| accomplished. came TO cuba u poor
man. and two years later returned to
spain with three million pesos ,o his
credit So thrifty were the proud
! illdnlgnes they threw down a dollar
when half of II was due. tsomcbody
clse'a dollnD. and rtalked hnushtily
away. nneering at the Yankee pigs"
who waited Tor their changol
Tho monetary unit % the Spanish
WcHt Indies II the peso. or silver dol
lar, worth In the United States about
% cents. The dublon, ,goid OF the Unit
ed atater). N worth ta.0l The moneys
OF old spain current In all her colonies
are the pcseta, the 0nsn, the media
onza, the cantcn $3.50, the efcuedo,
the eEcudito, the medic peso the real
and medic. or siNpcnae. In reality
there are three money stand
ards IN this moneyloss coun-
| tfy-Amcrican gold, spanish gold,
ana silver: and sometimes the close
calculation involved would puzzle the
eruditc brains ~ philadelphia law.
yer" A. an example OF this, an Amer,
lean now In Havana tells the follow
linz story
"'rho other day went into the cafe
| la Lug 20 treat some OF my newly
arrived countrymcn. There were four
81 M, and each ordered different hey.
eragr. l threw down "A fiVo-dollnr
American gold piece In payment The
smile dispenser studied long with
knitted brow over the knotty problem
OF change. and then handed me back
Spanish nve-dollar gold piece and
forty cents In silver. THIS pleased the
group No we'll that ! treated again,
siving back TO the saloon keeper the
fye-dollnr Spanish piece, This was
easter for him Co reckon and my change
for the second deal was Ave silver dol.
lars and four cents, Though the price
Of drinks IL high In Cuba,it would seem
that there IN money 10 be made Ia taxi
Ing them at adllhltum, and the more
liquor one buys the more money he
gets To study tho thing out II was
this way There was 20 per cent
premium ON American gold over Span
ish gold. and 20 per cent on Spanish
gold as compared with silver. Thus,
out Of the original American hye-dol-
| lar gold piece l bought eight expensive
drinks and still had $3.50 In silvor-and
discovered afterwards that the bar
Keeper had swlndled me out OF fifteen
cents exchange"
In the Cuban calendar there are no
fewer than $50 holy days" Sundays