The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1900-03-21
DOLLARS MEX"
yhe Common Currency of Great parS
of the Far East.


of the Far East.
Reports of recent military opera
tious in the Philippines include state
ments that the American troops have
captured from the insurgents 30 many
thousand Mexican dollars. Such state.
ments must not be interpreted as
mere verbal artiicos to magnify the
inn ortance OF the exploit by using a
small unit OF value in reckoning the
booty. The public are thoroughly
familiar by this time with the distinc-
tion so common amony the Americans
at Manila between dollars Mex" and
"dollars gold," and the fact that one
of the former is worth less than half
one of the latter, but the treasury of
Aguinaldo was, in all probability,
stocked neither with paper money nor
with coin of the United States mints,
but with actual Mexican silver dollars.
The Mexican silver dollar is, in fact,
the popular currency, not only of the
/ Ihilippine Islands, but also TO large
extent of the Chinese coasts, Of the
Malay Archipelago, and, outside Of
such great mercantile centres rs Singa-
pore, of the Straits Settlements, rs
well as of Japan. Hong Kong and
Canton have in general fallen in with
the pecuniary habits of the British
colonists aud traders, and Japan has
very convenient currency of her own,
in harmony with advanced western
ideas. But the yellow races of the
East, as races, have taken strong
20, tbo y.h,ta mat al .,f Max;,a
The persistence in the preference
is more easily understood than the
manner in which the preference first
gained its hold. A New York iinapcier
explained the original fact partly on
aesthetic grounds. "The design of
the Mexican dollar" he said, 'is a
bold and striking one, and it impressed
those Orientals from tho time the,
coin first began to circulate among
them. That, ] suppose, was more
than 80 years ago. AT that period
there was very little trade between,
.his country and the Philippines or
any of those far Eastern regions. OF
course. among the population of the
islands, the natives net being in an
advanced stage Of commercial civilia a.
tion, the convenience of English smel
change was not apparent. Not being
informed of the financial stability Of
of the British Empire, they could not
be expected to appreciate the stamp
that gives the shilling most of its
value; what they did appreciate was
the bigness and the weight and purity
of the Mexican dollar, as well as the
imposing appearance of it.
"As to how the demand came to be
so well supplied, that is easy to under
stand when you remember that most
of the silver in the world was then
produced in Mexico, and that the coin
| age of it was free and unlimited. As
the traders in the far East wanted
Mexican dollars, ii was to the interest
of the Mexican mines to export their
output in that form, and it cost them
nothing to have the stamp put on. II
was only necessary for them to keer
the coming of their dollars down be.
low the point of glutting the market
in other words, it would have been
possible to ship so much coined silver
to the East, either direct through Lon
don or through London by way o.
New York, that the premium on il
would fall.
There is premium on the Mexi
can silver dollar in that part OF the
world even now. Here, for instance
is cable from Manila, dated Jan. u,
which quotes the Mexican dollars a
AZ IL cents, gold. According to the
current price of silver, the Mexicai
dollar was worth at par about A cents
on that date. The difference is ac
counted for by local preference ioi
Mexican dollars. The insurgents il
the Philippines were well advised il
using that coinage, because it is the
coinage which the people of the coun
try understand and like. Ii the,
were educated bankers, they woulC
know that American money takes III
less room in proportion to its rea
value, aud they might admire the de
sign of our dollars and dollar bills a
much as the Mexican design; rs it is
they don't thoroughly understand tn,
theory of token money and nationa
credit. And so Mexico goes on export
ing her AZ, 00a, 900 silver dollars an
nually to be the popular currency O
the far East"