The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-02-04
MONEY SITUATION
IN SHAFTS DOMAIN



Bankers. believers in the gold stand
ard or in the Is to / theory, viii all
be interested in this report on the cur
rency of Persia recently sent to the
director of the United States mint.
Poor Persia. Yet the shah lately
IaVished money in Paris.
The report states in brief;
No gold is produced in the country,
nor is any bar gold imported
Gold coin is a commodity only, ana
is mainly used for presents and hoard
ing: it is minted from foreign coin,
such as Russian imperials and Turkish
pounds. which reach this country in
small quantities in the course of bust
Goldsmiths also make use of foreign
No silver is obtained in the country.
Imports come directly from the United
kingdom or indirectly from Russia via
Hamburg.
The mint is in a wretched condition.
and the plant which dates from 1877,
is almost worn out. The output is
therefore very limited and at best may
be put down at 100000 to 100000
tomans annually-the tOman being
practically equivalent to an American
Last year $1,000 the government, in
connection with the Russian loan, i'm
ported about 100000 tomans' worth
of silver. which is in course of min
ting and the Imperial bank imported
a further LOCO 600 tOmanS, which has
been minted. We may add probably
900. O00 tomans for other imports
In 1899 the amount mlnted can
scarcely have exceeded z,00G,000 10
$500, 600 tOmans-
On account Of the DEFICIENCIES of the
mint machinery, OF the eastern prac-
I tice of boarding, and of the economic
attraction Of TranScaSpia for Persian
silver. there is permanent dearth of
currency. which consequently IS ap-
! preciated and ciTcUIates as a pUr-
chasing power of from to 20 per cent
above its intrinsic value
I Persian silver IS a token of cur
| rency. or at best midway between a
I token and a standard of international
J currency there Is. therefore, in an
/ equivalent amount of exchange a
! much larger quantity of silver in
3 Persian than in Russian coin. For ex-
ample 100000 tomans are, at the pres
ent rate of exchange. equal TO $4,000
] rubIes; but the weight in fine silver of
( the tOmans IS legally 133.20O ounces
] troy. or say less > per cent, 130, $50
! ounces, while the rubles contain only
/ 107, O62 ounces; difference in favor of
/ the Persian coin, 25,454 ounces, or
/ Z 80 per cent
/ The Russian authorities have long
] been alive TO the irresistible cOmpetl-
/ ton of Persian with Russian coin in
/ their Asiatic provinces on this frontier,
| and some nine years ago issued de-
! cree forbidding the importation of
} Persian coin.
This decree was found unavoidable
and after some months had to be with
/ drawn.
! Last year the Russian government
/ again made a stand against the i'm
/ port of foreign silver, which. by ukaSe
! was prohibited on and after May lib
1 1899. The prohibition was further
/ strengthened by a duty Of rubles pei
pound on silver-say, 20 per cent
Since then. however. Persian colT
has been largely imported in contra
| band into Transcaspia, and the gov
( eminent finds great difficulty in put
/ ting stop to its introduction
There is a large yearly outflow Of
| coin from Teheran. where it is minted
I to the north. northeast and northwest
districts. and this coin so far does not
reappear-at all events, not in any
I quantity-sO that the product Of the
silver imports seems 10 be absorbed.