Arizona republican., 1902-04-05
ious for business, or lesss enterprising and far-sighted than James J. Hill.

dollar for circulation THE SILVER in the orient has EXPERIMENT. aroused considerable
 opposition, and the favor with which the plan has been re- ceived in the senate does not neces- sarily mean that the house will ac cept it. Argument against the coinage of the proposed dollar is based on the failure of the trade dollar of a genera tion ago. and this argument is likely to have much weight with superficial students of the financial situation in the Philippines and far east generally The trade dollar failed primarily be- cause the United States then had no oriental territory. was not in a posi- tion to give legal tender quality to the coin and no reason was apparent to the Filipinos. Chinese and other races of that region of the world why they should accept the unfamiliar dol lar in lieu of the Mexican coin with which they were familiar. But our possession of the Philippines and the ability of the government to give the American-Philippine dollar a legal tender quality makes a material change in the situation.
 Not only should tn experiment be Q success in the Philippines. but as pointed out in these columns a few days ago. the increased demand thus created for silver would directly benefit Arizona and all the Pacific coast coun- try. The present situation in the east is by no means similar to conditions which confronted the United States and Japan in former efforts to supplant the Mexican dollar. The fondness of the oriental races for the Mexican coin, however has been manifested or many occasions.
 Japan. in 1871. attempted to intro duce new silver coin in order to meet the situation created by the circula ton at the Chinese treaty ports of the Mex ican dollar, various issues of which, including the chopped" coins were in use. The Japanese coin was yen of 416 grains and 300 fine, this weight be- ing about equal to the average of the unmutilated Mexican coin, which is 416A grains, while the fineness was somewhat less. the Mexican being about 904. In 1875 Japan coined a new silver yen of 42O grains and of the same | fineness as the earlier coined yen. This cation. both to foreigners and Japan csc. The coins were issued simply for the purpose of circulation in the treaty ports in opposition to the Mexican dol lar, and their domestic use was limited strictly to the payment of customs duties and other taxes and to opera tions between Japanese and foreign merchants. This condition of the cur rency continued until 1878, by which time the unsoundness of the policy adopted in the issue of the trade dol lar was recognized by the government. The coinage of the trade yen was there fore discontinued and the silver yen of 416 grains was declared to be legal tender in any amount, thus placing Japan on a bimetallic basis.
 
 vision in the coinage act-which dis continued the coinage of the old silver dollar and replaced the double by the gold standard-for the coinage of trade dollar of APO grains 300 fine, mak- ing it a legal tender. at it's nominal value, for any amount not exceeding s5 in any one payment; at the same time the intrinsic value of the sub sidiary coins was decreased, and these were also made legal tender for moved the legal tender quality from ] the trade dollar and the coinage was limited to the export demand for it, the object of it's issue having been to supply a coin for circulation in the far east in opposition to the Mexican dollar, as already stated. This object was, however, not attained, and the coinage of the trade dollar was dis continued in 1883, by which time the l total amount coined was S35. .965, ,924. The act Of 1SS7 retiring the trade dollar provided that for six months, if not | mutllated, defaced or stamped, the coins should be received at their face value at any of the sub treasuries in exchange for a like amount of stand ard silver dollars or subsidiary coin The total number of coins redeemed under this act was $7,69S,036. The re- maining 2S,276.S $50 of the dollars were mutilated or defaced by stamping, in accordance with the practice of the Chinese, and they were consequently redeemed at their bullion value, in volving the government in considerable loss, owing to the depreciat tion in the price of silver from 591s pence per ounce in 1873. to 4314 pence in 1887. The early coinage of the trade dollar was on private account, bullion dealers SUD- plying the metal and receiving the coined dollars less the minting charge By 1876, when the legal tender quality of the trade dollar was removed there had been coined, almost wholly on