Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-18
THE MEXICAN DOLLAR
FIXING ITS VALUE A KNOTTY
PROBLEM FOR SECRETARY SHAW.

| Mexicos change from the silver to the
gold standard has brought about some
knotty problems for Secretary Shaw to
| solve. and he mas just finished wrestling
with one of the worst of them. The Mex
| lean silver dollar is the paramount coin in
! Asia. 1t is the basis for about all the
| money standard there is in China and many
| of the other Asiatc countries. Heretofore
| all imports coming to the United States
| from those sections of the world have been
assessed for customs collections upon
| basis of their value in the bullion of the
Mexican silver. not face value The bull
| lion value OF the silver in one of these dol
| lars is arrived at by the United States au-
thorities by an average of the market price
of silver for the three months preceding
| the date of a circular that is issued at fire.
quent intervals by the Secretary of the
Treasury fixing the value OF foreign coins.
Mexico. as Is well known. will enter upon
the gold standard May l, and has fixed
value upon her silver dollars. based upon
it's redemption in gold. This value is quite
different from the bullion value Of the same
coin in Asia. Secretary Shaw recently de-
cided that imports coming to the United
States from Mexico should pay customs
duty at their valuation in the Mexican dol
lar as fixed by Mexico, but this would
never do upon goods coming from the east,
as it would make big difference to i'm
porters and to the United States. Mexico
herself will not redeem foreign dollars at
the value she has recently placed upon
them, and the law will prohibit their i'm
portation at all or fix heavy import duties
upon them, thereby preventing return to
Mexico of the flood of silver dollars that
are i'll circulation in China and the east
Secretary Shaw sent notification to the
State Department today that the govern
ment would continue it's policy of fixing the
valuation of the Mexican dollar in the east
at it's bullion value and that goods coming
from the east would be invoiced upon that
basis
Secretary Shaw stated today that what
called ChineSe-MeXican chop dollars,
and which circulate so freely in the east.
not made By the Mexican government
and will nos be redeemed by that govern
ment. Consequently the United States
not accept them at anything except their
bullion value.
An Official Statement
The following official statement was given
out by the treasury:
"On April 1 the Secretary of the Treas
ury proclaimed the value of the Mexican
silver dollar for the quarter commencing
on that day, at AT cents for the month Of
April and 1913 after May L.
The change in value on May l is due to
the fact that Mexico adopts the gold stand
ard on that date, and the value of the Mex
lean dollar passes from bullion basis.
which fiIctuates with the price of silver,
to a fixed value, based on the agreement of
the Mexican government to redeem it in
gold. The redemption in gold by the Mex
lean government is. however. confined to
Mexican dollars circulating in Mexico. Such
dollars circulate in other countries par
ticularly in China. The department has de-
cided that. for customs purposes. where in
voices are expressed in Mexican dollars
the value of such dollars after May L shall
be computed as follows: On goods imported
from Mexico. 1913 cents Uhe Mexican gold
standard Dass): on goods imported from
countries other than Mexico, AT cents (the
silver-builon basis.