The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-06-13

The beginning of a new political
regime IN Hayti has already been
marked by order for 4 fresh CON
s'gnment of metal money from Wat.
ctbnrY. Conn. The stuff will shortly be
shipped thence 20 Port an Prince,
packed in kegs and the treasury of
the Black Republic will again be flush
of funGs-for while. at all events
For many wears past Hayti h?s got
all Of her 60 n from factory in Wat
crbury, which turns it OUT AT an IN
crcdihlY small cost, the pieces being
dimes, quarters, and half.dolsrs. all
made of nickel. The half-dollars arc
worth about } cents apiece intrinsic.
ally. ana the dimes and quarters pro
pcrtianatcIy less. or course this means
biG profit for The government of
Eayli, where tho circulation OF the
money in question is compulsory. That
is TO say, II anybody refuses TO accept
il, he Is liable TO arrest aud imprisun-
mcut, If not death. About fifteen wears
ago Il considerable quantity of "sil.
Yer dollars. consisting chiefly of
nickel. was manufactured for the gov
ernmrnt of iIayti by the United States
mint in Philadelphia. Since then. how
ever. the Black Republic. has found il
more cNpedieut TO order It's coins from
Waterbury.
tinuc 10 pntronIze Uncle Sam. In fact
a very large part of the coinage of our
sister republics on this continent is
struck in the mlnts of rho United
States. The reason why is simple
euough-we do the work cheaper than
the South and Central American gov
ernmcuts con do it for themselves. To
start a mint and equip ii with proper
machinery, even on Il small scale costs
nj least 100000 Operating such
plant continuously, enough coins could
be made in three, or four months TO
meet the requirements of q small re.
public for quite 4 number of years
Thus the moncv-stamping outfit would
soon become idle, and remain so for
long period, How much easier in
such case TO hand the Job over 10
somebody else! Small countries in va.
rious parts of the world have found
it eXpcdlent. as a rule, to adopt such
4 policy, and the big nations arc ac-
customed 10 bid in competition for their
coin making business Uncle Sam is
competitor with the others; but he gets
nearly all of the contracts for the
Latin-American republics, because he is
the lowest bidder, He does such jobs
at net cost.
1t is the policy Of the United States
government TO do everything possible
TO maintain friendly relations with the
sister republics of the New World One
wav TO be of service TO them Is TO at.
tend 70 the business of their coinage.
Very little trouble is involved. Sup.
pose, for example. that Panama wishes
10 make a new issue of silver pieces Of
half dozen different denominations
She sends her minister at Washington
10 see the secretary Of state on the
subject, and the latter jots down lit
tie memorandum which he transmits TO
the secretary of the treasury. With
this memorandum goes a document GER
tifying that the minister is in fact the
envoy extraordinary from Panama and
therefore entitled TO order and receive
the coins. The secretary of the treas.
ury, in his turn, hands the matter over
to the director Of the mint. who does
little figuring on his own account. |
and. as result, prepares an estimate
of cost. This estimate. which includes
only the cost Of the bullion required,
plus the bare expense for labor goes
back TO the secretary Of the treasury, |
10 be done, All of which seems like
a great deal of red tape, In reality, |
however, it is necessary, because every
precaution must be taken in such case
against the possibility Of fraud, If. for
the sake of illustration, an unauthor- |
lied person were able 10 order a great |
quantity of silver coins for the re-
public of San Domingo (Which are
worth only 90 cents on The dollar) |
and to possess himself of the issue, he |
might flood that country with the cheap
money, and, while reaping large profit |
for himself, demoralize its finances.
Now. to go back to the minister from
Panama, nobody is permitted TO know
how much he pays for the coins he or.
ders. IT is diplomatic secret-one rea-
son for such secrecy being that it is !