The San Francisco call., 1910-08-16
CHINESE DECREE MAKES
DOLLAR COIN STANDARD
Silver to Be Temporary Stand
ard of Currency

remarkably minute and explicit
imperial decree dealing with that an
cient grievance, the confusion of
China's currency and the remedial
measures which on the recommendation
of the ministry of finance are to be
adopted was published recently. The
following para graph, translated from
the decree, gives the gist of the pro-
posals:
"It is commanded that the unit of
national currency shall be the yuan,
or dollar, and the standard shall tenn
porarily be silver The dollar shall be
the principal currency and shall weigh
seven mace and two candareens. The
subsidiary coinage shall be three silver
coins of so, % and 10 cents denomina
tionS; one nickel coin of 3 cents and
four copper coins of cents, 1 cent B
cash and 1 cash. The values of the
dollars, 10 cents, and cash shall be in
decimal proportion and permanently
fixed. 1t shall not be permitted to
raise their relative values nor to de-
preciate them. The ministry shall di-
rect the mints to mint new coins ac-
cording to the standard weight, purity
and design and to issue them gradually
for currency"
In order to avoid loss the old coinage
is to be called in very gradually but
after one year all payments of taxes
fstamps and teiegraphic charges-every-
thing, in short which goes to the gov
ernment-are to be made in the new
coinage. The Ia Ching government
bank is to be made responsible, in
conjunction with the mint, for putting
the new coins in circulation and for
calling in the old. Meanwhile all pro-
vincial governments are to cease mint
ing.
The scheme is admirable-on paper;
but whether it is destined ever to be
put into practice is quite another ques-
tion. Within less than two years three
pronouncements have been made by
the government on the question of cur
rency. The first of these was the de-
cree of October 5, 1908, in answer to a
memorial by Tang Shao-yi, which de-
clared in favor of the Kupin tael as the
standard unit. The second was the
laborate list of regulations issued last
September by the ministry of finance,
with imperial sanction, designed to
regulate the improper issue by banks
and provincial administrations of paper
money. The third is the decree of
May "a, just quoted. OF these the first
is now quietly ignored and set at
naught without the slightest apparent
effort having been made in all the IS
months of it's existence to give it sub
stance. The paper money regulations
were beautiful to behold, but have
proved dead letter.
If the government is in earnest as
regards the decree of May "a it has
a good instrument to use in the Ia
Ching bank. This institution has a
capital of Kupin tbs. 100000 in 50,-
900 fully paid and $4,000 half paid up
shares of tbs. 700, of which 40 per cent
was subscribed from official funds and
60 per cent by the public. 1t has a
head office in Peking and branches in
every treaty port. The board of reve-
nue. does all its business through this
bank, and all provincial contributions
to the board are remitted through it,
! For the year 1909 the bank paid divi-
dends of 21 per cent on the fully paid
shares and 1914 per cent on the half
paid In the confusion of China's cur
| rency every measure Strengthening the
position of the one thing that at all
approaches the idea of a bank of China
is to be welcomed. But it is to be
! feared that vested interests will prove
too strong for a standard national cur
rency for many year to come.-Lon-
! don Times.