The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-06-06
UNIT OF VALUE is THE TAEL.
Yet the Tael Is Neither a Coin Nor an
lngot, but Merely an Abstract Term,
and Signifies a Unit of Weeht--SiI-
YER Shoes and Cash on a String.


ingot, but Merely an Abstract Term,
and Signifies a Unit of Weieht--Sl-
YER Shoes and Cash on a String.
OF the many strange things in China
not the least strange Is its currency.
TO the foreigner it seems miracle
that any business can be transacted
successfully with such medium of
exchange. 1t has been described as
chaotic. Nevertheless business and
trade flourish in China, which speaks
volumes for the business acumen of
the Chinese Perhaps the fact that
trade fiourished in China long before
such a thing as currency was known
accounts for the fact that the Chinese,
with such a lax system as they now
possess, still stand in the front rank
of commercial nations.
In China all forms of exchange from
barter up are in use. A very large
part of the country's business is done
against the actual delivery of weighed
silver. For convenience silver is melt
ed into rough ingots having the shape
i
shoes have stamped upon them their
flneness and weight The unit of
weight Is the tael, which is equal to
quantity of silver weighing $50 grains
troy and is worth about GO cents in
our money.
The tael is not an ingot nor a coin.
but simply an abstract term Signifying
a unit of weight, such as a pound OF
butter or an "ounce" of gold Though
an abstract term, it is the measure of
wealth and the unit of value through
out the length and breadth of China.
A man buys Il business for so many
taels of silver. His profits are com
puted in taels When he makes pay
ment he weighs out the silver accord
Ing to this unit.
The silver shoes vary in weight from
one to seventy-fiye taels. All silver
shops and banks have forges, where
the silver is melted in iron ladies' and
poured into molds. The smelters with
their ladies and molds remind one of
cooks They stir the silver with a pair
of metal chopsticks. To one not aware
of what they were doing it would be
natural to suppose that they were en-
gagged in concocting something good to
eat. In the process Of recasting the
ingots their fineness is often changed,
being either improved or debased
whichever best suits the interests Of
the shop. Bankers and money chang
ers are able to determine the quality
OF the silver by the sense OF touch.
The sellers or depositors are always
at their mercy and must often submit
to the operation of having their silver
discounted on account of bad touch"
In the interior of China small pur-
chases are made with copper coins
with square holes in the center. These
are called cash" and are threaded on
strings so that they may be carried
across ones shoulder or on n pole. A
string OF 900 Of these cash is worth
about 80 cents in our money. Some
times bits of silver are Clipped from
the silver shoes and used for small
purchases. When travelling in the in
terror one must take with him a large
amount Of silver shoes. exchanging
them for strings of cash at the various
shops. The money changers have two
sets of scales. one to be used in the
purchase of silver and the other in the
selling OF it.
In an attempt some years ago to in
troduce a currency based on western
models the Chinese government pur-
chased and put into circulation several
million Mexican dollars. The people
took to the new coins and called for
more. The provincial governments
then set up mints and began to coin
Chinese dollars Of approximately the
same weight and fneness as the Mexi-
can dollars They also coined an enor-
nous amount OF subsidiary items in
the shape OF small silver coins and
copper pennies
Soon it was discovered that the new
currency was as unstable as the old.
The value of the dollar in relation to
the subsidiary coinage varied from day
to day The cent was never worth the
hundredth part of a dollar. Some days
10 cents were required to make up
81, and on other days 1t took 1870 cents.
Similarly the value of the dollar as
compared with the tael was continual
ly fuctuating. Sometimes 500 would
bring 70 taels and at other times only
65. 1t was sickening to the people,
but very profitable to the money
changers. -Harper's Weekly.