The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-24

l have, it is essential that there be me 1 alum of exchange which stands as high | in South America as does the Bank of
 England note or exchange drawn on Lon l don.
 l Recently when in Bolivia, which coun-
 try Mir Knowles is to represent at the | Panama exposition. in San Francisco as
 chief commissioner, he spoke in an in-
 formal way with the government officials | respecting the possibility of securing coin which would pass current at it's face lvalue and which could be expressed in | terms of dollars. The Bolivian authorities | received the proposition with cordiality. Sc later did representatives of the govern
 ments of Peru and of Chile.
 the Dollar Exchange
 Shortly after MT. Knowles arrived in New York, he employed an expert de- signer of coins to draft design suitable for gold coin of the denomination of So. The design was, first of all, shown recently to the Secretary of State, Will liam J. Bryan. He was enthusiastic not only in his praise of the artistic features of the design. but also in his commenda- ton of the purpose which this design sym
 bolizes. Of course, the Secretary could not speak authoritatively as representa- tive of the federal government. but the intimation was clear that if he were able to compass 1t our government would be round acting in cooperation with South American nations for the coining of a gold piece which could be circulated in South America at it's face value and which was expressed in dollars.
 MT. Knowles next called upon the di- rector of the mint, George E. Roberts. Mir. Knowles explained in great detail to the mint director not only the features or the plan, but also the disposition of some of the South American governments to regard 1t with favor. The design was shown to Mir Roberts. and he was in agreement with the Secretary of State as to its artistic beauty. The face of the coin will. if adopted contain two pro- files, one of, which will symbolize the ancient Indian race. of South Ameris and the other American womanhood. The re- verse side of the design Is left blank, for the reason that if the coin be adopt ed there wil be stamped upon the reverse side the coat of arms of each one of the South American nations which adopts the coin.
 Director Roberts spoke with enthusa sm of the plan. It appealed greatly to him. He went so far as to say to Mr. Knowles that the South American nations could be assured that the United States hints would make the coin without the charge of cent for mintage. All that the South American nations would find it necessary to do would be to send bullion to the United States mint, paying, of course. such necessary charges as the transpor- tation would entail. The hints would coin the bullion and see to 1t that the coins were adequately packed and then re- turned to the South American nations.
 The National City bank is at this time much occupied with attempting to facili- tate the international financial relations between the United States and South Amefica, and has already established an exchange of credits with one of the South American nations. Representatives of this
 institution are now at the larger cities of South America President Vanderlip and his associates have accurate knowledge of the difficulties in the way of establish-