Norwich bulletin., 1921-10-27
SPEAKER FROM CHANGsHA
 BEFORE ROTARY CITR

Dickson H. Leavens, treasurer of the 1 college at Chang;tla in China which is conducted by "Yale in NEhina,'' and who | has spent the last twelve years in the | land of the almond eyes, was the speak, | CT at the weekly monday luncheon of | the NofF~ich Rotary club on Wednesday | at the Wauregan hotel MT. Leavens told ] very interesting facts regarding financial | conditions in China but dwet mostly on | the rate of exchange between China and ! America. MT. Leavens) spoke as fol- | lows: China is the only large country hay i ing a silver standard. Hence the ex- ,, change rate between her money and | thatof a gold standard country like | the United States has TO fixed par, such as there was in normal tines be- tween New York and London, but has only a variable par which fiuctuatos l with the market price of s''ver. In the decade preceding the war the pr;ca 1 of silver and this variabiH par If ex- 1 change fuctuated so that ali American dollar was worth between $1.70 an1 S2,50 Mexican in China. Actual Mexican sil- yer dollars are largely current in China. and give th- lame to it's currency even when Chinese dollars of eSuivalent weight 1 are used.
 l At the beginning of the war silver 1 was very cheap, and an Amer:car dollar | was worth S2.50 Mexican, cor aspording l to ratid of about 40 to l b2tween gold and silver. Soon, however. the W th- drawal Of gold from circulation, the high l CT prices which necessftated tna average mans pockets and other causes brought
 large demand for silver for coinage all over the world and the price went up to level equivalent to the famous if
 to ratio. which had not been seen since
 1870 when most nations began to change from bimetalliSm to a gold standard.
 This made the American dollar n Feb
 ruary, 1920. worth oHly S5 cents Mexi-
 can. Since then silver has gone down.
 and an American dollar has averaged about $2.00 Mexican in the last few
 months.
 The high price of silver has bean
 favorable for imports to China, although
 it was more or less balanced ny high prices in gold. It was unfavorab,e to
 exports. but during the war some of
 China's products were needed at any
 price. The great flucttaqtion in ex-
 change caused losses to some and gains to others, and also encourage1 much
 speculation.
 Exchange troubles in China dc rot end with foreign exchange A Mev:can sil-
 ver dollar will exchange for ahcut S115 z in small money. and a dime for II cr , , F copper cents. This is because th5 coinage 6Ns not have a strong govern
 ment behind it. but passes oa,v at irs
 intrinsic value based on weight and fine.
 ness of silver and copper. In C:tangSaa
 as well as in many other places. there ? have also been issues of paper currnnc, | with no backing, which have deirec;atet '' within a few months from par to zero
 Tie complications of currency anf ex = V change in China are in mary ways ,
 hindrance to trade People get a3custorln : to them, however, and any changc i = likely to be opposed by vested inearest = which profit by the present ccnlitlons IT However, in the long run the interna = unification Of the currency. an;l prohab = the establishment of a gold O. g9ld ex
 change standard would be for the bcs T i interests of the country. Slth reforr = must wait the establishment of a stron 9 government.
 At the conclusion of MT. I1eavens' tai . he was given a rising vote of appre c1a ;r ton for his fine talk. Frank Fl Pul.e1 = who presided at the latter part of tn . meeting, was also warmly t;ia1zAI ft
 his treat O cigars.
 At the bl si' ess session of the meet ii . at which President Lucins Brte;gs nrt s,it
 ed, several cc cnmunications were re2d | . the secretary, Joseph N. Weymou1h N 5u Weymouth spoke of the inlr',Ssibili.y { I getting out a local Rotary Bulletin, b1
 said that the notices each waek al l99 nounce the speakers and entertainmer ai features for the meetings Ja-oes I- IT, Case spoke of trip to Hermitage, u lS home of Andrew Jackson, q short di Ae tance from Nashville Tenn, where l .n saw a letter from the late Mayor Char! 10 F. Thayer regarding a speech on,e ma '7 by Jackson in this city Tho letter 0
 cupies a prominent place in the historic e. exhibit.
 n, The song features of the lunchr, or which were under the very a3'e l:rectit ts or Joseph Christopher Worth anl in ;lu nd ed several solos and ouortet-e selection CT most prominent being the "Newspap
 Rag sung by those connec.a1 win : "