Show I i CURRENCY IN THE PHILIPPINES The Mall and Express discusses the question of currency in the Philippines In this otraln S lho lslbjccu ° C the currency In the Phil Iplncs has been ocoup ill e attention at ashhutoll of late and 1 Presents a prob hem of somo difficulty Tho basis or the cuireijey there rorr centuries Has been tin Mexican sliver doluft arid iLls sql easy to displace because it In faralllur toVtblj ncopi and is in substantial accord with thu monetary System ° t China and tho BrItish settlements In that Part of tho world The volume of Mexican money In the Pli9lpnlnes was litoly reported at 515000 000 There IslHHiila about tlftccn millions in the special Filipino peso and Its frac tions formerly coined under Spanish uu Ihorlly and S2EQOOW In the notia oC the Bunco KjumnolPlliplno The gold which has bmi disbursed by United States amBer am-Ber does not KO Into tho circulation at all riJia tho ijtipcr currency of this country coun-try of which a few nUlIlcjis have been awil out Is mostly confined 1o the soldIers uiul American civilians anil used among thiinftttlviH or Rent homeS I home-S The main Acuity l as arisen from the I niffifVCVi time HUplriy ° C Mexican dollars In tho IIUTOUHO of commercial I transacllunH und the h tendency to rise In ulue and clItlturb the exchanges Soma f of them have been exported to China un dcr tho recent advance In tho price of Hllvcr and ihire has been a contraction of currency where expUnelonwus needed Among tho nropouals that huve been made la I for Uu limited coinage of a special spe-cial American < < silver dollar for circulation circula-tion In the Philippines which ahull bo re Uumublc In gold at the rate of two dol lars for ono or colml there could rot be a free and i unlimited l coinage at hIs rate for it I would apcedlly cslabllsjh tho silver currency cur-rency on tile basis of its bullion value Ha the money changers would work It lor their prollt at every opportunity U bllver should rIMe above tho coinage value l bo that two dollars were worth more than ono or gold they would begin to dl ap SSS from circulation and bn exported producing contraction whllo there would bo a rcgfatancn to tho currency of cold cii account of Its Icnomlnatlonal value being i double which wcmia force a rotlue lion ot nominal Ptfc snby onehalf It would have the HtImo 0t < cL ns forcing hit sold i lIinaiidf JoJ P UP tc process 01 coInage wOlld b ° Jm Pon8lvo method ol contributing to tho prpftl or bullion dealers deal-ers J iilf Lilt sitter dollars should 111 l maL ma-L tcrjally less In commercial than In re dcomablo Aixliio the gold would VMS drawn I and sId out of tho country In Wash The plan under conaldoratlon ington hrw been for a limited coinage un I caroful regulation Both tho Secre der of tho Treasury und the Secretary of I tary War are reported t0 bo in favor of action for tho at the present nesolon by Congress which Bottlornont of the coinage question Is sold to bo demanded by the commercial interests of the Islanda but action can hardly bo expected unless a wellmatured plan IB I oubjnlttcd that would excite no opposition We do nqt know l whether the men of the East who discuss that matter arc too proud to admit that they have been wrong or whether they lack tho comprehension to see that their proposed pro-posed makeshifts could only result In adding to tho present confusion They preach the dally sermon of the splendor which is to bo through the mighty wave of Oriental commerce which is to come when the Philippines shall be tranquilized and the troubles in China shall be settled But business busi-ness in these modern days Is conducted basis and China and India on a money have very littlo money and the daily individual trahsaclions of the people are too small lo be measured in gold bu the How then can those countries buy cotton and the food and the machinery machin-ery which the confident ones expect I they will buy England tried so hard to force the it well I gold standard upon India that nigh wrecked her richest colony Her agents In that country were so anxious to have their salaries paid in gold that thc they clung to tile gold standard I sound money standard and watched while they saw millions of poor wretches die of famine because of It that for their own officers reported more pcpple died of a famine of money than through a famine of bread J |