Tax announcement made in the tele-glam which we publish elsewhere, that Bill hn beau introduced into the United States Senate for suspending the silver coinage, will not have taken commercial people by surprise. For some years past it lins been evident that the United States would require to repeal the Bland Aot, and the uncertains ty aa to when they would do so has been injurious to commerce in the Ehst, It was obvious that no Government could go on coining silver doll lous than the annual cost of £4,800,000, when the American public did not want such a coin, and only a limited amount of them could be passed into ciroulation, Twelve months ago, according to figures quoted in the Zeonomist, there had been £80,900,000 coined and only £8,000,000 of this amount wna in oironlation or held by the banks, And last year the coinage of silver dollars seems to have exceeded the requirements of the country by about £2,000,000, It is indeed somewhat that the influence of the mining interest in the United States Ins been great enough to maintain the Bland Act so long. It is, of course, by no means certain that Congress will repeal the Act daring the present Sosseveral that object have been aged, and thrown over. board, and that may be the fate of the Bill to which Renter refers, We are not informed whether this Bill is what we should call in England a Govern-maint measure, or owes its existence to some private member. But the recent election of a Democratic President, who and whose party are supposed to be unfavourable to the maintenance of a rigid protective system, has promptly Drought the silver coinage question into prominence. Silver declined }th per ounce in London on Friday, because of the uncertainty as to what would be done in America with the Bland Act, and, in sympathy with thie fall, exchange in India and here immediately became lower. It is almost certain that these downward movements will continue, unless it is goon apparent that there will be no interference with the present Silver Coinage Act in the United States, And this we should say is improbable, Al" though a repeal of that Act would inflict losses on importers in Chit and others who have i charge at home, it is not d what we must regard as should be warded off to maintain an artificial value of silver. It would ultimately benefit trade that the Act should be repealed, and silver left to find its true value like any other commodity. In their own interests the United States are sure to legislate on the silver question so as to do the least harm to every one. But, as Congress, when it does repeal the Act, it, we should say, certain to have no more to do with measures for maintaining the price of silver, we cannot doubt that the first effect of the repent will be to lower the value of money all over the Enst. That should decrease the production of silver, by rendering many of the mines unprofitable, and restore some of the value which the metal will have lost in the first instance. Then, again, bankers and others dealing with the Exst will place more confidence in the stability of exchange than they have had while the Bland Act might be repented any year, and this also will tend to raise Ube value of silver. Again, a steady exchange in the Enst will induce European investors to look with more favour on India and Ohina securities, and this will still farther increase the consump. tion of silver, The range of the value of the tae! and rupee will be lower, but that does not matter to merchants so long as the exchanges may be trusted not to collapse ne they did eight or nine years ago, No trustworthy esti+ mate of the effect of the repeal can be formed at present, It will probably not be ao great as some have anticipated, og part, at lerist, of the decline in the value of silver lias no doubt been discounted by bankers, Besides, it is not at all cert that the Act will be repealed this year or the next, and when Congress does deal with it there are measures which might be simul: taneously adopted with benefit to the silver market. For instance, according to the Economist there were eleven millions sterling worth of one and two dollar notes in circulation in the United States in 1883, and these might be withdrawn and silver coins employed in their stead. This would absorb a good deal of the coin held at present, and would promote the use of silver money by proper means.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.