'We have it on authority that the civil war in the South claims silver bullets, $1,000,000 being asked for Smmediate' delivery from Canton. We also have it on authority that from now on the currency along the Chinese Eastern Railway is to the silver dollar in place of the gold rouble. But it will probably' be argued that, as there was no cal gold rouble, there would be no need for a real silver dollar. For, in the event of the silver dollar' really entering Manchuria en masse, there would be an unlimited de: mand for that currency.
It must be borne in' mind that} Manchuria, though still spareely populated, has already over 30 million of people, with about 1 million new imigrants each year. Manchuria is the granary of China, ettile, rich in coal and minerals capable of vapid and unbounded velopment. Yet this huge territory has "no metallic currency. Paper rules supreme and is responsible for the poverty of the people who work, hard, avho gather rics harvests, but who are rewarded with valueless fiat money which is recovering, mare for fall without hope wines) ig sediled'wits about this sad chapter we have often spoken in reviews. The city of Harbin boasts of a dollar currency, the big' dollar, representing silver, but being irredeemable. The two remaining provinces, Heilungehiang and Kirin, are held down by the tino paper" currency which, twenty five years ago, exchanged at the ratio of 4 for 1 dollar or rouble, while at the beginning of the current year, one had to pay 345 Kirin tino for 1 yen, or 170 Heilungehiang tiao. In a way this currency is very reliable, because it is sure to sink further until it will be worth nothing. Tt is also the most honest currency, Because it. promises nothing in the way of-redemption and keeps this promise faithfully, Some of the notes' promise to the holder that the larger notes are exchangeable against, small notes. But almost fall of the tino notes bear inscriptions from the Chinese classics, presumably. in Hex of tangible Security. The translation of some those -inseriptions (of which there is an endless variety) reads as follow:
The Prince Chad ex chan sed cities for 2 piece of jade and strutted from generation asa remarkable ele-
Tosking upon the budding winter rote @ messenger of coming. #01 became fearcatrickon, a feeling of fadness overcome me, and I compared mmyselt to a amall binde of grass by the aide of the house entrance.
"The Wei river. flows eastwards, When it reaches, Yangchow, 1" shall Urop two tears into it and request You oh river, to bring them to my rome.
The amount of privately issued tiao notes in Manchuria is legion. Taking one at random it can be seen that The Vearer of the present note! ives. in local currency exactly.
Convertible into earrency notes.
Manchurian days are proverbially short; nightfall comes quickly there, And besides, if 345 tino fare equal to 1 yen-—how can banknote of 1 tino. be converted into currency notes?—All this nas not been happening during the Middle Ages, but right now. If the crops of Manchuria, being the' result of honest toil, could be financed with honest silver, there would be mo question of overproduction. If an honest attempt would be made to redeem the inconvertible fiat money now in'
reulation in Manchuria,—merely at its market price, and not at its] face value,—two years supply of the silver which the world produces, would searcely suffice. This does not take into account the payment. in hard cash of one single season's harvest of Manchurian grains, of} its output of minerals and ores, timber and furs. So after all, there fs still some lace in this' wide world where liver, and enormous quantities too, would be welcomed and deified and probably hoarded by a frightened population which has been robbed of the hard earned fruits of its Inbours.
The Hongkong Dollar Since October 24, silver dollars fave admitted on equal terms with notes for circulation in Hongkong. On November 9, one had to pay: fat Shanghai 80 taols for 100 Hongkong dollars. This in spite of the! fact that the not inconsiderable quantities of old Mexicans in cit ull in China proper, are willing to emigrate to the warmer climes of Hongkong. They are! legal tender there and become in leon sequence thereof absolved from having their passport visaed. And yet ways and means are being found to hamper their usefulness, in Hongkong. Banks shroffs, Viable to say that the counting of these dollars is cumbersome; and the shroffing' very difficult indeed. The Hongkong shroffs have lost their musical ear; they got entirely out of the habit of judging the beauty which their ancestors sought in the clinking of silver South Manchuria (Fengtien pro- Scheduled to arrive at Hongkong million new British dollars are ints tne end Gt January 10
the fongpian [sctowtied t2, arrive at Hesskong London. And if that advance guard jis not capable of impressing the market, many more of those new British' dollars are. sure to follow, until the equilibrium hasbeen! found. The incident brought about the monetary evolution of Hongkong will surely cause the separation from the Chinese dollar of almost all the Mexicans,—a distinct step in the right direction and an advantage as far as the uniformity of the Chinese silver coinage is concerned.
The Yen and the Gold Embargo One feels almost inclined to begin with the phrase. coined in Japan, "In accordance with prearranged plans" did the yon advance still further during the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.