DECIMAL COINAGE.
21st January 1856. Sin—Mr. Gray, in a paragraph (the antepenultimate) of his letter in your last number, falls into the error of valuing the Spanish and American (United States) dollar as nearly identical ; and the inferences he draws are consequently not fairly deducible. His contrast is made, doubtless, with the old coinage of America ; but that would be scarcely permissible in form- inf. a comparison with any new coin to be introduced in this country. The fairest way to make a comparisowis by testing the intrinsic value, or purity, of each corn; and in the case of the Spanish dollar we mayassume its weight at 416 grains, and its fine weight at 371 grains. The old American dollar was of the same weight and fineness ; but the new dollar weighs 384 grains, and it s fine weight is 345.6 grains, which at 58. per ounce standard would give 46.7025 pence, or about 3 pence less than the Spanish dollar. The Intrinsic value of the five-franc piece and the new American dollar (or two half-dollar pieces) is more nearly identical, the purity being the same, and the difference in weight only 1.8 grain in favour of the former. There is, therefore something approaching very nearly to "international harmony between France and America in their silver coinage ; but what becomes of this harmony when tested by the par of exchange ? American dollar silver would only yield in Paris 4 francs 92 cents per dollar, whilst American ;old coin would yield 5 francs 16} cents ; . and therefore the "international. harmony" is, practically, only ideal. The help, from this, to the penny as the unit, is the reverse ofbeing satisfactory. The par of exchange between England and America is $4.87 cents per pound sterling, or 4s. Id. 137-487 per dollar; but if the rate rose to 04.90, Brother Jonathan, who has a peculiar way of exemplifying the advantages of a decimal coinage and currency, would say that it was 1101 per cent, be- cause, though it may be as easy to add to, or deduct from, 04'87, whatever the fluctuating difference in exchange may be, yet he has been accustomed to deal with an imaginary dollar of exchange fixed at 48. 6d., with a variable percentage, thereby constituting the par at $4•44 4-9 with 9 23-40 per cent added, or 42 6-9 cents, making $4.87 as above. Such is, apparently, the farce of habit.
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