Elihu Root Collection of United States Documents Relating to the Philippine Islands Volume 12 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 Excerpt: ... price of silver bullion. If, however, the new coins should prove acceptable in foreign countries, as have the Mexican silver dollar and the British dollar, the government of the Philippine Islands would profit rather than lose by such a condition, because a seignorage would be derived from the additional coinage, and these profits would be added to the reserve fund held in Manila for maintaining the coins at par with gold. It is one of the most important conditions of the progress of the islands that the currency system should be such as to attract Ameri can and foreign capital by the assurance that investments there can be realized upon at any time in the standard money of the world. For this important result of bringing into the islands the means of developing their great natural resources even some temporary benefits might well be sacrificed, if such benefits pertained to the existing system or to a special silver coinage. The system proposed, however, is substantially the system of two other important oriental countries--British India and Japan--and conforms to the standard of the European countries with which the chief trade of the Philippines has heretofore been conducted. By continuing the use of silver upon substantially the present basis the consequences of any jar attending the adoption of a new system will be avoided, and all the benefits will be attained which would be derived from either the silver standard alone or the complete introduction of American currency. The maintenance of the gold standard in a country of small resources depends to some extent upon the state of its trade relations with other countries. In the case of Japan large imports of merchandise undoubtedly had something to do with the loss of gold in the year 1900. The effect ...