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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1899)
. i m Am m _ _ . . . ' - - . v. . . . . Conservative * MONETARY PROIJLEM OF RUSSIA. Vcuc'o NcccsHiiry < Reform. The fiimuco minister , M. do "Witte , snid in a report to the czar at the begin ning of a year : "In proceeding to re organize her monetary system , Russia bears witness in the clearest and most convincing way that cnn bo imagined to the pacific spirit by which she is entirely animated. Any warlike intention would condemn the projected reform to failure. " The reform of the currency is regarded as a necessary complement to the pro gress already realized in the dominion of commerce and of finance , being de signed to give this the solid support of a circulation on a specific basis. The re sults achieved during the last few years have been sufficiently remarkable. Up to 1892 the paper or "credit" rouble was subject to the most violent fluctuations. In 1888 it fell as low as 40 cents and reached as high as Go cents. In 1889 it fell again to 46 cents , and in 1890 , begin ning in February with a quotation of 55 cents , it reached G4 cents in September , and fell again to 5 ! ) cents in December. Finally , in 1891 , the quotation varied from GO cents in May to 46 cent * in No vember. liud Results. The disastrous effects on commerce of so variable a standard of value made themselves felt , and exercised a demor alizing influence on the whole economic condition of Russia. The value of the rouble was at the mercy of every rumor , true or false , which the ingenuity of speculators could originate , and for the security of all important mercantile transactions contracts had to be mnde in advance for the delivery of roubles at a stipulated price. In 1892 the gov ernment took effective measures to stop the speculation in the rouble , which had its headquarters in Berlin. Thanks to the greatly increased stock of gold in the treasury , it was able to regulate the course of foreign exchange , while putting a stop to purely speculative transactions in the rouble , and this was done so suc cessfully that while in 1891 the variations of exchange on London had been on as wideamargain as 28 per cent , they were reduced to one of 6 per cent in 1893 , and in 1895 they did not exceed one-half of one per cent. The next stop was to es tablish a fixed relation between the gold and the paper rouble in all dealings with the treasury and in the transactions between the bank of Russia and its cus tomers. That was at first done by mak ing 5 gold roubles ( the half-imperial ) the equivalent of 7 roubles 40 copecks , but this arrangement was modified at the close of last year by making the half- imperial equal to 7 roubles 50 copecks , and thus establishing the ratio between gold and paper money at 1) to 1. A Slnglo Standard. The Russian law knows but one mon etary unit , the silver rouble , but the coinage of silver roubles has long since ceased , and the amount of silver in the Bank of Russia is quite nominal. The tenacity with which the Russian govern ment has held to its purpose of estab lishing its currency on a gold basis maybe bo inferred from the determination with which it has kept the metallic re serve clear of silver. In I860 it had in the treasury ! 35,184,000 roubles in coined silver ; in 1865 this had decreased to 12,543,000 and in 1869 to 10,244,000 ; in 1880 the amount had decreased to 1,975- 000 roubles , and in 1895 it disappeared from the reserve altogether. On the other hand the stock of gold has grown from 57,000,000 roubles in 1866 to 148- 000,000 in 1876 ; 171,500,000 in 1886 and 425,000,000 in 1896. This latter sum is supplemented by a deposit of 75,000,000 roubles against an issue in paper of the same amount mnde in the famine year 1891. In the "military chest" there are another 191,700,000 gold roubles , and in the coffers of the State Bank at the end of Inst year 48,000,000 more. Russia , accordingly , began the year with a stock of gold equal to 734,700,000 roubles , or say , in round numbers , $566,000,000. The authorized issiies of paper money amount to 1,121,281,634 roubles , which at the established par of the credit rouble would be equal to about $588- 000,000. The 75,000,000 roubles of the issue of 1891 already referred to are referred to are known as temporary notes ; the remaining 1,046,281,684 as permanent notes. Of these latter , 780- 018,488 roubles wrere guaranteed by a deposit of 211,505,032 in specie , the dif ference between these two sums , 668- 518,455 roubles being counted as non- interest bearing debt. The remaining 266,268,146 roubles issued during the war with Turkey , were guaranteed by a deposit of 178,528,555 roubles in bonds and 92,784,591 representing the amount duo to the bank by its customers. The latter have , however , token their place as credit notes of the state , and the bank has been relieved from the task of pro viding a guarantee for them. The stock of gold has varied a little during late years , but only to the extent of six or eight millions , more or less , so that if the volume of paper currency be reduced to its value in gold on the basis of ! ) < > roubles in paper to one gold it will be found that the Russian stock of gold is equal to 97 per cent of the paper issues. WHAT DOES UNOL.E . SAM WANT OF IT ? G. S. Maxwell of this city has a brother , Robert Maxwell , in the Twen tieth Kansas , fighting with General Fuustou in the Philippines. Mr. Max well today received the following letter , dated at Oaloocan , March 14 : "My dear brothers and sisters : I am again in the trenches , but as yet our end of the line has not moved forward any. * * * I enclose a poor picture taken after the advance on Caloocau , showing what happened to the 'niggers' that did leave the trenches ; all the niggers that didn't leave the trenches when we started are there yet. They wore buried just as the picture shows them. This picture only shows one pile ; there wore many of them. "I wish this trouble would come to a close , as I am tired. It certainly is not pleasant. The sooner we kill them all the sooner the trouble will end. We have now slept in the trenches for nearly two mouths , uev < > r daring to remove our shoes. I am as well as can bo. This climate doesn't seem to bother my health much , but I hate the place and the ignorant fools that live hero. What Uncle Sam wnnts of this place is more than I can see. "Our move forward will come now in a very short time , and many a boy will give his last yell as ho goes over our trenches to charge on the insur gents' trenches. I don't see how our men have faced so many bullets and comparatively so few killed. Your lov ing brother , BOB. " Dallas ( Tex. ) despatch to St. Louis Globe Democrat ( Rep. ) TllG GOOD WORD. . San moralizing on the case of the late Colonel Bryan con siders that he displayed as much courage in facing dollar dinners in New York City as if he had gone to the wars. The point of this seems to us to lie in the novel and very appropriate use of the verb "to face , " in the sense of "to insert into one's countenance. " Commenta tors on Colonel Bryan's portraits have frequently remarked that he had a good face for pio. THE MAIIDI'S MINARET. Among the many trophies which the Marquis of Tullibardino brought home from the Suian , one of the most inter esting is a minaret from the Mahdi's tomb. It occupied the place of honor on the top of the great dome. It is de scribed as formed of copper plates fas tened together by rivets and solder. The base is cone-shaped , and measures thirteen and one-half inches in diameter. A stalk , three inches in diameter , rises from the cone and gradually tapers to the top. The finial measures over three feet in height , and when polished must have looked rather imposing when gilded by the rays of an Egyptian sun. The minaret bears marks of the bom bardment of Omdurniau , as it has been hie in three places by bullets. It is now placed on one of the towers of Blair Castle. Westminster Gazette. An Italian physician has set up a " " with of the "laughter-cure , a corps most amusing assistants obtainable an d a stock of jests graduated to various tastes. The treatment is said to be ben eficial in cases of lung-trouble. *
