The Japan expedition. Japan and around the world / An account of three visits to the Japanese empire, with sketches of Madeira, St. Helena, cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Ceylon, Singapore, China, and Loo-Choo

by J. W. Spalding

THE CURRENCY QUESTION.

[In the text is given an account of the negotiations relative to the comparative value of the American and Japanese coin. It is thought as well to give the report of the pursers appointed to arrange the question, which will be found below.]

United States Steam-Frigate Powhatan,
Simoda, June 15, 1854.

Sir: The committee appointed by you, in your letter of the 12th instant, to confer with a committee from the Japanese commissioners in reference to the rate of exchange and currency between the two nations in the trade at the ports opened, and to settle the price of coal to be delivered at this port, beg leave to report:—

The Japanese committee, it was soon seen, came to the conference with their minds made up to adhere to the valuation they had already set upon our coins, even if the alternative was the immediate cessation of trade. The basis upon which they made their calculation was the nominal rate at which the government sells bullion when it is purchased from the mint, and which seems also to be that by which the metal is received from the mines. The Japanese have a decimal system of weight, like the Chinese, of catty, tael, mace, candareen, and cash, by which articles in general are weighed; but gold and silver are not reckoned above taels. In China a tael of silver in weight and one in currency are the same, for the Chinese have no silver coin; but in Japan, as in European countries, the standard of value-weight and that of currency-weight differ. We were told that a tael weight of silver has now come to be reckoned, when it is bullion, as equal to 225 candareens, or 2 taels, 2 mace, 5 candareens; but when coined, the same amount in weight is held to be worth 6 taels, 4 mace. It is at the bullion value that the government has decided to receive our dollar, the same at which they take the silver from the mines; asserting that, as its present die and assay give it no additional value, it is worth no more to them. In proportion to a tael, a dollar weighs 7 mace, 1 1-5 candareen, which, at the rates of bullion value, makes it worth 1 tael, 6 mace, or 1,600 cash. Thus the Japanese government will make a profit of 66-2/3 per cent. on every dollar paid them of full weight, with the trifling deduction of the expense of recoining it. The injustice of this arrangement was shown, and the propriety of paying to the seller himself the coin we gave at this depreciated rate urged, but in vain.

For gold the rate is more, as the disparity between the value of bullion and that of coin, among the Japanese, is not so great. A tael weight of gold is valued at 19 taels in currency, and a mace at 1 tael, 9 mace. The gold dollar weighs almost 5 candareens, but the Japanese have reckoned it as the twentieth part of a $20 piece, which they give as 8 mace, 8 candareens; and, consequently, the dollar is only 4 candareens, 4 cash. This weight brings the gold dollar, when compared with the tael of bullion gold worth 19 taels, to be worth 836 cash, and the $20 piece to be worth 16,720 cash, or 16 taels, 7 mace, 2 candareens. This, when converted into a silver value, makes a gold dollar worth 52¼ cents, and a $20 piece worth $10 45, at which the Japanese propose to take them. But this valuation of the gold dollar at 52¼ cents, when reckoned at 836 cash, its assessed value by the Japanese government, suffers the same depreciation as our silver; and its real value, when compared with the inflated currency in use among the people, is only about 17¼ cents. Consequently, by this estimate, gold becomes 50 per cent. worse for us to pay in than silver. The currency value of a gold dollar, taking the its-evoo as of equal purity, and comparing them weight for weight, is only 1,045 cash, or nearly 22 cents in silver; so that the actual depreciation on the part of the Japanese is not so great as silver—being for the two metals, when weighed with each other, for silver as 100 to 33-1/3, and for gold as 22 to 17. The elements of this comparison are not quite certain, and therefore its results are somewhat doubtful; but the extraordinary discrepancy of both metals, compared with our coins and with their own copper coins, shows how the government has inflated the whole monetary system in order to benefit itself.

The parties could come to no agreement, as we declined to consent to the proposals of the Japanese, who were decided to adhere to their valuation of a silver dollar at 1 tael, 6 mace, or 1,600 cash; neither would they consent to do justly by us in relation to the moneys paid them at this place before our departure for Hakodadi, at the rate of only 1 tael, 2 mace, or 1,200 cash, to the dollar, by which they had made a profit of 76 per cent. on each dollar, stating that the money paid them at this rate had passed out of their hands; and, moreover, that the prices placed upon the articles furnished had been charged at reduced prices with reference to the low value placed upon the dollar.

For the amount due and unsettled, for supplies received at Yokuhama, and on account of which Purser Eldredge paid Moriyama Yenoske, imperial interpreter, $350 in gold and silver, that they might be assayed and tested at Yedo, they consent to receive the dollar at the valuation now placed on them—that is, at the rate of 1,600 cash for the silver dollar.

We carefully investigated the price of the coal to be delivered to vessels in this port. We learn that 10,000 catties or 100 piculs have arrived; and this, at the rate of 1,680 catties to a ton of 2,240 pounds, or 16 4-5 piculs, costs 262 taels, 6 mace, 5 candareens, 3 cash, or $164 16; making the rate to be $27 91 per ton. The Japanese state that the price of coal would be considerably reduced as the demand for it increased, and their facilities for mining became more perfect.

In conclusion, we take pleasure in expressing our thanks to Messrs. Williams and Portman, whose services as interpreters were indispensable, and from whom we received important aid in our investigations.

We have the honor to be, respectfully, your obedient servants,

William Speiden,
Purser U. S. Navy.
J. C. Eldredge,
Purser U. S. Navy.

Commodore M. C. Perry,
Commander-in-Chief U. S. Naval Forces
in the East India and China Seas.