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Writing: A Remedy for the Country

A Remedy for the Country, § 34

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§ 34

Second, all coinage struck from now on should consist of riksdaler specie or subdivisions of them, of the same fineness and weight as our Swedish riksdaler, for not only is the copper lost in the inferior alloys but the fine silver contained in the inferior types of coin also loses some of its value thereby. The silver coins struck hitherto may nonetheless freely enter into general circulation, but they should be spent and accepted according to the proportion of fine silver they contain in relation to riksdaler specie, of which official notification could be given in a publication as well as in almanacs.

The copper coin may well, for lack of silver coin, be used in the same way as before in commerce and enterprise, though not according to its stamp but rather to its weight and the price of copper abroad in relation to silver, for which purpose the Bank, which is certainly best informed about the price of copper, could annually present to His Royal Majesty, on the basis of its trade in copper, a calculation of the relationship of copper to the riksdaler, that is, how many slantar, 6- to 9-daler plåtar, etc. will that year be recognized as equalling 1 riksdaler specie, according to which the Crown should accept them in all its taxcollecting activities, and no account should be taken in that regard of the minting tax or minting charges, as these always provide an opportunity for some new acts of fraud, but all such matters should for the benefit of the country be compensated for by the Crown or the Bank.

However, in order that the Bank’s calculation should be verifiable by the subjects generally, not only should they be free to pay their land rents to the Crown in whatever coin they wish, but in all private trade an agio should also be allowed between copper and the silver coinage, according to whether the price of copper is rising or falling, which can never occur, however, if the calculation of the Bank is unbiased.

Should the Bank wish to redeem notes with plåtar or slantar, that should also be done on exactly the same basis, for only then, but by no other means, will the subjects enjoy security for their property, nor should the confusion that arises in the copper account in relation to silver be equated with security, which will never be achieved in any other way. I also believe that these small inconveniences would induce the subjects to individually exchange their copper for silver and thereby attract silver coin from abroad, for on the other hand I fear that the procurement of such large quantities from abroad, which the Bank will have to undertake in order to replace the copper with silver, is likely to raise the price of silver and cause the Bank a considerable loss.

Whatever happens in this respect, however, it is of the utmost importance that the copper coinage should in no way be fixed against a certain number of riksdaler, for then we will fall into the same chaos as we did in the seventeenth century.

 

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