ing a ratio of 1 to 15.988 and fixing the standard weight of the silver dollar at 4122 grains. Silver, 59 15-16d.

1835. Introduction of the company rupee, a piece of silver weighing 165 grains fine, in India in place of the sicca rupee. Creation of a trade coin-the mohur, or piece of 15 rupees-containing 165 grains of fine gold. Silver, 59 11-16d.

1844. Introduction of the double standard in Turkey, with the ratio of 1 to 15.10. Silver, 592d.

1847.-Abolition of the double standard in Holland by the introduction of the silver standard on the basis of a 1-florin piece 0.945 grams fine, the coinage of which had already been decreed in 1839. Silver, 59 11-16d.

1847.-Discovery of the gold mines of California.

1848.-Coinage in Belgium of pieces of 10 and 25 francs in gold, a shade too light. These pieces were demonetized and withdrawn from circulation in 1884. Silver, 592d.

1848.-Replacing the ratio of 1 to 16 in Spain, which had been in force since 1786, by that of 1 to 15.77.

1850.-Introduction of the French monetary system in Switzerland without any actual coinage of gold pieces. Silver, 60 1-16d. 1851.-Discovery of the gold mines of Australia.

1853.-Lowering of the weight of silver pieces of less value than $1 to the extent of 7 per cent in the United States, and limitation of their legal-tender power to $5. Silver, 611⁄2d.

1853.—Maximum of the production of gold reached in California when it amounted to $65,000,000.

1854.-Introduction of the gold standard in Portugal on the basis of the crown of 16.257 grams fine. Before this period the country had the silver standard, with a rather large circulation of gold coins stamped on the basis of 1 to 15% in 1835 and 1 to 161⁄2 in 1847. Silver, 611⁄2d.

1854. Modification of the ratio of 1 to 15.77 in Spain by raising it to 1 to 15.48, and by lowering the piaster from 23.49 grams to 23.36 grams fine.

1854. Introduction of the silver standard, as it existed in the mother country, in Java, in place of the ideal Javanese money, and coinage of colonial silver pieces.

1857. Conclusion of a monetary treaty between Austria and the German States, in accordance with which 1 pound of fine silver (one-half a kilogram) was stamped into 30 thalers or 521⁄2 florins of south Germany, or 45 Austrian florins, resulting in 1 thaler equaling 14 German florins or 11⁄2 Austrian florins. Silver, 61 d. 1861.-Law decreeing the coinage of gold pieces of 10 and 20 francs exactly equal to French coins of the same denomination in Belgium. Silver, 614 d.

florin. Meeting of the third international monetary conference at Brussels. Production of gold reaches its maximum, varying between 675,000,000 and 734,000,000 francs. Silver, 39 13-16d.

1893.-Suspension of the coinage of silver in British India and of French trade dollars on individual account. Panic in the silver market in July in London, when the price fell below 30d., representing the ratio of 1 to 31.43. Repeal of the purchasing clause of the act of July 14, 1890, by the Congress of the United States. 1895.-Adoption of the gold standard by Chile.

1895.-Russia decides to coin 100,000,000 gold rubles in 1896. 1896.-Costa Rica adopts the gold standard.

1896.-Russia decides to resume specie payments.

1897.—Adoption of the gold standard by Russia and Japan.

1897.-Peru suspends the coinage of silver and prohibits its importation.

ORIGIN OF MONEY.

All trade is essentially barter-the exchange of goods for goods. In primitive society this exchange was direct, each person parting with that of which he had a surplus and taking in return that of which had need. But this direct exchange presupposed the meeting of two persons each of whom had a surplus of just what the other wanted in kind and quantity. This double coincidence was not always easy to find; so difficult, in fact, as to discourage all effort at exchange, or to make the search for it extremely wasteful of time and energy.

By and by men observed that there was some article that was in such general demand that in exchange for it one could, at any time, get any other thing that he might desire. This object of general desire gradually became the medium through which exchanges were effected. A person having a surplus of anything, even if he had no unsupplied want, would take this medium of exchange, knowing that for it he could at any time supply his wants.

The invention of this medium of exchange was a great step onward. It economized the time and energy of the people to such an extent that it enabled them with the same effort to produce many more goods, made it easier to supply their wants, and thus materially bettered the condition of all. And from that day to this every economy in methods of exchange (like economies in manufacture) has more and more placed the good things of earth within the reach of the mass of the people, and thus elevated the standard of living.

The things exchanged possessed value. The common medium of exchange came to be the thing with whose value the value of every other commodity was compared; that is, it became the standard of value. In other words, the same commodity served both as the standard of value and as the medium of exchange or currency.

In the various stages of social advancement different commodities, each suited to the times, were used as money. Thus, in the hunting stage, skins of animals were so used; in the pastoral stage, cattle; in the agricultural stage, corn, tobacco, and tea. Later came the use of metals, iron and copper, silver and gold. In each stage of advancement progress was made by discarding the less convenient and desirable form of money for that which better served the purpose. Gradually, too, progress was made in the methods of using money. When first used as money the metals passed by weight. (As a memento of that time we have the word expend, which means literally to weigh out.) Later, for the purpose of saving the trouble of weighing, and to remove the risk of fraud through the misuse of alloys, coining was invented.

INTRINSIC VALUE OF MONEY-WHAT IT MEANS.

A man has $300. One hundred dollars of this amount is in gold, one hundred in silver, and one hundred in paper. Instead of depositing it in a bank, he places it in a safe in his house. In his absence, the house burns down and practically destroys the safe. On forcing open the door he finds his gold and silver dollars melted. His greenbacks are charred and powdered. The paper money is a total loss, but he gathers up the mass of molten metal and offers it in the market. Here the true ultimate test of money is applied. Fire has not harmed it. It is put in a scale and paid for at the market rate of gold and silver. The mass of silver is worth about fifty dollars, or fifty cents on the dollar, but the gold is worth dollar for dollar, because the stamp of the government only certified its value; it did not create it. The intrinsic value of greenbacks is nil. The only sound money is metal money, but until silver and gold are at par, gold is the better standard under all circumstances, as shown in this illustration.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE USE OF MONEY AS A STANDARD AND ITS USE AS A CURRENCY.

There is a marked distinction between the use of money as a standard and its use as a medium of exchange or currency. In the former case it is used to compare or measure values; in the second it is used to transfer them. There is the same distinction to be made in these two uses of money that there is between the use of the scales for weighing a ton of coal and the use of the wagon in which the coal is delivered to a customer. Or, to use another illustration, and in some respects a better one, there is the same distinction between the use of money as a standard of value and its use as a medium of exchange that there is in the use of a bushel basket to measure grain and the use of that basket to carry the grain to the manger. Here the same thing may be used for either purpose. So it was originally with money. But we have learned that while there can be only one standard of size for a bushel, we may carry bushels of grain in baskets or in sacks or wagon boxes. So it is with money. While in the nature of things there can be only one standard of value, the forms of money as a medium of exchange are many, including gold, silver, nickel, copper, and paper.