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A CRAZY CURRENCY
C<?ina Has a Monetary System
That Borders on the Chaotic.
UNIT OF VALUE IS THE TAEL
Yet the Tael Is Neither a Coin Nor an
Ingot, but Merely an Abstract Term,
ahd Signifies a Unit of Weight—Sil
ver Shoes and Cash on a String.
Os the many strange things in China
not the least strange is Us currency.
To the foreigner it seems a miracle
that any business can be transacted
successfully with such a medium of
exchange. It has been described as
chaotic. Nevertheless business and
trade flourish in China, which speaks
volumes for the business acumen of
the Chinese. Perhaps the fact that
trade flourished in China long before
such a thing as currency was known
accounts for the fact that the Chinese,
with such a lax system as they now
possess, still stand in the front rank
of commercial nations.
In China all forms of exchange from
barter up are in use A very large
part of tile country's business is done
against the actual delivery of weighed
silver For convenience silver is melt
ed into rough ingots having the shape
of the Chinese shoe. These silver
shoes have stamped upon them their
fineness and weight. The unit of
weight is the tael, which is equal to a
quantity ot silver weighing 580 grains
troy and is worth about 60 cents in
our money
The tael is not an ingot nor a coin,
but simply an abstract term signifying
a unit of weight, such as a “pound" of
butter or an "ounce ot gold Though
an abstract term, it is the measure of
wealth and the unit of value through
out the length and breadth of China.
A man buys a business for so many
taels ot silver. His profits are com
puted in taels. When he makes pay
meat he weighs out the silver accord
ing to this unit.
The silver shoes vary in weight from
one to seventy-five taels All silver
shops and hanks have forges, where
the silver is melted in iron ladles and
poured into molds The smelters with
their ladles and molds remind one of
cooks They stir the silver with a pair
of metal chopsticks. To one not aware
of what they were doing it would be
natural to suppose that they were en
gaged in concocting something good to
eat. In rhe process of recasting the
ingots their fineness is often changed,
being either improved or debased,
whichever liest suits the interests of
the shop Bankers and money chang
ers are able to determine the* quality
ot the silver by the sense of touch
The sellers/or depositors are always
at their mercy and must often submit
to the operation of having their silver
discounted on account of “bad touch "
In the interior of China small pur
chases are made with copper coins
with square holes in the center. These
are called "cash" and are threaded on
strings so that they may be carried
across one's shoulder or on a pole A
string of l.nuo of these cash is worth
about 5o cents in our money. Some
times bits of silver are chipped from
the silver shoes and used for small
purchases When traveling in the in
terior one must fake wifi) him a large
amount of silver shoes, exchanging
them for strings of cash at the various
shops. The money changers have two
sets of scales, one to lie used in the
purchase of silver and the other in the
selling of it.
in an attempt some years ago to in
troduce a currency based on western
models the Chinese government pur
chased and put into circulation several
million Mexican dollars. The people
took to the new coins and called for
more. The provincial governments
then set up mints and began to coin
Chinese dollars of approximately the
same weight and fineness as the Mexi
can dollars They also coined an enor
mous amount of subsidiary items in
the shape of small silver coins and
/•upper pennies
fr/‘>on it was discovered that the new
r'cvr-cfe. "'y VV:IS as unstable as the old
Tire rft. dollar in relation to
the-fiubst^’ - ’ I '' ••oinage varied from day
f-> friv. l ' V!ls neVpr worth the
teiiWfb |w.n of a dollar. Some days
110 cents k eq aired to make up
and on other ’ if took K?( ’ ceuts
JCmilarh rhe value-' v ' the dollar as
eompmed with the tard v ’ a^" tinnal ;
l.v fim-fm/ting. Sometime K 1 ° W °” d
br;ng ,0 taels and at other ttu. <es on y
6o It was sickening to the’ e '
h'.it very profitable to the niOi v ‘ V
/•h.-;rigors -Harpers Weekly.
The Mozart Cycle.
Tin- only works ot Mozart designed
for the Stage (there are nearty a score
of them that have remained regular
rvimrtory operas.” as the Germans
<:|V ’ arc "Don Giovanni.” •’Figaro” and
•The Magic Flute.” Once in awhile,
however, a Mozart cycle is given in
• of the larger German cities, and
“■ includes generally, besides the
■throe operas named. “Idomeneo.”
• Die Entfnhrung.” "Cosi Fan Tutti
- !: d "Clemenza di Tito.”-Argonaut.
- ,1 ■ '-ft £
Knew His Man.
-Why did you tel! that man you
t! >;■ • smoke when you do?”
•I mid a good reason.”
-l-ermips be was going to give you
H cigar ’
•No: l know that chap He was go
ing lo ask me for one.” —Detroit Free
I * ress.
Among all the fine arts one of the
finest is that of painting the cheeks
with health - Ruskin.
WHICH IS MORE FASTIDIOUS?
One Man Claims the Masculine Sex
Is More Enamored of Neatness
Than the Feminine.
“Have you ever asked yourself tin’s
question?” asked a perceiving young
man. “I have come to the conclu
sion that in many things they are
and more particularly about food
and table appointments. Perhaps
this is because women are habituated
to the seamy side of cookery, to the
sight of uncooked articles. Men see
only the results of all these pro
cesses, some of them disagreeable
enough, whereas even the most fas
tidious mistress sometimes, however
reluctantly, comes upon the base
ment operators in the midst of a
far from esthetic task. The gilded
youth of today is a most terribly fas
tidious person. His chief cult is
sensitive nerves and his ‘culture’
seems a heinous offense. I was made
to think about these things the other
day when ‘Jim,’ speaking about a
girl whose acquaintance he had lately
made, agreed that she was very pref*
ty, very attractive, etc.,,.ffiut,’ he
added, ‘I don’t like looking at her.
Iler hair is never tidy; pieces of ii
stream down at the back, and there
is something about the back of her
waist that is disorderly.’ I give you
his own masculine expressions. I
fancy neatness appeals immensely to
men. Soiled gloves, crushed hand
kerchiefs, untidy footgear, have done
more to disillusion the masculine
creature than the culprits who per
mit themselves these can
ever imagine.
BY-PRODUCT OF MUCH VALUE
Innumerable Uses to Which Sawdust
May Be Put Are Astonishing to Man
Who Has Not Known.
j The family man, who occasionally
indulges in home carpentering,
knows full well how sawdust seems
to work into every crevice, to cling
to one’s clothes, and to make itself
a general nuisance.
But, despised though sawdust may
be, it is a by-produce with many
Uses. Used as an absorbent for nitro
glycerine, it produces dynamite.
Used with clay, and burned, it pro
duces a fireproof brick that makes
excellent and very durable material
for building work.
Sawdust mixed with some suit
able binding material and com
pressed makes splendid molding and
' imitation carvings, whilst if mingled
j with Portland cement it produces a
j most lasting material for floors.
, Hollow walls that one desires to
! make sound-proof, or proof against
frost, may be packed with sawdust,
and as a material for protecting
fragile articles in transit there is
nothing better. Sawdust is used as a
non-conductor of heat in which to
pack in all the large icehouses.
PROGRESS ON CAPE CCD CANAL.
It is estimated that the 25,000,000
tons of shipping which rounds Cape
Cod during the year will be so far
benefited by the opening of the Cape
Cod canal that it will be perfectly
willing to pay a toll for the use of
the canal. The 11,000,000 tons of
coal shipped annually to eastern
ports will find the inner and shel
tered route of great advantage, and
probably the greater part of this, or
such part as is carried in barges, will
avail itself of the canal.
NOT MUCH ON HIS MIND.
■
“Dobble should be a happy man.”
“Why do you think he should be
a happy man?”
| “Because the most serious prob-
■ lem that confronts him now is
whether to buy summer union suits
i or two-piece garments.”
DIFFERENT PLACE.
“Pop, doctors don’t bleed people
like' use d they?”
“Nox sonn yj they do it now in
their bills> 1 ' ?
ITS uncertainty.
“It is not tell
the fruit of a politicalkdeal.”
“Ko, it may be a lemon or it may
be a plum.”
THAT’S SO!
“It’s very odd.”
“What ?”
“That a fellow isn’t in the swim
when society throws him overboard.”
ANOTHER FIRE HORROR.
“Have you found out what started
the blaze in that broom factory?”
“Kot yet; but we’re making a
sweeping investigation.”
SHIPPER AVERTED A TRAGEDK ,
Would Let None of His Hogs Be Sho
at Least While He Was There . j
to Prevent It. Jl
Sam Blank of Blank Center, Kap , !
raises hogs. He-ships to the Kansas
City market. Along last year Mi.
Blank painfully observed that oil
nearly every shipment he receiv?ii
notice that one or more hogs died or
the trip to market. He discussal
the matter with his neighbors anil
they advised him.
“Loky ’ere, Sam,” they told him.
“The fellows up at the stock vans
in Kansas City are stealing and kill
ing your hogs and getting money ou
of them. You better go along nei t
time and watch.” 11
When shipping time came, Sam.
wary and vigilant, accompanied sis
hogs to iharket.
To avoid confusion among . o
many carloads of cattle the stoc -
yards company’has a checking sys
tem’. The yajdmen look over t,e
cars, not/ where they are from, tje
nHuj'bcfs of the cars, and what chu e
the stock will be consigned to. Thpv
turn this memoranda over to t|e
salesman. t
Suspicious Sam was on hand when (
a yardman looked over his car. (
“Carload of hogs from Blanlp
Kan.,” the yardman sang outrto thp
memorandum clerk. “Car No?
Chute 8!” 4 1
That was what Sam was waitilg',
for. He was on his feet like V
Jack in the box.
“Not on your life,” he shouiww
“I’m onto you fellers. You don’t
shoot a darned hair off their backsifj
What happened thereupon has not
been recorded.—Kansas City Star.
TOO LATE « ,
I
tM-J,
He—Would you be satisfied with
love in a cottage ? ' -U
She—A cottage? Not for me.
He—l’m sorry. My cottage is at
Newport. I’m sorry, indeed. Good
by.
EXPERIMENT JUSTIFIED.
That there is a marked improve* :
ment in the general health of schod(
children, since medical inspection oF
schools was made a rule, although
many suffer from defective sight ami
teeth, is stated in a report inade btf
Dr. Laberge, assistant medical health
officer, Montreal. Dr. Laberge also
states that infectious diseases are
less prevalent, while skin diseases
have practically vanished. He af
gues that much of this is due to close
medical inspection, and to the will
ingness of principals and teachers to
aid the inspection.
APPRECIATES CUCUMBERS. |
In Cairo and Alexandria, EgyLtl
cucumbers are truly appreciataMr
They are developed to their utmosfH
Sometimes they reach a length ft
two and a half feet, and they a|e
much eaten and liked by the
Moreover, the beautiful womei} of
these cities understand the value of
cucumber juice, and it is squeezed, j
out of the huge green vegetable for '
them to use a lotion for the skin.
HAD TO STOP.
'. “MJry make your building
only
“Couldn’t lease any offices on the
thirteenth floor.”
ACCOUNTED FOR.
“Why did Adam and Eve name
their first child Cain?”
“I suppose they did it after they
found out what they were raising.”
DOMESTIC FRANKNESS.
Pet—Do you think I’d look better
if I had my beard shaved off?
Dearest—Of course not; just when
your face is almost covered?—Puck.
ON HIS WAY.
Old Doctor (who has been gossip
ing for three-quarters of an hour)
Well, well, I must lie going. I’ve got
to visit an old lady in- a fit.—Punch.
NO ONE LOVES A POLICEMAN
I <B OUS & ut Universal Dislike That Is
? y Not Directed Against the
Firemen. t
Following is an interesting extract
from a discussion in the American
Magazine: ,
“Why is it that nobody ever has a
good word for policemen?” “Wher- I
ever you go. good policemen are al- I
ways in the next town. New York ;
praises Cleveland’s police,, and you 1
believe it till you read the Cleveland I
papers. Cincinnati people tell you
what a splendid force they have in
Detroit, Detroit tells you about St.
Louis, St. Louis about Toledo. But
go from one city to another and the
citizens all say that the Ipcal force
is no good; and so it goes.
“On the other hand, they general
ly try to tell you that their fire de
partment is better than others. They
are proud of their frremen. You
never hear specific charges like graft
and against fire
men. The general current estimates
of the 'two branches of the service
seem to rank firemen and policemen
on two entirely different grades of
character or levels of manhood. It
is something like a light case of race
Everybody believes in
fftemen believes much in
policemen. Bremen are taken for
as brave and manly and po
licemen are always supposed to bear
watching. Yet the two branches are
.recruited from exactly the same
stock or grade or class or whatever
you have a mind to call it; and they
are picked for about the same run
of qualifications.”
TWO DIFFERENT SPECIES
r*i
'-Q®
IJ ll
“Say, grandpa, what is a book
worm ?”
Grandpa-jpA bookworm, my son,
is either a person who would rather
read a book than eat, or a worm that
would rather eat a book than read.
CUMBERSOME COLLAR.
As president of the French repub
lic., burden which M.
. Poincare will have to bear is the col
'lar which he wears as grand master
of the Legion of Honor—an office
which is always filled by the ruler of
France. The collar consists of med
als—each oiure size of a franc—en
graved with the arms of the princi
pal French towns and'joined togeth
er by a massive chain, the links of
which are fastened to represent bun
dles of lictors’ rods. Attached to the
chain is a cross almost two feet in
length. As the decoration is made
throughout of solid gold its weight
is enormous, and diminutive presi
dents such as MM. Thiers and Lou
bet found it almost unwearable. For
tunately, the president is not often
called upon to cumber himself with
it.
FOOLING THE FOWLS.
\ “Making garden ?”
j “Don’t talk so loud. You’ll attract
rtne hens. They think I’m merely
.digging bait.”—Louisville Courier-
Tournal.
FOREVER BARRED.
“Do you think women will ever be
successful police force ?”
“Not in the secret service depart
ment.”—Judge.; U
ALWAYS PREPARED.
“Rickets is a man of remarkable
foresight.” ,
“Yes, indeed. He is never with- i
out a corkscrew.”
LONG WAS SHORT.
Manager —Did you collect that
bill from Old Man Long?
Collector—No; he w T as in, but he
was out. —Boston Transcript.
REFUTED.
“There’s always room at the top,”
said the Sphinx.
“Take a look at us and guess
again,” replied the pyramids.
Telephone 44
I For anything in the
Drug Line. I send it
out promptly.
DeLACY LAW,
DRUGGIST.
Saw Mills.
/ '
Gaioesvilie Iron Works.
Member Chamber of Commerce,
GAINESVILLE. GA.
i Our Business is Baskini;
$ - =
j Our effort is to attend,to that IvsJicff.
Our aim is to please.
* Our wish, to succeed.
u
■j Your patronage will be appreciated.
< Your interest will be cared for. I
! . I
I j | Tri |ls and you’ll bs pieaset I
II- ' '
i I STATE BANKING CO., i
T. E. ATKINS, W. R. WINBURN
President. Cashier.
R. J. SANDERS, Vice-Pres.
Il '
_ |
Painesville & Northwestern Railroad 10.
Change of Schedule Effective Sunday, June 15, 1913.
Passenger and Freight Service to Helen and Robertstown
Northbound. Read down. Southbound. Read up.
Eastern Standard Ti ire
Sunday Sunday Daily la ly ZtmdavSunday
only. only. ex. Sun ex Sun only, only.*
P. M. A. M. P. M. A. M. A. M. P. M
435 919 315 Gainesville lo <o 350 425
4 45 9 20 3 25 New Holland Jet 9 45 9 35 4 15
5 05 9 40 3 40 Chirk 9 23 8 11 3 51
514 949 350 Awtry 914 8(3 343
5 22 9 57 4 00 Dewberry 9 09 7 54 3 3.")
535 10 10 415 Brook ton 850 741 323
543 IO 18 435 Clermont 840 732 315
551 10 30 445 Couuty Line 828 723 307
555 1( 35 450 Camp Ground 8 2'. 719 303
610 10 48 505 Me'dean 808 707 251
627 11 ('G 530 Cleveland 7 650 235
644 11 26 545
653 11 30 555 Yonah 726 626 211
702 1! 38 610 Naeoochee 71s 618 203
710 11 46 620 Helen 7 611 155
715 11 50 630 North Helen 705 6 ‘ 15 )
Money to Loan.
We are prepared to negotiate Loans in any amount on
improved Farms in Hall County, on five years time, at low
rates of interest.
HAM & THOMAS.
Rooms 8. 9. Granite Elcg. There SC2.
Gainesville /Aidland Railway ScheOtrt
Time Table No. I(, Jui.e 22, 191?.
, X
HO—l MMW' • * 3B>». ■ -I—-»•-
’• 7
LEAVE GAINESV ILLE *
No. I—daily .... . I'. in: sr. n:
No. 3—daily . 4.35 p. m
No. II —Daily exo] t Sunday . 2.30 n. m
ARRIVE GAINESVILLE
No. 2 —Daily . 9.00 a. m
No. 4 Dai.y L3O p. in
No. 12 —daily except Sundav . 12.15 p. m