Newspaper Page Text
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THE ATLANTA 8EMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, QA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST.
.tiered at the Atlanta Postolfice as Mail Matter of
the Second Class.
JAMES S. GRAY,
President and Editor.
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Atlanta. Ga.
The lambs are getting even with Wall street.
It may be that women dislike cigars because they
are always arrayed in common, everyday wrappers.
The Need of Road Maintenance,
Mr. Logan W. Page, director of the national of
fice of public roads, makes a timely and cogent plea
that more adequate measures be taken for the main
tenance of highways. Millions of dollars are being
spent for the development and extension of roads,
but the problem of their upkeep from season to season
and year to year is sorely neglected. Such a policy is
short-sighted and extravagant; for, it is just as im
portant to conserve the highways that are already in
use as it is to construct new ones. J
In many parts of the country, as Mr. Page, de
clares, the people are enthusiastic for road improve
ment and are voting liberal bond issues for this
purpose, but “with a few exceptions they are mak
ing no provision to care for the roads after they
are built." Unless a wiser course is adopted, the
public will fail to realize in years to c6me iheir due
return^ upon the money they are now investing.
As Mr. Page points out, it requires a considerable
annual outlay to keep roads in prime condition
month in and month out but, he adds, “this -outlay
is infinitely less than the loss which must fall upon
the people eventually, if ■ they allow their roads to
go to ruin.” A few dollars spent in opportune re
pairs will save hundreds and, perhaps, thousands
for the future.
States and counties that are appropr.ating road
funds or v&ting. bond issues in this great enter
prise should heed the director’^ counsel and make
definite provision for the cost of road maintenance.
The task of keeping up highways is humbler and
less inspiriting than that of building them; 'the
former takes oil th e character of a popular crusade
and easily arouses the community s interest; the
letter calls for sober, persistent care and for suffi
cient money, but it is essentially important.
In some counties and districts of Georgia, good-
roads associations have been organized and are do-
ing effective work in this very particular. Individual
citizens assume the duties of a road inspector for
their immediate neighborhood end whenever they
note a break' or v/ashout, they report it to the cen
tra! organization and immediately the needed
repairs are made. Some such-system as this should
be adopted by th' Statu- or countj and, when the.
federal aid goou roads bill passes Congress, as it
doubtless will, a similar method should/ be followed
by the national authorities.
In France, every mile of public highway is under
the continuous inspection of a government patrol
man; and to that precaution is due very largely the
fact that France has one of the most nearly perfect
highway systems in all the world.
Tariff Revision Finds
Business Undisturbed.
The equanimity with which all sections and all
interests await the forthcoming revision of the tariff
is truly remarkable. In seasons gone by, this issue
was a handy specter for Standpat politicians and,
.strangely enough, it was a source of real anxiety to
many thoughtful people. National campaigns in
which it figured largely were disquieting to business
and so long as it was being discussed there was a
sense of public unrest. *
How different is the situation today! The tariff
hearings before the Ways and Means committee of
the House have been in progress since early January.
They are now finished and bills, designed to effect
a thoroughgoing revision of existing schedules, are
being prepared in order that they may be introduced
at the beginning of the extra session of Congress
early in the spring.
For more than a year the tarff has been contin
uously discussed and essential changes in its frame
work are at hand. Yet, nobody is excited or appre
hensive or dubious.
The election came and went without in the least
disturbing business conditions. To be sure when the
presidential campaign was on, the anti-Democratic
forces set up their old cry of “Wolf” but it was in
effectual; and since November business has been
growing more and more" confident. Now tljat the
actual process of revision is under way, the pulse of
the country beats as calmly as ever. Industry is
thriving and is making ready for foreseen expansion.
Commerce is lively. The national atmosphere is
one of hope and cheer.
All this indicates that the country at laVge has
come to j'iew the tariff in its true light. Manufac
turers realize that excessive duties are not a help,
but a hinderance to industrial vigor and independ
ence. Trusts and monopolies arb realizing that they
can no longer deceive the people into thinking that
protection is needed for interests that wage success
ful competition in foreign markets.
The tariff will be revised without disturbance and
the country will move forward more tranquilly and
more prosperously than evqr.
The Kings Wage
By
Dr. Frank
Crane
The Turks and allies seem to .he taking a ninety-
nine-year lease on war.
Flirt and the world flirts with you; marry and
you sit at home.
Selling to South America.
Southern manufacturers will find it easy to es
tablish profitable trade connections with the people
of Latin America, pro-Vided they take care to adapt
their products and their business methods to the
needs and the tastes of those countries. This is the
report of every observant visitor from the United
States to Central and South America. Mr. J. K. Orr,
of Atlanta, who has recently returned from a trip to
Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama and Cuba, was par
ticularly Impressed by this fact. “Our manufac
turers,” he says, “will have to make certain
changes in the style of their articles, the manner
of shipping ahd in other respects, if they are to
receive their due share of the commerce the Canal
will develop.”
This process of adjustment, however, will be well
worth while. Certain it is thaj European/manufac
turers and merchants have found it so. The busi
ness leaders in the Old World have enjoyed a thriv
ing trade with a number of Sotith American coun
tries simply because they have studied and have
satisfied the local requirements of the people with
whom they sought to deal.
Foresighted manufacturers throughout the
United States are now awakening to this truth and
are accordingly carrying on systematic campaigns
of inquiry and preparation. The South’s compara
tive nearness to the Canal is distinctly an advantage
to our own manufacturers. But they cannot expect
to gather the fruits of their opportunity unless they
develop it through aggressive and intelligent means.
It is gratifying to note that so many Southern
business men are now visiting the Canal country and
are jnaking a personal study of the people and the
customs. It is to be hoped that these individual
efforts will be supplemented by the organized, en
deavor which was made possible when the Southern
Panama Canal Conference _was formed last autumn
in Atlanta.
Sometimes a married woman gets so hungry for
a loving word that she talks to herself.
Our neighbors seem to believe that one good turn
deserves ten others.
Indications are that Atlanta’s standing army will
be increased somewhat.
The sfln was again in our midst early today, but
idjoruned to a cloud later on.
The Southward Drift.
The Southward drift of homeseekers from Western
and Northwestern States is more pronounced this
winter than ever before. Railway officials declare
that many of the Southbound trains which pass
through Atlanta carry extra coaches or sections,
filled with prospective settlers for Georgia and Flor
ida; and it is a well attested truth that those who
come to see generally remain to labor and invest.
This trend of affairs is distinctly fortunate for
the South as well as for its visitors. The tremendous
resources of this section are as yet but slightly de
veloped or exploited. There are perhaps more acres
of fertile, but uncultivated land in the South than in
ar.y other ebrner of the civilized world, land which
can be purchased at reasonable prices and which
will yield an almost limitless abundance and variety
of crops.
Home-building settlers should and do find a hearty
welcome. The South is just beginning to exert defi
nite and organized efforts to attract this class of set
tlers. The railroads are advertising the opportunities
that are to b e found/here and offering special rates
and other inducements to investigation. This good
work should he vigorously continued.
Coincident with lean pickings in Wall street,
come stories of increased earnings in every other
kind of business.
I
Thirty-Nine States.
The few States that have been tardy or hesitant
in ratifying the income tax amendment are now
hurrying to mount the band wagon
Several weeks, if not months, ago the success of
the amendment became assured and the Democrats
have figured widely upon its adoption in their plans
for revising the tariff. They have consistently
hoped that it would be effective by the beginning of
the extra session of Congress or shortly thereafter.
But the sudden flock of favorable votes was scarcely
foreseen.
When the legislature of West Virginia ratified
the amendment last week, there lacked but one more
indorsement to piake the thirty-six votes necessary to
a three-fourths majority. Forthwith there sprang
up rather an intense rivalry as to who should win
the distinction of the conclusive step.
On Monday the legislature of Delaware and Wyo
ming both proceeded directly to a consideration of'
the amendment and within less than an hour, one -f
•the other, each State cast its influence for ratifica
tion. As to which acted first, there is some debate
and this question may go down as one' ( of the minor
riddles of history; though life news dispatches gen
erally gave the precedence to Wyoming. Later in
t}ie same day New Mexico’s legislature took favor
able action and on Tuesday New Jersey fbllowed.
Thus thirty-nine votes now stand to the amend
ment’s credit and only four against it. Five States
are yet to express themselves. In the end, the* ratifi
cation will probably be little short of unanimous, a
fact which shows how cordially this progressive step
in the government’s economic policy has commended
itself to the American people.®
Success comes from good work oi.tener than Jit
does from gftftd Ii^ck.
“I ^liave
babies of
There is a country spot in Italy by the* shore ol’
the Mediterranean where the king sometimes goes in
summer to rest. Here he wears very plain clothes
♦ and a cap like any other man.
He often walks about alone.
One day he overtook little An
na Carducci upon the road. She
was carrying the baby in one
arm and a basket of oranges in
the other. She was ten and the
baby was two years old.
“Are you not tired, little one?”
asked the king.
* “Yes, sir." Anna smiled at
him, as she smiled at everybody.
She did not know who he was,
but she was not afraid of him.
She was not afraid' at all, so she
^ was always cheerful. “I have
come from Mother Aureli’s, and
that is a long way.”
•‘Why do you not set the child
down and let him walk?”
“He .would get all dirty. He loves to crawl better
than to walk. I must keep him clean.”
“Do you take care of him?”
"Yes, sir. My mother works, and my father works.
I look after the baby and the house.”
“May I not carry him awhile?”
Anna looked doubtful. “Are you sure you know
how to hold a baby?”
“Oh, yes!” The king laughed,
my own.”
He took the child, who was in no way displeased
with his new perch, which was higher. The baby was
remarkably pretty, a laughing, happy creature, and
pointed and prattled and smiled at everything.
By and by they reached Anna’s home. The king
set the baby down.
It was a; most rude and bar e house, for Anna’s
folks were poor.
“I thank you very much, sir,” said Anna. “And l
will give you an orange for your trouble.”
She selected a large one. The king took it.
Just then two of his aides came walking swiftly
up. The king motioned them to silence.
“These arc two ' f ir.y friends, Anna. Gentlemen,
this is Anna Carducci, who is a sweet and faithful
little mother.”
Anna smiled radiantly upon the gentlemen and
made her best bow.
As they were turning away, one of the men handed
Anna a gold piece.
“I thank you, ’ she said, "but my father says one
should never take any money that has not been
Earned.”
The king laughed. That for you, Vincenzo!” he
cried. "You have met* one honest woman In the
world. May I keep my orange then, Anna?”
"6h, yes! You have earned that by carrying
Tomaso,” she said.
^‘Then,” said the king, "may God and all the saints
bless yo£, little .oman! And I would i were as hon
est a soul, a-; you. To' God, little mother!”
“To* God, signore!” said Anna,, smiling.
And did the king send around next day to Anna
a whole cartload of ’oranges and a purse of gold? Not
at all! Victor was wise man and human, and would
not spoil the imperial beauty of the child’s deed.
The Income Tax; Its Meaning
And Its Wide Possibilities.
Now that the income tax amendment, having
been ratified by three-fourths of the States, becomes
a part of the federal constitution, the Democratic
Congress faces tire task and the opportunity of turn
ing this measure to fruitful account. This the
party leaders will undoubtedly do; and, in all like
lihood, at the special session to be called early in
the spring.
The amendment itself simply authorizes the levy
of a tax on incomes; it is for Congress to fix the
rate-and the scope of the tax and to establish other
specific terms. Precisely what these will be is as yet
uncertain. Gqperal opinion is that the tax will be
limited to incomes of five thousand dollars annually
and more. In that event, a comparatively low rate, it
is reckoned, would yield the Government a revenue
of not less than one hundred million dollars a year.
In England, where an income tax has long prevailed,
the tax fates are higher than has ever been suggested
for this country; applied to the United States, they
would produce something like four million dollars a
year. It may be that a graduated tax will find con
sideration and that the rate on unearned incomes
will be made higher than that on incomes commonly
designed as “earned.” Such a plan would doubtless
add greatly to the Government's revenue from this
general source.
Whatever the particular provisions of the law
may be, ,the Democrats will be eager to avail them
selves of the opportunity the. amendment affords.
It wiH, be of especial value in meeting any losses of
revenue which the downward revision of the tariff
may entail. Indeed, the ratification of the amend
ment could not have come more seasonably for the
Democratic tariff program. A little less tha» half
the Government’s revenue is now derived from duties
collected at the ports. When one /item of the tariff
is reduced or cut off, some new provision must
straightway be made for the revenue it has fur
nished; and thus the task of tariff revision often be
comes exceedingly complex.
The Democrats have contended, to be/ sure, and
justly so, that many of the existing schedules have
been framed not with a view to meeting legitimate
government expenses, but for the ultimate purpose
of patronage to special interests. It has been a tariff
not for revenue and not for consistent protection,
but, in many of its phases, a tariff for privilege.
Yet, every part of this system is so involved and
dovetailed with all other parts that the work of
readjusting it presents divers difficulties; and not
the least of these is that of compensating losses in
revenue, will therefore, simply and expedite the all-
important need of genuine tariff revision. Realizing
this fact, the Democrats will Undoubtedly bring for
ward an income tax measure during the early stages
of the extra session and pass it, along with a new
tariff law, without difficulty or delay
The circumstance that only four States of the
entire eight-and-forty have thus far rejected the
amendment, while tliirty-six have approved it and
several others will probably do so, shows the nation
wide favor with which this progressive measure has
been received. The amendment was proposed in 1909
through a resolution that passed Congress almost
without dissent. Since then it has been ratified by
a vast majority of the State legislatures ,with little
or no opposition. It marks a long and constructive
stride in the country’s economic practice. It will
redound to the enduring good of this nation and its
people.
A man may not be honest, although he refuses
to take a hint. 1
OUNTRY
jOME TOPuS
Conducted HOrtcna*
The Republic of China
VI. A TANGLED CURRENCY
By
Frederic
J G askin
If.-every young man could see the girl he is in
loYe with eating her dinner when nobody is watch
ing ikU'i Ike.<yp£^.f.(^bachelors would increase.
aBTi’RACHJ ros WOSIEK.
1 am continually requested to discuss this sub
ject, and as often asked to furnish .debaters with
arguments for and against. J have neVer taken an
active part in the discussion. The only question that
concerns us, is their light to a choice as to repre-
senatives and rulers. If men were punished for the
crimes committed by their wives, mothers and daugh
ters and were hel'd responsible to society for such
bad conduct, by fines aN imprisonment, then it would
manifestly be explained that men alone were worthy
of suffrage; but a woman is punished for crimes com
mitted by herself and her individual property must
bear as much taxation as anybody’s property, and
when she is overtaxed she has qpbody ,to appeal to,
and no opportunity to rebuke or remove those who
oppress her. # Bhc as an individual has no privileges,
as to a choice, and no matter how unfairly she is
treated, she cannot help herself.
\lt is urged by anti-sutiragists that woman's mod
esty will be. endangered by going to the polls, but It
is a sad commentary on man’s management when
they thus publicly confess that man’s conduct at the
polls makes it hazardous to womanly nature to ap
pear and witness misconduct.
The ballot is a test of citizenship, fcnd to take
away the ballot privilege from a man, because of
crimes and misconduct in official position, is deemed
an irrevocable stain and bladkens his private character.
-a thing so Rrecious should certainly be performed in
a decent and honorable way or the privilege should be
withdrawn. If the scenes at the polls are so filthy
that a decent woman may not witness them, it is
obvious that the men who go there to vote have no
business there.
Women go with men to theaters, ball games and
to dance halls. They go to the postoffice and send
mail and receive letters ,n the presence of men. They
are dragged into court houses as witnesses, and their
livfe are no safer in *a mob than t\ie men who are
caught in it.
If the presence of women at the polls would make
men’s conduct more seemly, If it would check ballot
box stuffing and false counting in elections, a long
step forward would have taken place toward purer
and safer election laws. In New York city men pre
fer to hold elutions in open drinking saloons. if
women ever ha\*e a say so in the matter, voting will
certainly be held in a more seemly place.
Down in Bibb county the grand jury has severely
condemned the primary elections of last year, and
it is generally understood that the whole affair was
tainted with fratffi and false counts. If women were
in the business of selecting rulers it is my opinion
where so-called decent men cheat and defraud at the
there would be a healthy change in communities
ballot box.
A GOOD LETTER FROM AN EX-GEORGIAN.
v Jesupula., Jan. 27, 1913^
Mrs. W. H. Felton, Cartersville, Ga.
Dear Madam: I am still a constant and much in
terested reader of The Atlanta Semi-Weekly Journal,
though a shut-in by reason of age an<f climatic condi
tions of this cold section of our great country. I see
by the Friday paper of January 24 that you are stijl
vexed and perplexed with unreliable renters. Having
lived fourteen years in Georgia, I sympathize with
you in your troubles. A farm' is poor property for a
widow lady to have charge of even In Iowa. We
have a near neighbor who has the same trials among
the white people of* Iowa. "Misery loves company,”
and if you can find any comfort in this I will be
very glad. But the main object of this letter is to
ask for information. I would like to know who that
unique character and writ/er, Dr. Frank Crane, is; also
Dr. Marion McH. Hull, who writes up the Sunday school
lessons for Th e Journal. Most of the other writers
am familiar with, as writer/3, I mean. Mrs. Felton
and Miss Thomas, Bishop Candler, etc. In fact, The
Atlanta Semi-Weekly Journal is the best secular paper
I know of. The only fault I have to find in it is, it
has not been as radical in opposing the use and
traffic in whisky as I would like. P think President
elect Wilson is going to be a reformer in this and
other moral questions so far as he can control. God
help him to.be a worthy and successful leader and
co-worker with the Christian element of our so-called
Christian nation till we shall measure up to the
standard of our profession among the nations of the
world. i
And now I am tired and'must quit.
Mrs. Sanford is still living and active in domestic
life. She is not present but if so would join me In
Christian regard for Mrs. Felton. i
Sincerely your fellow-laborer in Christ,
H. SANFORD.
Will not the gentlemen herein named give their ad
dresses* to Mr. Sanford? MRS. FELTON.
THE LAW’S DELAY.
Anyone familiar with the harrassing delays that
courts and attorneys inflict on people \yho are com
pelled into court to defend their rights, will not be
astonished at the unrest which prevails all over these
United States, and the uprising that is seen as to
recall of judges. It has become well-nigh exasperat
ing to be seriously injured in person and in pocket
and have the case put off and put off without any
possibility of settiemerft whatever.
The Louisville and Nashville railroad runs through
my little farm. Late in the year 1909 my tenant
house was set on fire in a dry time by sparks from
an engine.
The house contained a lot of seed cotton, twenty-
five hundred bundles of fodder and a room full of
cotton seed—all due as rent. / \
For a week I busied my poor old self to s^e, and
hunt up, witnesses for tne January term of court,
including the expense of a trip to Atlanta and costs
of telephoning. As usual, the case, was put off;
some lawyer’s family was sick, and I am on the
fourth year of waiting, and no relief in sight. Among
the multitude of railroad lawyers, nobody was on
nand to defend the case, and I am shoved aside and
seriously damaged by the delay.
By the time one gets to the end of such a trial,
a i patience is exhausted. We gave the Louisville
and Nashville railroad the right of way through this
land, ancl the authorities ~ave done nothing but annoy
and injure me in return for the gratuity. Such delays
are exasperating.
HOO’S HOO
BY JOHN W. CAREY.
Who rode the distant plains for years—a wild and
woolly yap—the world the while all unaware that he
was on the map? Who made the screaming headlines
, , of the Dopeville
DaiIy Pink the
day he put Carl
>Iorris on the
everlasting blink?
W h o took two
dinky 1 i t t 1 e
rounds to hand
Al Kaufman Jiis—
then gave Jim
Flynn a tap or\
two and put him
out of biz? Who
put Al Palzer
down and out
last happy New
Year’s day, and
now who’s who
in Pugland, wot—
the Big Hip-Hlp-
Hooray? Wh<jse
label's plastered
everywhere from
here to Hindu-
. stan? Our John
L. Sullivan to date—that Lut e McCarty man. ,
,■
Whoever coined the • phrase "A Chinese puzzle”
must have had the Chinese Currency system in mind.' ,
j it is the most complicated and unsatisfactory money
system in the world today. Chi
na will neter take its rightful
pla\:e among the leading com
mercial nations of the world
until its currency is put on a
sound basis and standardized.!
This problem touches every
man. woman and child \n China!
and is ox greater personal con
cern than even the form of gov
ernment by which they are to
be ruled. Of all China's diffi
culties this one of currency,
reform should be among the
first to be tackled. Indication^
are that for reasons both pecu
liar and selfish it will be ond
of the last.
* • •
Foreigners hav^ been urgii)^
currency reform, *and Chines**
officials .have been promising
currency reform for generations. Edicts have been!
issued with ponderous aplomb, elaborate plans have
'been solemnly tendered by foreign monetary experts 1
and as solemnly accepted by Celestial officials. But)
the go0d old way is so deep rooted that it prevails lq 1
these days of democracy just as It did when despotism!
flourished. When the republic does get around to thef
money question it will face a staggeringlproposition.
• • •
To begin with, there are copper coins of various
denominations. Then there are silver dollars of divers
mints fashioned after the Mexican dollar, with a valud
which fluctuates between 50 and 42 cents, American
money. The silver shoe or sycee of different size^
and values adds its seed to this monetary apple oil
discord. A motley collection of paper currency fills
in the chinks, big and coarse like small paper bags^
ofttimes twice as big as an American bill, and beajH
ing the name of a dozen foreign banking houses otj
provincial banks. Top all this off with the stream!
of coinage and paper currency which pours in dailsj
for exchange fr< every country on the face of th4
globe and you have a nice mess of pottage. Mix irt
with this the more or less legal issues of nearly every
province, whether the provincial treasury has th© act4
ual cash or credit to back It up “or not, and the gen-}
uine counterfeit for. every supposedly genuine coin of^
bill in the market, and diluted mush with hastily
scrambled eggs on the side is glace fruit In comparH
ison.
* * * i
The tourist who bucks the money market In Chinai
gets a liberal education. He soon agrees with Breti
Harte that "For ways that are dark and tricks thall
are vain, the heathen Chinee is peculiar.” As a matJ
ter of fact however, the foreigners themselves are noij
without th©ir share of blame for this chaotic condl-j
tion. Foreign banks and individual Europeans andj
Americans have made, and are still making, and will
continue to make, fortunes out of the daily fluctuation
of the money market. For instance, the daily rate o1J
exchange is not fixed in Pekin, or Shanghai, or Hong-}
kong, but in London. Money changing made twoi
knights of the British realm and one great university)
in Hongkong wjthin the past decade.
v • • •
As baseball is the national pastime of Americans,
so is money changing to the Chinese. Even the loweRti
coolie who toils ten hours a day to earn the equivalent!
of 10 cents American money will go to the artful
money changer for an additional hour or two of hag-i
gling whicli cannot possibly net him a gain of more
than half a cent. When he goes to his humble homej
he may spend another precious hour on frenzied fi
nance deduction, only to learn that he was skinned out!
of half a cent. Then he goes philosophically to bed to*
wait for the chance the morrow will bring him to getJ
even.
Pity then the guileless foreign tourist, for the na
tive money changer, like the poor, is always with him!
every day of his headlong sightseeing rush through
China. The only difference is that at the end of thd
tour he is poor, but th e money chang*r isn’t. At the
outset the deft coin juggler has the experience ancl
the tripper nas the money* When *t is all over thd
stranger in a strange land acknowledges the expert
ence and the lucre trimmer owns the money. Th^
money shop, with its enticing black and gold sign in
Chinese and alleged English, Is of necessity the firstl
place to which the tourist goes. Here the revised,
annotated and copyrighted edition de luxe of Shylockl
takes his perfectly good gold and bills/of unimpeacha
ble integrity and gives in return a formidable pile of]
silver and bills which is sure to be less than the rate
of exchange for that -ay calls for.
* * •
To add insult to injury, our crafty friend will then
put all the gold coins In a Lack|and hire a man toj
si. ke ap and down violently for several hours. This 1
rubs the gold dust off the coins and at the end of
day’s “sweating,” as th© process is calJuq, a dollar^M*
more of gold dust is at the bottom of the sack.
* * •
The tourist's initiation is usually in the British)
city of Hongkong. The next stop eighty miles nip
Pearl river is Canton, where the shops will take the)
Hongkong money, but the chair bearers and other coo
lies may not. This necessitates a change, at a loss,
of course, to Canton money. Before proceeding north
to Shanghai all this Hongkong and Canton currency)
must be changed to Shanghai values. Perhaps silver 1
has depreciated somewhat in the intefim, and the ex.-)
change nips again. If the traveler is so careless as
to wait to turn over his cash in Shanghai the change 1
will cost considerable, perhaps as high as 10 per cent
sometimes. Before going up to North China whatever
money one has left is turned, with the usual loss into)
Tientsin money. Fortunately, this last generally
passes current in Pekin, ^ighty-five miles above Tien
tsin, although the capital district has some silver coins
distinctly its own. On the return trip south the gam'e 1
works on/the back track.
• • *
It is easy to see why there will be no serious mon
etary rerprm and standardizing of currency in China)
so long as it can be staved off by foreign banks and
their Chinese associates, and the thousands of Chi
nese money changers to, be found in every nook and;
cranny of the country who make their living by the’
traffic.
» * *
Primitive Chinese currency, dating back to prehis
toric times, consisted of axes, spades, inscribed skins,
tortoise Shells, cowries, armlets, rings and silk rolls.
As far forward as A. D. 1329 the imperial treasury
received 1,133,119 strings of cowries. Silver was used'
to a certain extent about the same time, perhaps a cen
tury or two before. Gold passed as currency from the’
beginning of the eleventh century B. C. In modern
times pure Chinese gold has been hoarded by the
wealtfiy in vaults or pawn shops in the shape of ingots,
gold leaf and jewelry. Iron was used for money in the/
Han dynasty, B. C. 206. In the. tenth century iron
was common, everyday money in that part of China
which is now known as Szechuan province. As late
as A. D. 1861 iron was used for money in some remote
provinces when copper was not forthcoming from Tun
nan province. This coinage, of .course, was big and
heavy and below its face value. »
x^l these were eccentric forms of currency, and Chi
na’s Teal money has teen copper, paper and silver.
Copper (or bron- . is the basis of the land's currency.
Coinage legislation began in B. C. 1032, when the em
peror decreed that therafter metallic pieces should be
exchangeable according to weight. Inscribed coins
soon followed, but for 300 years the inscriptions did
not stipulate weight or value. The custom of casting
coins in regular shapes and sizes and of constant
weights began early in the seventh century B. C. Chi
na has had a copper coinage for twenty-five centuries,
and a coinage of the shape used to this day, round
coins with square holes, for twenty-one centuries,
without a break. I n other words, the Chinese
using currency when only the Druids peopled the,
British isles,* when the wild Germanic tribes groped
in the Black Forest, before the roving Norwegians dis
covered America and founded the colony of Vlnland.