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.. .v. 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. »JBSCRl?TION PRICE Twelve months 75c Six Months 40c Three months 25c The Semi-Weekly Journal is published on Tuesday and Friday, and is mailed by the shortest routes for early delivery. It contains news from all over the world, brought by special leased wires into* our office. It has a staff f f distinguished contributors, with strong departments of special value to the home and the farm. £§ents wanted at every postofflce. Liberal com mission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R. BRAD LEY, Circulation Manager. Th^ only traveling i^epresentatives we 1 have are .1. A. Bryan, R. F. Bolton, C. C. Coyle, L. H. Kim brough and C. T. Yates. Yv'e will be responsible only for money paid U. the above named traveling repr3- sentatives. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. The label used for addressing your paper shows the time your subscription expires. By renewing at-least two weeks before the date on this label, you insure regular service. ) In ordering paper changed, b.e sure to mention yt'ur old, as well as your new address. If on a route please give the route number. y We cannot enter subscriptions to begin with bfcck numbers. Remittances should be sent by postal order or registered mail. Address all orders and notices for this de partment to THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, 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.