The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-02
CHINA USED BANK NOTES:
FURNISHED THE WORLD WITH
THE MONEY SYSTEM NOW
IN VOGUE
ITALY ADOPTED THE IDEA
FlOvvery Kingdom Has Also Given
Civilization Many Other Useful
Things, and Also the
Plague.

He"-the Chinese emperor-"buys such
quantity of precious things that his
treasure is endless; while the money he
pays away costs him nothing at ALL
There is the idea Of paper money an5
bank notes as Marco Polo found # at
work in China more than 800 years ago.
IF any of these pieces of paper he s
wrote, ARE spoiled, the owner carries
them to the mint, and by paying 3 per
cent on the value he gets new pieces in
exchange"
The early emperor Of China must have
been shrewd business man. with his
fimsy bank notes and his per cent
profit on Their flimsiness. But there wa.
the great idea of written promises to nav
serving as money, and the world snap-
ped 1t up,
Marco Polo was an Italian, and his
book was eagerly read by the bankers
OF Italy, who adopted the Chinese idea
OF paper money and written promises to
pay such as notes, bills of exchange.
and checks They founded a COLONY I'm
London, the bankers from Lombardv.
who gave the name to Lombard street
the home Of the art of banking. The
Ch1nese idea has spread and has become
the very root idea of civilized com
merce, the system Of credit on which
all our wealth is founded.
SECRET INTACT FOR CENTURIES
The word China means to us norce,a,n
vi translucent pottery, and specimens
from the Chinese empire have been found
III .oonlos OF the ancient Egyptians Chi
nese porcelain was common In Eurone
Tor 400 years before a German hotter
succeeded in finding out the process ~
making 1t. This Chinese pottery is scat
tered all over the world, and evervvvbere
valued; but nowhere was the distrfhn-
ton more curious than in Western Cana
I'd HarIy IN the century a Chinese Junk
was cast away on the Pacific coast ~
America Just south of Vancouver island
and It's cargo of willow-pattern nIateS
AeIl INTO the hands of the Hudson Raw
company's officers. Still in the renotect
trading posts of the fur traders q few
nne specimens remain
me Chinese taught US the use of tea
ana gunpoWder. This last the early Arab
tIaders used to call Chinese snow and
Chlne6e salt, and brought it to Eurone
with the most amazing results. Now. this
ancient Chinese invention is being used
TO spread the blessings of civilization
among our Chinese benefactors The
Chlnese nave been wearing silk for $500
years. Cotton came very early from Chit
ma, In the heavy textile, which we cali
hahkeen' after the Chinese city Nankin.
SOME FINE GAME BIRDS.
TO China we owe several game birds
the golden pheasant the silver. the
reeves, the Lady Amherst and the ring
meek Pheasant.the Cochin China fowl
ducks ~ 1Nii4U0 VI
The Chinese taught US the use of fish
Clues and fish gelatines. From the o,Iro
o. o. a sumach tree they made the beautiful
Chlnese Iacquers for ornamental wood
work They invented the color verniI-
ION, made of one part quicksilver and
TWO parts sulphur. OF precious stonesle
Jaoe is Chinese product. The Chinese
cypress is one of our garden trees. the
Chinese hemp one of the flbres used for
ropes and cordage. OF precious timber
they gave US the camphor wood and the
sandal wood, and of spices the cassia
and the cinnamon
Inc chrysantheTnum, the Jananeca ~
Ilonal flower. came first to US from ~,hiTa
In l we have always called Cline tba
rlowery Lana because Of her MAJ SECS
garden plants. From thence cane onr
tiger lily, the cameia and azaIea +be ~, oui
oenia' and probably the jasmine q
Inc goldfish and the silver fish are from,
Cnlna' sold in the streets of Chinese cit
les oy peddlers. From China we have
the paper lanterns, sunshades anS fans
anu americans use the Chinese paper
napkin. AS to newspapers, the Oldest
IN the world is the Pekin Gazette
some OF the gifts of China have not
peen popular-the black death, for IN
stance. Five hundred and fifty years
ago the bubonic plague broke out In
China and killed 1S,00O,Oo0 people. Spread
ing through Asia it carried off 24,OO0,90O
more Victims In fifteen years it struck
Italy and swept away just half the pop
ulation.