Connecticut western news., 1913-07-17
A CRAZY CURRENCY
China Has a Monetary System
 That Borders on the Chaotic.
UNIT OF VALUE IS THE TAEL.

Yet the Taei Is Neither a Coin Nor an
 Insot, but Merely an Abstract Term, |. and Signifies a Unit of Wsisht-SA-
 yer Shoes and Cash on a String.
 Of the many strange things in China not the least strange is its currency. To the foreigner 1t seems a miracle that any business can, be transacted successfully with such 8 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 hourished in China long before such 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 frsm barter up are in use. A very large part of the 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 ineness and weight The unit of weight is the tael, which is equal to a quantity of silver weighing $50 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 pound" of butter or an "ounce" of gold. Though an abstract term. 1t 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 of silver. His profits are com puted in taels. When be makes pay ment he weighs out the silver accord ing to this unit
 The silver shoes vary in weight from one to seventy-tive taels. All silver shops and banks have forges, where the silver is melted in iron ladies and poured into molds The smelters with their ladies and molds remind one of cooks They stir the silver with pair of metal chopSticks. To one not aware of what they were doing 1t would be natural to suppose that they were en- gagged in concocting something good to eat. In the process of recasting the ingots their f1neness is often changed. being either improved or debased. whichever best suits the interests of the shop. Bankers and money chang CTS are able to determine the quality of 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 leash" and are threaded on strings so that they may be carried across ones shoulder or on pole A string of 1000 of these cash is worth about 50 cents in our money. Some times bits of silver, are clipped from the silver shoes and used for small purchases. When travelling in the in- terior one must take with him 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 be used in the purchase, of silver, and the other in the selling of 1t
 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 hints and began to coin Chinese dollars of approximately the same weight and fneness as the Mexi- can dollars. They also coined an enor- nous amount of subsidiary items in the shape of small silver coins and copper pennies.
 Soon 1t was discovered that the new currency was as unstable as the old. The value of the dollar in relation to the subsidiary coinage varied from day to day. The cent was never worth the hundredth part of dollar. Some days no cents were required to make up $1, and on other days it took 130 cents. Similarly the value of the dollar as compared with the tael was continual ly fiuctuating. Sometimes S100 would bring 70 taels and at other times only 65. It was sickening to the people, but very profitable to the money changers. Weekly.
 The Mozart Cycle.
 The only works of Mozart designed for the stage (there are nearly a score of theml that have remained regular ''repertory operas" as the Germans say, are Don Giovanni" "Figaro" and ''The Magic Flute" Once in awhile, however, Mozart cycle Is given in one of the larger German cities, and