The Pulaskian., 1921-07-14
Writer Tells Some of His Expe- rienCes With Exchange in 18
 Foreign Countries.
CHINAMAN MAKES IT CLEAR
One Little Transaction in Exchange Nets Traveller 700 Per Cent at Har- bn-God Coin at Picking, If Sold, Would Upset the Fi-
 nanciaI System.

Washington, D. C.-Variations in currency exchange rates have not only q broad economic significance but also an extremely personal pertinence to the traveller. Maynard Owen Williams, who has just returned from a trip through IS countries to compile in- formation and collect picture material for the National Geographic society, relates some of his experiences with exchange as follows:
 Tt is only in times of extreme stress that the average American considers the cart wheel and the 'greenback' as commodities much like flour or ma- dras shirting, but for most of the world foreign exchange is vital mat ter every day in the year. When it takes 20 silver dollars to buy an K and a " in Budapest, it sounds like a fairy tale to the man who stops to think it is Uncle Sam's own currency which is treated in this manner. But the Chinese keeper of an exchange shop makes it as plain as day.
 A Chinaman Makes 1t All Clear.
 You walk up to his open counter facing the sidewalk and ask him how much American dollars are selling for this morning.
 ""This morning, price very bad. My no want 'em. No man want to buy No steamer leave today. Saturday big steamer leave for Merica, can give you more better price,
 During the attempt to reseat the boy emperor on the Chinese throne in the summer of 1917, a money changer in Hankow sold me some Picking notes for 20 per cent of their face value, asserting that I could get full value in Picking, if I ever got there. l was on my way to Petrograd and had to get my passport amended in Picking, so I took chance on $25 worth of Picking notes issued by the Bank of Communications which cost $5 in Han- kow, the railway service between the Yangtze port and the capital being interrupted at the time.
 Transaction Nets 700 Per Cent.
 Most of the money I spent at face value in Picking for government tele- grams, but as I was leaving invested few dollars in Chinese postage stamps. At Harbin, where the Chi nese and Russian post offices com peted, 1 trusted my letters to the Chi nese post because of a censorship on Russian mail, and instead of buying Chinese stamps in Russian currency at high exchange rate, I affixed with Chinese currency that was de- based in Hankow. My profit on the transaction ran over TOO per cent.
 "Certain firms and mission boards in China are in the habit of guaran- teeing their workers a rate of at least lar in their salary Otherwise a gold salary would be subject to a decided variation since Chinese dollars in 1915 were worth only 40 American cents, and in 1918 they were worth nearly l dollar. Under this arrangement em- ployees of one American corporation were sending home more money each month than they received as salary. Two hundred dollars a month, con- verted at two to one would bring four hundred Chinese dollars. For 22O of hese the American could buy Ameri- an exchange for $200, and he would nave 1S0 Chinese dollars to live on.
 ..Consular officers get a guaranteed rate of exchange. Military officers