Evening star., 1921-07-24
Silver Coins Disappear
When You Reach France

pease a taxi driver for his pour
boire." The extended pocket has
been found necessity, but its draw
back lies in the fact that the paper
used IN the smaller bank notes Is SO
fiimsy and tearable, of SO poor a
quality. that when several score are
rammed into one pocket. together
penknife. or perhaps under a we'll
thumbed Baedeker. they are apt TO
be drawn forth we'll gummed to-
gether, many torn to shreds. and not
that they never Gould be unwadded
without losing their identity COM
pletely. Postage stamps also have
their disadvantages AS hand to- hand
currency. especially during the warm
er months, unless, of course, one has
been foresighte enough to tasS
along an album and can tear out q
sheet when needed.
The example used at the beginning
Of this story to bring some balm to
the heart of stay-athomes has been
the rule in France for so long that it
has become quite the accepted thing.
Dignified old garcons and pompous
maIires d'hoCel at the Ritz and the
Cafe de Paris now can lay a platter
full of ragged money and a strip Of
punk stamps before d plethoric host
without batting an eye. Nor is
this alone an actuality in the larger
cities. Coins are just as scarce in
the outlying provinces. From the
banks of the Rhine to the mouth of
the Rhone the little shredded cou-
| pons are everywhere the scourge Of
the wayfarer
Along the Riviera an ingenious
strategy has been resorted to. Stamps
of different denominations are pasted
on small disks of cardboard, over the
stamps are placed round pieces of
isingla and round metal bands are
used to keep the parts together and
afford strength. II is said that this
clever arrangement will bear deal OF
usage. Farther west in Europe IL Is
reported that china coins are COM
monty used
THERE has been put forth but one
good reason why the French pa
per money is printed on such destruc-
| tible and cheap paper. One must spend
it almost Immediately after ACQUIRE
| ing it or it is liable to dwindle away
to few moist ribbons right between
thS>hngers. becoming utterly useless.
Another pitfall that besets the way
of the unwary sojourffer, unless the
quick k-spending method is resorted to.
| is the fact that the banks in each
which are good only where issued. Tne
onlnitiated wanderer may leave
Havre with pockets bulging with pa
per francs only to arrive in Paris and
nnd them spurned by even the red
capped porter on the warpath for
tips.
IN the foregoing erudite essay on
| the financial condition of Europe, no
mention has been made of gold Gold
mas disappeared as mysteriously from
sight as has silver, and yet from a
| totally different cause. There has
been no gold since the middle of the
war. First. the government an
| nounced that paper money would be
| issued in vast amounts.
People Immediately boarded gold.
knowing that its value would be
retained. even If the bottom did fall
! out of paper money. Very soon gold
was at a premium and safely hidden
away in the family sock by the
| thrifty householder for future use.
But not long after that it became
only one thing to be done with it
and that was done. 1t is said,
! though it is hard to verify. that the
| pawnbrokers of Paris have emptied
the coal from the bins in their cell
! lars to fill them up with the bright,
| shining Louis that formerly belonged
| to the thrifty French householder
How the French silver has gone
| by the board and brought about the
! insanitaTy paper epidemic is red
horse Of another color" -Four rea-
! sons are given for this: First, the
government has used great amount
! of it to pay off war debts; secondly,
| the government has stored up vast
! amounts to be able to issue more
paper money; thirdly, there sprang up a
year Or. two ago;sshe game known as
melting her up.c Due to the deprecia-
ton of French money, there came
time when the SILVER in a coin was
worth more than its face value and
many unscrupulous Immediately took
| advantage OF IL. The, government or
dered that no silver should be taken out
of the country. and smuggling and boil
! ing it down for bullion became rampant.
These three methods sofevaporation have
been Set forth to explain the situation by
learned fiQ4nciers who have studied the
question. WHowever. statisticians who
have figured it out to the decimal
point aver that only a small fraction
| of the silver disappeared in this
| wise The greatest bulk of it left
/ France in the form of souvenirs in
| the pockets of the A. z. F., via sthe
| Army and Navy transports. There
| were some 4.000.0O0-odd Americans
! doing" Europe, and being done, dur
| ing the recent alteration with Ger
many, and up to the present time
there have been found only six men
who did not return with fistful of
French coins as trinkets for the folks
| back home.
Street car conductors have COM
puted that there are more franc and
| fiftS-centime pieces in circulation, or,
| rather. trying to get into circulation,
| in the United States every day than
there have been in France during the
past year.