r in his right, and desiring
to convert them into money, repairs to the Philadelphia mint. He applies
there to the proper clerk, who, for simplicity's sake, we will suppose
performs all the operations. The clerk weighs and assays the two pieces
of metal, and finds the gold one to contain 25,800 grains of standard
gold, worth precisely $1,000, which are counted out in bills. A similar
operation reveals that the lump of silver weighs 35,500 grains, but the
clerk is now observed to consult a table before saying, "The market
equivalent of a gold dollar is to-day 710 grains, consequently your
35,500 grains are worth $50;" and he then proceeds to count out the
money in bills precisely like those given in payment for the gold. Upon
examining these at his leisure the reader discovers imprinted thereon a
contract running as follows: "This note entitles the bearer on demand to
[the denomination of the bill] dollars in gold or to the market
equivalent thereof in silver."

In the course of time, say five years hence, these identical notes, by
the accidents of trade, have come into my hands, and I desire to have
them redeemed. Applying to the United States Treasury I find I am
granted the privilege of taking payment in silver, in gold, or partly in
one and the balance in the other. For the purposes of our illustration,
however, we will adhere to the figures already used. In exchange for the
$1,000, then, I receive back precisely the weight of gold originally
given for them. For the $50 I receive six pieces of silver of different
sizes, which I notice are arranged upon a decimal scale of grains. They
contain respectively 30,000, 5,000, 1,000, 500, 100, and 50 grains; in
all 36,650 grains, or 1,150 grains in excess of the original quantity.
Upon inquiry I learn that this excess is not due to any mistake by the
clerk, but that since the first transaction silver has fallen so that
733 grains are now commercially equal to 25.8 grains of gold, and that
the government has simply redeemed my notes at par. After this first
experience I have many subsequent transactions with the mint and with
the Treasury. At the former I find that I have the choice of notes, gold
coin, or silver coin. At first I reject the silver coins as being under
weight, but upon its being explained that they are purposely made light
for the sake of convenience, and that they are by general law redeemable
in the same manner as the notes, I no longer object to them. At the