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GOLD AND DEBT,

AN

AMERICAN HAND-BOOK OF FINANCE,

WITH OVER EIGHTY TABLES AND DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATIVE

OF THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS:

THE DOLLAR AND OTHER UNITS; PAPER MONEY IN THE UNITED
STATES AND EUROPE; GOLD AND SILVER IN THE UNITED

STATES AND EUROPE; SUSPENSIONS OF SPECIE PAY-

MENTS; THE ERA OF GOLD; VALUES OF THE
PRECIOUS METALS; THE ERA OF DEBT;

THE RISE AND TALL OF PRICES;

[blocks in formation]

COPYRIGHT, 1876.

BY S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.

KNIGHT & LEONARD, PRINTERS, CHICAGO.

A. ZEESE & CO., ELECTROTYPERS, CHI.

PREFACE.

HE author's first object in this book was the compi

THE

lation, in a compact form, convenient for reference, of trustworthy statements and figures regarding the great factors in the financial problems of the day, and to which reference is continually made in financial discussions, viz.: the increase and decrease of the volume of paper money at various periods in the United States. and in Europe during the last fifty years; the production of gold and silver, and the consumption of these metals in the arts since the beginning of the era of gold in 1849; the additions to the world's stock of gold and silver used as money, and the amounts now in use in all countries; and the increase of debts and traffic in this age of steam; also, in the compilation of monetary laws of the United States, to set forth in the language of the laws themselves the nature of the contract between the government as a borrower and the note and bond holders as creditors.

Whatever of a theoretic nature there is in the following pages has not been prompted by any preconceived notions, nor written in advocacy of any

scheme for ameliorating the financial troubles of the times, but has in each case been incidental to the statement of the facts. If others, upon the basis of the same facts, should arrive at different conclusions, it should not render this compilation of facts any the less valuable as a book of reference, which it was the author's aim to make.

CHICAGO, Dec. 6, 1876.

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