Tables of relative values of gold and silver,
Diagram showing the course of relative values from 1840 to

141, 142

1876,

151, 152

Table of the relative legal values of gold and silver in

various countries,

144

Relative values of gold and silver in the United States by

Growth of national debts in the last twenty-five years,

115

Railroad debts of the United States and of the world,

117

The difference between the burden of war debts and the

Table of the rise in average prices from 1849 to 1854. The

latter compared with 1875,

Cause of the great rise of prices from 1862 to 1867,

Causes of the reaction in 1872-3,

130, 131

131

134

Diagram showing the course of prices of commodities from

1840 to 1875,

PROGRESS OF THE AGE.

141, 142

Traffic has nearly quadrupled in twenty-five years,

Increase in the value of railroad tonnage,

124

126

Table of the railroad mileage of each country in the world,

Increase of bank clearings in the United States and

117

England,

124, 125

Extent of the economization of currency by the clearing-

house system,

126

Agencies at work toward a new financial era,

147

MONETARY LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.

Revision of the laws of the United States in 1873,

167

Coinage laws-all the clauses of all laws relating to the

weight, fineness and legal-tender value of United

States and foreign coins, from 1781 to 1876, chrono-

logically arranged,

170-182

The silver dollar the unit,

170, 171, 175, 176

Half dollars, their legal weights and values,

171, 175

Reduction in value of half dollars and other fractional coins.

Fractional coins no longer legal-tender for more than

Legal method of computing the value of the pound sterling,

Laws authorizing the issue and redemption of United States

notes and bonds, chronologically arranged, from 1860

to 1876,

United States notes made legal-tender for all debts,

except duties on imports and interest on the public

debt; Acts Feb. 25, 1862; July 11, 1862, and March

3, 1863,

183-202

186, 189, 190, 191

Made receivable the same as coin for all loans nego-
tiated by the United States; Act Feb. 25, 1862,

186

Made receivable in payment of all loans made to the

Amendment to Pacific Railroad Act of July 2, 1864,

194

Table of amount of each form of obligation of the United

States outstanding, each year since 1860, -

152, 153

Total debt each year since 1791,

154

Foreign indebtedness of the United States,

156

Imports and exports of merchandise and specie, each year

since 1843,

159, 161

Foreign trade balances for and against the United States,

each year since 1843,

162

Authority of the Secretary to make interest-bearing treasury

notes legal tender; Act March 3, 1863,

190, 191

"Seven-thirty" treasury notes made a legal tender; Act

[In addition to the above captions there are marginal notes which
furnish a complete index to all important clauses under each general
head.]

REFERENCE TABLES.

Table 1.-National Banks in the United States each year

256

since 1863,

Tables 2 and 3. - Relative Values of Gold and United States

Notes, with gold at any price not exceeding 285,

Tables 4 and 5. -Monetary Units of all Countries, with

the declared values of their coins in United States

money, January 1, 1874,

257, 258

259

Table 6. Monetary Units of all Countries, and the declared

values of their coins, January 1, 1876,

264

Tables 7 and 8.-Prices of Leading Staple Commodities in

New York for Fifty Years,

265-267

Table of Population of each Country on the Globe in the

period 1874-6,

THE MONEY SYMBOLS.

0

N the cover of this book are grouped, in one design, the three emblems from which are derived the dollar symbol, $, and the pound-sterling symbol, Z. The most prominent and interesting feature of the group is the two pillars, which were derived from the pillars of Hercules, one of the oldest symbols known to the human race. Their composition with the money symbols is due entirely to the emperor Charles the Fifth of Germany, who being also king of Spain adopted them as supporters on either side of his escutcheon, and also placed them in the device on the Spanish "pillar dollar" of the value of fifty-four pence sterling, which became the unit of Federal money in America, and upon the basis of which the pound sterling was valued at $4.44.44. Charles derived the idea from the poetic conceit which gave the name of "Pillars of Hercules" to the two mountains which stand on either side the Straits of Gibraltar, viz.: Calpe, or the Rock of Gibraltar, on the north, and Mount Abyla, in Africa, on the south. The scroll, which in the device on the dollar was twined about the pillars, has by long use been gradually modified, in making the symbol with the pen, so as to assume its present form in the dollar-mark. It is also presumed that in the pound-mark the I was substituted for the scroll, thus still retaining the two pillars which

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