2 9 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



western world yet has for small coin, and for silver in the arts, it will 

 probably be safe to say that if the progress of civilization is not stayed, 

 if it advances only at the rate that has obtained during the nineteenth 

 century, there could be created a demand for the metal to the extent of 

 the full output of the mines of the world at the present time, for prob- 

 ably the next two hundred years. 



The question is, how to inaugurate and encourage this demand, how 

 to introduce among the black and yellow men the coin of the white 

 man, and interest them in its acquisition. Each in its way, the great 

 commercial nations of the day are unconsciously engaged in the task. 

 The English shilling is working northward from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, has already come in touch with the German Mark and the 

 Portuguese peseta which have been introduced on both the east and 

 west sides of the continent, and will in due time meet the French franc 

 and Italian lira coming south from the shores of the Mediterranean. 

 In Asia, the Indian rupee, the Eussian rouble, the Japanese yen and the 

 American-Philippine coins are already competing for the patronage of 

 the Malay and the Chinaman. In South America neither American 

 nor European coins have any foothold, the Latin-American nations 

 being well supplied by systems of their own, all related more or less 

 closely to the coinage of Mexico or Portugal. Thus the plainly evo- 

 lutionary task of pushing civilization into the uneducated parts of the 

 world through commerce is as badly hampered by the different coins 

 offered to the barbarian, as are the efforts of the evangelists to intro- 

 duce Christianity by the existence of the various denominations and 

 creeds. The church is beginning to appreciate the wastage in its 

 efforts, and is trying to minimize it by combinations among the de- 

 nominations having for their object to standardize Christianity, so to 

 speak, by reducing tenet and dogma to the lowest possible terms. Com- 

 merce must do the same. The white man's coins must be standardized 

 and simplified. If this can be accomplished, not only will the western 

 nations be able to push their commercial influence much faster than 

 now, but a new and immense field will be opened to the producers of 

 silver, which should not only stay the decline in values, but restore it 

 for a century or two to the position it held fifty years ago. This 

 achievement in its turn should have the effect of checking the present 

 flood of gold, which is already a menace to commerce, and which in 

 another decade will certainly culminate in disaster to the world's finan- 

 cial system. Eor if silver mining should become as profitable as of old, 

 by reason of a return of value to $1.30 per ounce, many who are now 

 reluctantly engaged in the extra-hazardous business of gold mining 

 will abandon it in favor of the much less hazardous one of silver pro- 

 duction. 



In looking over the field to devise ways and means to secure an 



