SPECIE PAYMENTS 



5487 



SPECTACLES 



situation was so serious that the government 

 authorized the banks of the country to sus- 

 pend the payment of specie, or coin, and to 

 give out only paper money, called then credit 

 money, and in times of stress of uncertain 

 value. The resumption of specie payments is 

 usually very gradual, and it requires some time 

 for the country to recover from the financial 

 strain of such a crisis. In the instance referred 

 to above, resumption did not begin until 1817, 

 and it was several years before conditions were 

 normal. Other similar experiences occurred in 

 1837-1838, 1846, 1857-1858, and a later one of 

 most far-reaching effects following the War of 

 the Rebellion. 



The Last Resumption. The United States 

 government was compelled to finance a very 

 expensive war from 1861 to 1865 with its treas- 

 ury ill prepared. The banks of the country 

 were obliged to suspend specie payment in the 

 closing days of 1861, for their specie was practi- 

 cally exhausted. Owing to the grave political 

 conditions of the times war at home, and dan- 

 ger of a war with England the people began 

 to hoard their gold and silver, instead of in- 

 trusting it to the banks. But one course 

 seemed open to the statesmen of the time, 

 namely to issue a large volume of United 

 States treasury notes, generally called green- 

 backs, and compel their circulation as money 

 by making the people accept them in all busi- 

 ness transactions. This gave temporary relief, 

 and two similar issues were afterwards made, so 

 that by the end of the war there were over four 

 hundred million dollars of such money in the 

 United States. 



The problem then was what to do with this 

 mass of paper money. It 'was at first planned 

 gradually to retire it by paying off a few mil- 

 lions each month, the Secretary of the Treasury 

 being authorized to sell government bonds and 

 use the proceeds for this purpose. About fifty 

 millions were thus retired. The majority of 

 the people believed, however, that the better 

 way was to keep this money in circulation but 

 make it as good as gold, and the only way to 

 do that was for the government to stand ready 

 to pay gold for it when demanded. In 1869, 

 Congress solemnly declared it to be the pur- 

 pose of the United States to pay the green- 

 backs in "coin or its equivalent." Accordingly, 

 in 1875 a b.ll was enacted making arrangements 

 to "resume specie payment" January 1, 1879. 

 The Secretary of the Treasury was authorized 

 to sell bonds and accumulate a store of gold for 

 the purpose of redeeming, on demand, the 



greenbacks. But in 1878 Congress enacted that 

 the volume of greenbacks then in circulation 

 $346,681,016 should not be retired when pre- 

 sented for payment, but should be reissued 

 and paid out again and kept in circulation. 



Many doubted the ability of the government 

 to resume specie payment according to prom- 

 ise. The Treasurer accumulated a large fund 

 of gold, and then it was discovered that the 

 great mass of the people had no desire to ex- 

 change greenbacks for gold. They were as 

 good as gold simply because the government 

 was ready to exchange gold for them. In the 

 next twelve years only about $28,000,000 were 

 presented for redemption. January 1, 1879, 

 marks the resumption of specie payment by 

 the United States, and since that time all gov- 

 ernment issues of whatever nature are on a 

 parity with gold. W.F.Z. 



Consult Sparks' National Development; Dew- 

 ey's Financial History of the United States. 



SPECIES, spe'sheez, in the classification 

 of plants and animals, a group of individuals 

 which reproduce their kind. All members of 

 one species are alike in various essential par- 

 ticulars and show a resemblance to a common 

 ancestor. Several species are included in a 

 genus, and a species is in turn divided into 

 varieties. See CLASSIFICATION, for fuller ex- 

 planation. 



SPECIFIC GRAVITY, spesif'ik grav'iti. 

 See GRAVITY, SPECIFIC. 



SPECTACLED, spek'takl'd, BEAR, the 

 name given to the only species of bear found 

 in South America, so called from the light- 

 colored circles around its eyes. It is a native 

 of the Chilean and Peruvian Andes, and is a 

 small animal with smooth, shiny black fur, 

 marked with white on the jaws, throat and 

 chest. Very little is known of its habits. See 

 BEAR. 



SPECTACLES, spek'takl'z, the name given 

 to an instrument or device for aiding and cor- 

 recting defective sight, consisting of a pair of 

 lenses mounted in a frame to hold them in 

 position before the eyes. The first device of 

 this kind was invented probably by Roger Ba- 

 con, in the thirteenth century. It was crude 

 and clumsy and was not greatly improved until 

 the eighteenth century, when the grinding of 

 lenses was first based upon the principles of 

 the refraction of light. 



The lenses are made of clear or rock crystal 

 glass and are ground to suit the defect of the 

 eye. In cases of nearsightedness, a concave 

 glass is used; by this means the rays of light 



