AMERICAN SUPERIORITY 289 



II. The Quarter— 25 cents— 10 sgr. ly 2 pfg- Prussian, 

 is the coin most frequently met with; it stands in equal 

 value with the 



English shilling, though worth seven pfenning less. 



East Indian half rupees a trifle less in value. 



French francs, in reality two silvergroschen, ten pfen- 

 nings less in value than the American quarter. Notwith- 

 standing this fact, the coin generally passes for a quar- 

 ter, though it does seem strange. The story is frequently 

 told that a local firm, Godefroy & Sillem, branch house 

 of the world-renowned firm of Godefroy & Co., Hamburg, 

 imported some three years ago a large quantity of francs 

 and put them in circulation as quarters, which they 

 closely resemble, at least in size. It proved successful 

 and Godefroy realized an enormous gain from this trans- 

 action. But the secret leaked out. Nowadays, many im- 

 migrants are loaded with francs, the most profitable mer- 

 chandise for importation. This will not last long and 

 measures to prevent the circulation of the franc in its 

 present form will soon be taken ; even now people are try- 

 ing to avoid them. 



Cuartillo Pesos, coined in Old Spain, Mexico, Central 

 American Republics, Peru, Bolivia, New Granada, Bra- 

 zil, Argentine Republic, Paraguay and Chile are very 

 numerous and perhaps the most honest equivalent of- 

 fered for the American quarter-dollar, as it even weighs 

 a trifle more. 



Prussian Half Florin (Gulden). For curiosity's sake 

 I shall mention an attempt to flood the market with these 

 coins. Godefroy 's successful experiment had induced 

 another German firm to do likewise. J. G. Schroder, the 

 Hamburg merchant prince and banker, is said to have 

 been tempted to this transaction by his local representa- 

 tive. Well, the Prussian Half Florins, which are scarcely 

 worth one-half of an American quarter, had found many 

 dupes, as its size deceives the guileless,— of which there 

 are still some left! But Schroder's agent was in too 

 great a hurry to get-rich-quick and the flooding of the 

 monev market with these ooins was resented bv San 



