MONEY: ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 381 
and the balcony for the music was of pure solid silver. I am happy to say that 
no trace of this is left 
Similar intentions forgot entirely that gold and silver lose directly a part of 
their value, if it is not possible to buy with them all that is needed. The best 
proof of this statement is found during the early times of the California gold pro- 
duction. The value of the California gold was directly made out by the United 
States Mint — the ounce of gold dust equal to $18.05, o^ i" bars to $18.48. But 
the'gold in California retained this value only a few months after the discovery. 
The amount of coined money was at the time entirely insufficient, and for the 
largest part needed for payment to the Custom House. Therefore, by the lack 
money, which was here curiously the consequence of an enormous production of 
precious metals, the gold dust itself became a medium for exchange. An ounce 
■of gold dust had declined the next month (in August) from $18.50 to $16, and 
later on even to $10. Therefore the citizens of San Francisco together united in 
resolutions, of which I shall read only the last : 
4. " That every merchant taking gold dust at $16 per ounce in payment is 
to be meritoriously acknowledged." 
The consequence of the fixed value of gold was simply that all merchandise 
and wages rose outrageously. There is a queer relic of the old California times 
still in existence in Oregon, Washington and the other northern Territories. The 
smallest currency there is in fact a quarter of a dollar, called two bits. If anybody 
buys a thing and tries to pay for it with the dime just returned to him, perhaps it 
will be taken, but in the eyes of the merchant you see clearly that you are classified 
among the meanest set of customers he ever met with. Of course, you have the 
chance to lose 20 per cent on each dollar, and you are sure to lose 10 per cent 
of it. 
The prohibition to export gold is similar to prohibiting an individual from 
spending the money he has in his pocket. If he buys with profit he grows richer 
than before, though the money paid by him is no longer in his pocket. It would 
be therefore more advisable than prohibitory to order that everyDody shall buy 
with profit. I do not know that any such edicts are still in force, except perhaps 
in some Asiatic Government. 
A very similar incongruity exists when the wealth of a nation is calculated 
according to the returns of exports and imports. Suppose a merchant has ex- 
ported $100,000 worth of merchandise, and has bought with it and imported with 
profit goods worth $150,000. The returns quote $50,000 'more imported than 
exported, and calculate this balance as disadvantageous to the State. But if the 
goods which were to be imported had been taken by pirates or lost at sea, the 
$100,000 more exported would show a splendid balance to the State, which in 
fact had grown so much poorer. Everybody is aware that the fact of receiving 
a large amount of money is not necessarily identical with becoming richer; the 
more so as the wealth of a nation, as well as of an individual, consists in the 
value of all he possesses, and that the money is only a part of it, and mostly a 
smaller part, if he is very rich. Therefore, a larger receipt of money shown by 
