Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 04.djvu/36

324 to America and Europe soon became enormous — so enormous that the metal was no longer precious. The price of gold dropped like a falling- stone, with accelerated velocity, and within a year every money centre in the world had been swept by a panic. Gold was more common than iron. Every government waa compelled to demonetize it, for when once gold had fallen into contempt if was less valuable in the. eyes of the public than stamped paper. For once' the world had thoroughly learned the lesson that too much of a good thing is worse than none of it. Gold is Brought Into Economic Use THEN somebody found a flew use for gold by inventing a process by which it could be hardened and tempered, assuming a wonder- ful toughness and elasticity without losing its non- corrosive property, and in this form it rapidly took the place of steel. In the mean time:every effort was made to bolster up credit. Endless were the attempts to find a sub- stitute for gold. The chemists sought it in their laboratories and the mineralogists in the mountains and deserts. Platinum might have served, but it, too, had become a drug in the market through the discovery of immense deposits. Out of the twenty odd elements which had been rarer and more valu- able than gold, such, as uranium, gallium, etc., not one was found to answer the purpose. In short, it was evident that since both gold and silver had be- come too abundant to serve any longer "for a money standard, the planet held no metal suitable to take their place. The entire monetary system of the world must be readjusted, but in the readjustment it was cer- tain to fall to pieces. In fact, it had already fallen to pieces; the only recourse was to paper money, but whether this was based upon agriculture or mining or manufacture, it gave varying standards, not only among the different nations, but in succes- sive years in the same country. Exports and im- ports practically ceased. Credit was discredited, commerce perished, and the world, at a bound, seemed to have gone back, financially and industrial- ly to the dark ages. One final effort was made. A great financial con- gress was assembled at New York. Representatives of all the nations took part in it. The ablest financ- iers of Europe and America united the efforts of their genius and the results of their experience to solve the great problem. The various governments all solemnly stipulated to abide by the decision of the congress. But, after spending months in hard but fruit- less labor, that body was no nearer the end of its un- dertaking than when it first assembled. The entire world awaited its decision with bated breath, and yet the decision was not formed. At this paralyzing crisis a most unexpected event suddenly opened the way. . i CHAPTER II The Magician of Science AN attendant entered the room where the per- plexed financiers were in session and pre- sented a peculiar-looking card to the presi- ' dent, Mr. Boon. The president took the card in his hand and instantly fell into a brown study. So com- plete was his absorption that Hen* Finster, the celebrated Berlin banker, who had been addressing the chair for the last two hours from the opposite end of the long table, got confused, entirely lost track of his verb, and suddenly dropped into his seat, very red in the face and wearing a most injured expression. But President Boon paid no attention except to the singular card, which he continued to turn over and over, balancing it on his fingers and holding it now at arm's-length and then near his nose, with one eye squinted as if he were trying to look through a hole in the card. At length this odd conduct of the presiding of- ficer drew all eyes upon the card, and then every- body shared the interest of Mr. Boon. In shape and size the card was not extraordinary, but it was com- posed of metal. What metal? That question had immediately arisen in Mr. Boon's mind when the card came into his hand, and now it exercised the wits of all the others. Plainly it was not tin, brass, copper, bronze, silver, aluminum — although its lightness might have suggested that metak^nor even base gold. The president, although a skilled metallurgist, confessed his inability to say what it was. So in- tent had he become in examining the curious bit of metal that he forgot it was a visitor's card of in- troduction, and did not even look for the name which it presumably bore. The Reception of a Visitor's Wonderful Card AS he held the card up to get a better light up- on it a stray sunbeam from the window fell across the metal and instantly it bloomed with exquisite colors ! The president's chair being in the darker end of the room, the radiant card suffused the atmosphere about him with a faint rose tint, playing with sur- prising liveliness into alternate canary color and violet. The effect upon the company of clear-headed fin- anciers was extremely remarkable. The unknown metal appeared to exercise a kind of mesmeric in- fluence, its soft hues blending together in a chro- matic harmony which captivated the sense of vision as the ears are charmed by a perfectly rendered song. Gradually all gathered in an eager group around the president's chair. "What can it be?" was repeated from lip to lip. "Did you ever see anything like it?" asked Mr. Boon for the twentieth time. None of them had even seen the like of it. . A spell fell upon the assemblage. For five minutes no one spoke, while Mr. Boon continued to chase the flick- ering sunbeam with the wonderful card. Suddenly the silence was broken by a voice which had a touch of awe in it : "It must be the metal!" The speaker was an English financier, First Lord of the Treasury, Hon. James Hampton-Jones, K.C.B. Immediately everybody echoed his remark, and the strain being thus relieved, the spell dropped from them and several laughed loudly over their momen- tary aberration.