Page:Coin's Financial School.djvu/30

 14 that he had not gone very deep into the subject. His text-books had been the Tribune, Herald, Record and Journal. He did not know that they, too, were getting their information in about the same way.

So now when his friend Scott was in trouble, he greatly sympathized with him. But he could not help him, and was seen to shake his head. Scott sat silently in his seat.

"You will observe," continued "that the law in fixing a dollar or unit does not say, as in the case of gold, that it shall be of the value of 371¼ grains of silver, but that the dollar or unit was silver and its quantity should be 371¼ grains. The amount of alloy added to this quantity of pure silver was afterward changed, but this amount of pure silver, 371¼ grains, has always remained the same and was the unit of values until 1873."

A bright looking kid was now seen standing on a chair in the back part of the room holding up his hand and cracking his finger and thumb. He was asked what he wanted and said:

"I want to know what is meant by standard silver?" then explained that this meant with the government a standard rule for mixing alloy with silver and gold. And when so mixed is called standard silver or standard gold. Before it is mixed with the alloy it is called pure silver or pure gold. The standard of both gold and silver is such that by 1,000 parts by weight, 900 shall be of pure metal, and 100 of alloy. The alloy of silver coins is copper. In gold coins it is copper and silver, but the silver shall in no case exceed one-tenth of the whole alloy. Standard silver and standard gold is the metal when mixed with its alloy.

"I now think we understand," said "what