Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/417

 especially interesting to note that both in custom and legislation the people of early Oregon favored and understood metallic currency even before the discovery of gold made its possession possible in any great quantity. This discovery, however, fixed the habit and lays the basis for that opposition to the legal tenders which makes such an interesting chapter in the monetary history of the whole coast. The opposition to the greenbacks is well analyzed, although it would seem to the reviewer that the latter part of the thesis should have received a fuller treatment, relative to the earlier part. It would, perhaps, lie beyond the scope of the thesis, but the reader cannot help desiring to know the attitude of the Oregon population to the national bank notes when they made their appearance. It would be interesting also to know more fully the influence of the attitude of the Pacific Coast in favor of the specific contract on the development of that idea in national monetary legislation. The use of the gold slug as a medium of exchange for large transactions is not noted.

The diagrams which are used to show the comparative fluctuations of legal tender notes in Oregon and New York City and the comparative table of prices of commodities to show that prices in Oregon did not follow the legal tender fluctuations of the east are instructive and interesting. JAMES E. ROBERTSON. Berkeley, California.