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AN

AMERICAN HAND-BOOK OF FINANCE,

WITH OVER EIGHTY TABLES AND DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATIVE

OF THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS:

THE DOLLAR AND OTHER UNITS; PAPER MONEY IN THE UNITED
STATES AND EUROPE; GOLD AND SILVER IN THE UNITED
STATES AND EUROPE; SUSPENSIONS OF SPECIE PAY-

MENTS; THE ERA OF GOLD; VALUES OF THE
PRECIOUS METALS; THE ERA OF DEBT;

THE RISE AND FALL OF PRICES;

ALSO, A DIGEST OF THE

MONETARY LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.

BY W. L. FAWCETT.

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

CHICAGO:

S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.

1877.

HG253

·F3

COPYRIGHT, 1876,

BY S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.

GENERAL

KNIGHT & LEONARD, PRINTERS, CHICAGO.

A. ZEESE & CO., ELECTROTYPERS, CHI.

PREFACE.

HE author's first object in this book was the compi

THE

lation, in a compact form, convenient for reference, of trustworthy statements and figures regarding the great factors in the financial problems of the day, and to which reference is continually made in financial discussions, viz.: the increase and decrease of the volume of paper money at various periods in the United States and in Europe during the last fifty years; the production of gold and silver, and the consumption of these metals in the arts since the beginning of the era of gold in 1849; the additions to the world's stock of gold and silver used as money, and the amounts now in use in all countries; and the increase of debts and traffic in this age of steam; also, in the compilation of monetary laws of the United States, to set forth in the language of the laws themselves the nature of the contract between the government as a borrower and the note and bond holders as creditors.

Whatever of a theoretic nature there is in the following pages has not been prompted by any preconceived notions, nor written in advocacy of any

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