Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1913 — MONEY A NATION’S SYMBOL [ARTICLE]

MONEY A NATION’S SYMBOL

National Character Bhown by the Workmanship and Texture of Banknotos. The form taken by'money in each country, is a curiously accurate Indication of the character and tastes of the inhabitits thereof, writes James Davenport Whelpley, discussing “The Trade of France." The stately English banknote of splendid workmanship and uncompromising severity; toe German note with its rude proportions and florid style of finish; the American certificate of the most convenient size, perfect workmanship, crispness of design, and with the glint of the metal it stands for; the slovenly Italian paper money, dirty, carefully cut, and to be carefully Inspected before it is accepted as genuine; and then, the beads and shells of the savage. There Is no better illustration of this reflective character than toe money of France. Carefully adjusted in size to fit the wallet carried by every careful Frenchman —and all Frenchmen are careful of money—fine of texture, artistic in design and light and delicate in coloring, it possesses a fineness beside which toe money of other nations looks cold and brutal. In the same way the French show fineness and subtlety In their' manner of living, their loves and hates, their crimes, their politics, their fighting and even in their trade and manufacturing. They have no real competitors in this. If It could be said that the money also revealed the strength as well as the delicacy of the Damascus blade, and this were true, all would be well with the nation which holds toe center of the map of Europe. But here toe simile ends,tor while the temper Is good and the edge is keen, in international affairs it fails to strike toe convincing blow.—Century Magasine. •