but that many of our young men are also sent abroad to obtain that thorough education and training in government institutions which they are unable to obtain at home.

IMPORTANCE OF A NATIONAL MINING COLLEGE.

The establishment of a national mining college would be one of the best or most effective means of securing the proper working of the mines and of promoting permanent and profitable mining enterprises, and thus tend to maintain a large production of the precious metals, especially from veins and deep placers, or wherever capital and skill is required. The dissemination of accurate information regarding mineral veins and their contents, and upon the various methods for extracting and reducing the ores economically, would prevent much of the present ill-directed energy and expenditure of time and money, often upon localities where there is little room to hope for success. Such institutions are absolutely neces sary to gather the teachings of experience and to place them in a form available to the many persons now interested and yet to be engaged in mining, and to the prospectors who are penetrating our unequalled mineral regions in all directions and are constantly discovering new sources of wealth. The country cannot do too much to sustain and encourage the men who are thus prospecting the unexplored and almost inaccessible portions of the public domain, and to whom we are chiefly indebted for the discoveries which have been made. We should not leave them to labor unaided, but should follow them by organized explorations, by careful examinations of the veins and mineral deposits which they discover, and by the speedy publication of reliable and full information upon them. One of the prominent features of a school of mines should be practical laboratories and metallurgical works upon a moderate scale, in which the students could take practical lessons in the working of ores by all the known and approved methods, including the mechanical preparation of ores, their concentration by water and by fire in furnaces, or their reduction in pans or otherwise. These laboratories would be miniature metallurgical establishments, where ores of all kinds, "docile" or "rebellious," would be received, experimented upon, and treated by the best methods, while the theory of the processes would be fully given and the chemical reactions explained, so that the students would obtain a thorough knowledge and comprehension of the principles involved in the chemical treatment of ores and be prepared to adapt themselves to other circumstances in which they might be placed when called upon to treat ores in regions remote from supplies. Such a government mining school would not only directly promote mining industry, but it would greatly increase the amount of exact scientific knowledge among the people, and thus promote, in the most effectual manner, general scientific education, the results of which would be felt in all our industrial pursuits.

It is gratifying to all the friends of mining industry to know that the establishment of such an institution is already engaging the attention of Congress. Foremost among its advocates is Senator Stewart, of Nevada, who in 1867 introduced and ably supported a bill for the organization of a National School of Mines.

CORPS OF MINING ENGINEERS SUGGESTED.

In connection with, and as partly growing out of, such a mining college, the government should organize and make provision for a corps of mining engineers, to be filled subsequently by the graduates of the college; the members of the corps to have rank and promotion corresponding with the grades of the corps of military engineers.

Such a body of thoroughly educated men should be charged with the duty of exploration of our mineral regions; with the collection of information upon them; with the preparation of reports upon mineral deposits, and memoirs upon mining and metallurgy, all of which would form the basis for publications at regular intervals, giving to the people such information as would best promote their interests and the national prosperity.

Engineers, so educated and sustained by the government, would be animated by laudable ambition and enthusiasm, and would be strengthened by an esprit de corps tending to their moral and æsthetic elevation. They would be in a position to give independent and reliable opinions and advice upon the value of our mineral deposits and the best method of developing them.

Such an organization would open a new and inviting field to our young and enterprising men, the graduates of schools of science, and others, who seek a career in the fields of science.

In view of the recognized necessity of thorough technical education to the highest industrial and commercial development of a nation, the organization of a national corps of mining engineers has an increased importance; for, as already argued in regard to the influence of a mining college, it would have an immense influence in promoting general scientific education, thereby causing an exact knowledge of the fundamental laws of nature to pervade the people, and giving them a greater power over our vast material resources.

Another great means of increasing the production of the precious metals is the construction of railways across the country, by which prospectors and supplies can be carried into the heart of what are now comparatively unexplored and unknown mineral regions; and by which machinery can be delivered at moderate cost to extensive regions already known, but remaining comparatively dormant for the want of rapid and cheap communication with the centres of supply both east and west.

16 G

CHAPTER X.

UNIFICATION OF GOLD AND SILVER COINAGE.

EVILS OF A DIVERSITY IN THE SYSTEMS OF WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND COINS-ADVANTAGES OF A SIMPLE UNIVERSAL SYSTEM-MOVEMENT FOR MONETARY UNITY-MosETARY CONVENTION-OBSERVATIONS OF MR. BECKWITH, Mr. Kuggles, AND SENATOR SHERMAN ON THE TREATY-PROPOSITIONS BY MR. KENNEDY ADOPTED BY THE COMMITTEE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY CONFERENCE-ARGUMENT FAVORING A 25-FRANC COIN-PROFESSOR Levi's SPEECH-REPORT of Delegation FROM GREAT BRITAIN-REPORT OF ROYAL COMMISSION-VIEWS OF M. CHevalier-OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THE UNITED STATES, AND THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION-CONCLUSION. The inconveniences and losses arising from the great diversity of systems of weights, measures, and coins among the chief nations of the earth have long been felt and acknowledged, but they are becoming greater and more evident with the constantly increasing facilities for international communication, by which the people and the commodities of remote regions are brought, into constant and close contact.

The collections in the department of weights, measures, and coins of the Paris Exposition comprised no less than 36 different systems of weights, based upon 36 different units; 67 different systems of measures, based upon 62 different units; and 35 different standards of gold and silver coin belonging to 18 different monetary systems, based upon 18 different units or measures of value.

ADVANTAGES OF A UNIVERSAL SYSTEM.

The numerous benefits to be derived from a universal system, simple and uniform, in place of this great incongruity and disorder, are not always present to the minds of those who are not occupied with the study of this subject. They may be grouped under the heads of educational, economic and scientific, and commercial. Some of the advantages under each of these heads will be noted.

EDUCATIONAL.

The nature and relations of numbers, together with the systems of weights, measures, and coins, belong to the elementary studies of children in common schools. They are the rudiments or beginnings of knowledge taught by all nations, of every-day use through life, and nothing more generally useful or necessary is subsequently learned even by those who live to be venerable philosophers and statesmen. But however indispensable this part of knowledge is, no common school undertakes to teach more than a part of it. So many systems without any common or connecting principle, or with so many different principles of

evolution, cannot be mastered and retained in the mind without long study and great efforts. It is practically impossible for the great portion of the people to acquire a complete knowledge of the many different systems, and, indeed, it is rare to find those who acquire and retain any permanent knowledge of the systems of any one country. The incohe rent and illogical systems are difficult to remember, and the recollection. of them becomes dim and uncertain, if not frequently revived.

If the systems of all countries were effectively resolved into one, based upon a decimalized unit, this entire branch of useful knowledge would come within the easy comprehension and reach of every child, and the time required to learn and understand it would be many times less than is now necessary for the incongruous systems of any one country.

ECONOMICAL AND SCIENTIFIC.

The subject becomes more interesting, if not more important, in its connection with the studies of the more advanced student. No one can acquire a thorough, or even a respectable knowledge of political and social science without an easy familiarity with the various systems of weights, measures, and values. The relation of labor to capital, for example, is a subject which at present attracts serious attention in all civilized countries, and an intelligent inquiry involves the study of social and industrial organizations, and the products of labor and skill of many kinds in many countries. These investigations cannot be made useful, comparisons cannot be drawn, and instructive results be attained without a knowledge of the numerous systems.

The science of economics is, for the most part, based upon statistics, and the study of a wide range of statistics is impossible without the use of the keys which unlock them and render them intelligible. But so great is the labor of conversion of numerous systems into the one system of appreciation most familiar and easy to the mind, that foreign statistics, to a very great extent, as they are presented to us, are but approximations and rough estimates embracing many errors. The advantages of a uniform system of measures and values in collecting and diffusing useful knowledge in this department are obvious. They are specially evident to those who have been led to study the Exhibition and learn the lessons taught by the products and statistics of various countries. They will be evident to the readers of the reports on the Exposition. The labor of preparing the present report and of deducing conclusions would have been greatly lessened if the statistics of various countries had been presented in one uniform system of weights and values. Its accuracy and its value would also have been greatly enhanced.

COMMERCIAL.

The numerous and intelligent body of men engaged in commerce in all countries are familiar with the importance of a uniform system of measuring quantities and values.

Commerce is the exchange of products; quantity and value are elements of exchange, and conversions of quantities and values from one system to another, or rather from all systems into the one most habitual to the individual, and in which his appreciations will be most accurate is the endless labor of the merchant. To find the equivalent of one quantity in another system of expressing quantities, or of one value in another monetary system, by conversion, is indeed considerable labor, and if the data or elements of the computation do not previously exist in the mind the attempt will generally end in a resort to formulas or to tables used mechanically and without understanding them. Much time is lost in such computations, and the labor often necessitates the employment of experts at high salaries. All such difficulties operate as hindrances to trade and commercial expansion. Witnesses examined before the Royal Commission stated that the smaller manufacturers and traders of Great Britain are deterred from engaging in foreign transactions by the difficulties attendant upon a diversity of weights and measures, and by the difficulty of calculating exchanges and of remitting small sums from one country to another. Commercial statements, invoices, and lists of prices expressed in the moneys of foreign countries are not readily intelligible in England or in the United States. The adoption of an international uniform monetary system would facilitate and lead to the extension of the money-order system to foreign countries, by which the remittance of small sums could be made at will by the people.

Monetary systems are theories for measuring and computing values, and exist chiefly in matters of finance and account. Coin is but the material expression of parts of those systems, made to pass from hand to hand as measures of value in exchange of products and property, and whenever the monetary systems are harmonized corresponding changes in coin will naturally follow.

Among the most useful things which have become nearly universal among the nations are the numerals of the Arabs and the alphabetic letters of the Romans. A conviction of the benefits of these unities is felt in every industry, every profession and occupation, every branch of science, art, and literature, and a like conviction of the importance and necessity of a universal system of weights, measures, and values is growing in the public mind-in the mind of the whole civilized world;-it spreads with the increase of commerce, the exchange of ideas, and the diffusion of knowledge.

A movement so universal, so peaceful and harmonious, and so desirable, is not likely to cease nor diminish, but to augment in force and velocity. The inequality of the movement hitherto is remarkable. Several countries have entirely abolished their ancient incongruous systems and adopted the metrical-decimal system, which though not perfect is thought by many to be the best that has yet been found.

Numerous other countries have adopted portions of this system, while Great Britain and the United States have legalized the two sections rela