I See cobnwallis, op. Cit., pp. 4-7.

186 History op the greenbacks

and the weekly or monthly issues of the financial journals

gave full reports of current fluctuations, and more permanent

records were made by the compilation of a number of tables

showing the highest and lowest prices each day for a series

of years. Such tables may be found in Hunt's Merchants 1

Magazine, the Commercial and Financial Chronicle, the

Bankers 1 Magazine, and the annual Reports of the Chamber

of Commerce of the State of New York. 1

All of these tables appear to be constructed in the same

general manner from the recorded transactions of the most

Important of the New York markets. From January 13,

1862, To June 20, 1864, they are based upon sales at the

stock exchange. On June 21 the "gold bill" went into

effect and stopped all dealing in gold outside the private

offices of brokers. 2 From this time until the repeal of the

"gold bill" by the act of July 2, there was no organized

market, and the quotations are those ruling on the street.

After the repeal, transactions in gold on the stock exchange

were infrequent, and most of the business was done in the

"gold room." From July, 1864, on, therefore, the tables

are based upon the latter market. 3

In studying the fluctuations in the gold value of the paper

currency it is necessary to go back to these records of the daily

premium. As the differences between the tables mentioned

are slight, it matters little which set is accepted as a basis for

the investigation. I have decided to use the tables published

in the chamber of commerce reports, not only because of the

official character of the source from which they are taken,

but also because they contain fewer obvious errors of the

press than some of the others. To adapt them better to the

1 SCHTJCKEBS, op. ctf ., pp. 631-4, publishes similar tables for the years 1862-65 pre-

pared by Messrs. B. K. Jamison & Co., bankers, of Philadelphia.

2 See p. 231, below.

9 Compare the explanations made regarding the Commercial and Financial

Chronicle tables; e. gr., Vol. I, p. 168.

SPECIE VALUE OF THE PAPEB CUKBENCY 187

purposes of the present chapter I have altered their form.

As published, the tables show the highest and lowest price

paid each day in currency for $100 in gold. This form of

statement gives the impression that the fluctuations were due

to extraordinary changes in the valuation at which gold was

held by the community, whereas in fact they were due mainly

to changes in the community's valuation of the notes of the

government. When the market quotation was 200 the ex-

planation, of course, was not that men esteemed gold twice

as highly as they had done in 1861, but rather that they

esteemed the paper currency but half as highly as they had

when it was redeemable in specie. A much juster impression

of the significance of the change in the relative values of gold

and paper money is therefore given by quoting currency at a

discount in gold than by quoting gold at a premium in paper ;

by saying, to use a numerical example, that $100 in green-

backs was worth $50 in gold, than by saying that $100 in

gold was worth $200 in greenbacks. For this reason the

chamber of commerce tables for the years 1862 to 1865 have

been converted into tables showing the highest and lowest

daily prices of currency in gold. These tables, given in full