PREMIUM ON GOLD AND COMMODITIES

82 THAT DOG NEXT DOOR By R J Dr Corpova CHAPTER ITHE PERIOD OLD was at a very high premiumhigher than had ever been known before Com modities of all kinds foreign and domestic but especially the foreign were so dear that none but army contractors horse contractors mule con tractors tent contractors steamship contractors and ring plunderers could afferd to purchase anything. What with the unhappy and cruel Civil War and the premium on gold and the protectionist tariff it was as much as any mans nerves were worth to venture to inquire the price of any commodity at all Paper money was so abundant that any gentleman fortunate enough to have a thousand dollars or so in gold to throw away on a whimsical luxury might have papered the walls of a small study with Government pro mises to pay one dollar on demand Numbers of persons who had nothing to do but to gamble grew rich Numbers of persons who worked very industriously grew poor. But everybody had paper money and quite an abundance of it com aratively and never gave a thought to the possi bility that paper money would one day dwindle into much smaller.