CURRANT

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CURRY

himself, had a warm sympathy with his suffering Catholic countrymen, and spoke eloquently in favor of the government's changing the policy of oppression which was driving them into rebellion. Curran's chief fame came from his speeches in court in behalf of the leaders of the rebellion of 1798, which made him beloved by the whole country. The union of Ireland with Great Britain that followed, Curran opposed as the destruction of his country. His health broken, deserted by his wife, his daughter dead of a broken heart soon after the execution of her lover, Robert Emmet, Curran drudged through eight years as master of the rolls. His last three years were spent in London, where his life was brightened somewhat by the brilliant society of Sheridan, Erskine and Thomas Moore. Curran's little figure, ugly face, bright, black eyes and great vivacity easily marked him out from all others, and his wit, sharpness and brilliant flow of language have hardly ever been equaled. He died Oct. 14, 1817.

Cur'rant. Species of the genus Ribes, which belongs to the saxifrage family. Associated with the currants in the genus are the gooseberries. The genus contains numerous species which are widely scattered, many of them being native to North America. Four species are cultivated in American gardens. R. rubrum includes the red and white varieties, and is found wild in both Europe and North America. R. nigrum is the European black currant. R. Americanum (R. floridum) is the American black currant, very similar to the European form. R. aureum, the Missouri or Buffalo currant with spicy, yellow flowers, is usually grown as an ornamental shrub, being native to western North America.

Currency is a name for the money, whether in coin or in paper, which a nation uses in buying and selling. In different times and places many articles have been circulated as currency, such even as shells. Upon the whole, currency is now in civilized countries based upon gold and silver. The standard currency of the world is gold; but for many reasons other forms have to be used. Thus gold is not plentiful, is too valuable to be used in minor coins, and is heavy and burdensome in exchange. Hence in the United States the currency includes silver dollars and other silver, nickel and copper coins issued by the government; and also gold and silver certificates, treasury notes, United States notes and national bank notes. In return for the U. S. legal-tender notes the government undertakes to redeem them with gold upon demand; and for this purpose 150,000,000 dollars are held in reserve in the Treasury. Each gold and silver certificate that is issued means that a gold or silver dollar has been deposited in the

U. S. Treasury to meet it if presented. The government is now replacing the treasury-notes of 1890 by silver certificates. National bank-notes rest upon the national credit ; and therefore do not merely depend upon the credit of the bank which has issued them. This system of banking dates from the period 1863-65. Previous to these years paper money had been used for which neither the state nor the banks had equivalent gold. There followed a period of distrust and disaster before the successful national banking-system of the present day was attained. The 1901 currency-bill seeks to keep gold and silver at par.

For export, gold coins are more valuable than silver. In the United States the value of the gold and silver dollar is the same for internal trade; but for export the gold dollar is worth half as much again as the silver.

In Great Britain gold is the only standard. Silver is only used to denote fractions of the standard sovereign. Although the government does not issue notes, the notes of the Bank of England fulfil the same purpose. These notes are covered either by gold coins in the vaults or by the bank's own securities. France and Germany have in the main a gold currency; but France uses a good deal of legal-tender silver. Russia, Italy and Austria have a paper currency. The value of the Russian currency is not very constant.

Money tends to be cheap or dear, that is to say, its current buying-power becomes more or less, according as the supply is greater than the demand or the demand than the supply. There is a danger in coining too much silver, and especially too much paper. For instance, to provide enough money during the Civil War, Congress printed so many " greenbacks" or legal-tender notes that in 1864 they were worth little more than one third of their face-value. To debase the coinage by adding more and more alloy was a favorite plan by which rulers in the middle ages increased their stock of ready money; but in such cases the blow to public credit and thus to trade is far greater than the immediate gain. But so long as the paper-currency may be presented and redeemed in coin, the danger of printing too much of it is but slight. See, also, Money and Mint.

Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe (1825-1903), American educator, lawyer and minister, was born in Lincoln County, Georgia and at 13 went to reside in Alabama, where he studied law and in 1845 was admitted to the bar of that state. From 1847 to 1855 he was a member of the Alabama legislature, from which he passed in 1857 to the U. S. Congress, and in 1861 he entered the Confederate Congress. When