THE  CURRENCY  165
Carolus  remained  the  ordinary  currency  at  its  intrinsic
valuation  up  to  the  time  of  the  Japanese  occupation  in
The  next  to  be  accepted  was  the  Mexican,  called  by  Chinese
the  "  Eagle  ”  dollar  from  its  design—an  eagle  grasping  a
cactus  in  its  talons.  This  has  never  been  displaced  from
popular  estimation,  though  various  attempts  have  been
made.  Thirty  years  ago  an  American  “  trade  dollar
was  introduced,  but  the  wisdom  of  Congress  decreed  that  it
should  displace  its  rival  by  its  weight—420  grains  instead  of
the  416^  grains  of  the  Mexican  ;  the  natural  result,  when
these  two  coins  were  put  into  circulation  side  by  side  among
this  shrewd  people,  was  that  the  heavier  coin  went  at  once
into  the  melting-pot.  The  J  apanese  dollar  (the  yen)  followed,
and  attained  a  moderate  degree  of  popularity,  but  the
establishment  of  a  gold  basis  for  this  coin  put  an  end  to  its
issue  as  a  monometallic  silver  coin.  The  later  British  and
French  trade  dollars  have  not  met  with  any  great  degree
of  success,  except  perhaps  since  the  outbreak  of  the  Russo-Japanese
  war.
Chinese  Dollars  and  Subsidiary  Coinage
The  Chinese  themselves  have  seen  the  utility  of  coins
and  have  established  large  plants  for  minting  at  several  of
the  provincial  capitals.  Their  time-honored  copper  coins,
cast  from  moulds,  are  crude  productions  ;  but  the  fine
stamped  copper  cash,  which  were  the  first  product  of  the
mints,  met  with  no  favor  ;  and,  as  their  issue  involved  a
loss  to  the  government,  it  was  not  continued.  The  mints
then  turned  their  attention  to  the  dollar,  and  many  millions
of  these  coins  were  turned  out.  These  Chinese  dollars  were
not  freely  received  for  taxes,  and  when  taken  were  accepted
by  weight,  and  not  by  count  ;  they  had  not  the  prestige  of
the  Mexican,  but  had  only  a  provincial  guarantee,  and  outside ­
  the  province  of  issue  circulated  only  at  a  discount  ;  they
would  have  disturbed,  had  they  any  vitality,  the  calculations
of  money-changers  ;  they  gave  no  seigniorage  to  the  mint  ;
and  of  late  years  the  annual  output  has  been  thousands
instead  of  millions.  The  energy  of  the  mints  has  in