headquarters in the capital, having a branch in every district and in every town of one thousand inhabitants or more. It paid out all money owed by the Government and received and receipted for all taxes due, and accepted all deposits from one dollar upwards, and issued all banknotes and bills of exchange, and in consequence there were no panics and no necessity of issuing clearing-house certificates. To avoid the folly of locking up large amounts of money received for taxes each year on the one hand, or permitting stock-gamblers and money-sharks, on the other hand, to use it, each district was allowed by law to issue district banknotes of one dollar denomination, guaranteed by the Government, drawing two per cent. a year interest up to eighty per cent. of the yearly expenses of the district. The taxes were payable on the first day of November, and if not paid on that day a delinquent tax of ten per cent. The banknotes issued by the district were called in and canceled by this means, keeping the money of the people in circulation.

Every branch bank in a district was required to send daily accounts of all money received and paid out to the central branch bank of the district, which in turn sent a daily account of all bank transactions in the district to the Bank of Eurasia at the capital. No district treasurers were required, nor treasurers in any department of the Government, but vouchers to be paid by the Government had to be signed and scaled by the proper authorities. The bank also conducted a National Lottery, with tickets for sale at every branch bank for one dollar per ticket; drawings monthly, and the highest prize drawn was five thousand dollars, and the lowest five dollars. Five per cent. of the gross proceeds going to the Government for the maintenance and education of orphan children. The amount received each month and the names of the prize winners was published in the National Gazette (a weekly paper), and a copy sent to every prize winner. This paper was published by the Government and every voter was free to subscribe for it without cost, but no advertisements were allowed in it. It published the work of every department of the Government and all bills approved by Parliament, and all laws recommended by the Parliament for whilst the Parliament could approve and legalize all Government expenditures, it could only recommend by a two-thirds vote the amending or creating of any acts pertaining to the Political, Civil and Penal Codes, which had to go before the people at the next general election, when they became the law of the land by a two-thirds vote of the qualified voters who took part in the election, and had a universal circulation, as the Government owned and operated all railways, telegraphs, teleposts, telephones, wireless telegraphy stations and levees, all water power, steamers and boats for freight and passenger service, and, in fact, all public utilities.

Besides, the Government manufactured and sold all liquors, tobaccos, drugs, teas, salt, sugar, coals, petroleum, lumber, iron in pigs and steel in plates and bars. It is easy to see that the Bank of Eurasia transacted an immense volume of business daily.

The bank coined gold in denominations of fifty dollars, twenty dollars, ten dollars and five dollars; silver in dollar, fifty and twenty-five-cent pieces; nickel in ten-cent and five-cent pieces, and aluminum in one-cent pieces. All money coined with ten per cent. alloy and at bullion value. The coinage was readjusted every ten years and silver, nickel and aluminum coins were exchanged for gold at their face value. The Government issued banknotes drawing two per cent. a year, and loaned money on land and on goods in the Government warehouses and conducted a fire insurance business, but no insurance was paid on any property that was insured in the building where the fire broke out, and on no buildings that were not fireproof. No life insurance was allowed and no corporation or individual was allowed to carry on an insurance business and no person was permitted to insure property or life in the country in any foreign corporation, and no stock exchanges or gambling in futures were allowed.

The Bank of Eurasia published every month in the National Gazette the amount of money on hand, so that the people might know when it was necessary for the Government to make a new issue of banknotes, so as not to cripple the circulation.

I was greatly, impressed with the reply of the Minister of Finance when I asked him why he published those statements, "We deal honestly with the people and they trust us." In answer to my question if there were any trusts in his country, he smiled and replied, "One trust: the People."

Corporations are allowed, but no watered stock and every stockholder has the same vote in electing officers of the company, whether he holds one share or any other number of shares, and any conspiracy to corner the market or to enhance the price of any article produced or manufactured is punished as a felony, the penalty being five years at hard labor in prison.

CHAPTER V.

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION.

I called at the Department of Information, and when I was introduced I realized that I was in the presence of one of the world's greatest teachers. She gave me a warm handshake and said, "I have been expecting you, and now that you are here, I will take pleasure in showing you the workings of the department over which I have the honor to preside. There are no Government or private detective agencies in our country, but a constant watch is kept on all public officials as well as private violators of the law, by the Government placing for sale in every postoffice and every military station and every prison Government envelopes with fifty-cent stamps on them, and any person interfering in the sending or tampering with said letters is punished by imprisonment for five years at hard labor. Steel boxes with a slit in the lid to receive the letters were placed in every postoffice, military station and prison, and could not be opened except by a commissioner from the Department of Information. Any person could buy one, for there was a printed address on them, and send it to the President, who has at the present time three hundred secretaries (young ladies chosen from the orphan home) to read the letters, answer them and send a copy to the Minister of Justice who has them Classified, and acting on the information sends orders out to bring the guilty parties to justice, and as punishment is meted out only to the bribetakers, for it is only acting according to the mandates of human nature for a relative or friend to try to get a person out of trouble to offer a bribe, carried with it no penalty, but it left the bribetaker at the mercy of the other party, and in consequence of adopting this system very few public officials proved untrue, and crime has greatly diminished. Our department has charge of all mail matter and telegraph, telepost and telephone lines and wireless stations and all newspaper books and magazine publications, and we edit the National Gazette; besides we have charge of all Government scientific research parties, and if you will call again to-morrow I think I will be able to introduce you to the Chief Engineer who stands very high in his profession, and who has, by placing an Astronomical Observatory on the summit of Mount Everest, attracted the attention of the civilized world."

CHAPTER VI.

DEPARTMENT OF MINES.

I called at the appointed time and was introduced to the Chief Engineer, who invited me to accompany him on an inspection tour, to which I gladly assented, and, after a week's pleasant travel by rail, we arrived at the station on the southwestern slope of Mount Everest at an elevation of twelve thousand feet above the sea. We had arrived in the evening and enjoyed a good night's rest, and, eating a hearty