he
standard of value absolute, a balance between gain and loss
can only be reached by the mathematical adjustment of _meum_
and _tuum_. Acting upon this principle, _Mr. Punch_ has, in
the interests of everybody, retained the services of one of
the most, if not _the_ most, eminent contemporary financiers,
whom modesty alone prevents from signing his own name to his
benevolent and comprehensive articles. Those, however, who
care to look beneath the surface, will have no difficulty
in determining the identity of one of the greatest modern
monetary authorities, a man whose nod has before this
shattered prosperous empires, and whose word is even better
than his bond, could such a thing be possible. _Mr. Punch_ has
only one thing to say to those who desire to be rich. It is
this. Follow implicitly the advice of CROESUS.]

SIR,--You have asked me to devote some of my spare time to the
enlightenment of your readers on matters connected with the
money-markets of the world. The request is an easy one to make. You
talk of spare time, as if the man who controlled millions of money,
and could _at any moment_ put all the Directors of the Bank of England
in his waistcoat pocket, had absolutely nothing to do except to devote
himself to the affairs of other people. Such a man has no leisure.
When he is not engaged in launching loans, or in admitting to an
audience the Prime Ministers of peoples rightly struggling to free
themselves from debt by adding largely to their public liabilities,
when, I say, he is not thusly or otherwisely engaged, his mind must
still busy itself with the details of all the immense concerns over
which he, more or less, presides. However, I am willing to make an
exception in your case, and to impart to you the ripe fruits of an
experience which has no parallel in any country of the habitable
globe. Without, therefore, cutting any more time to waste, I begin.

[Illustration]

(1.) _Mines_.--There can be no doubt that in this department a largely
increased activity may soon be expected. I am aware that in "Shafts"
there has been a downward tendency; but I am assured by the Secretary
of the "Dodja Plant Co." (191/2, 6/8, 54.21/2, 7/8), that the prospects
of this branch of investment were never more brilliant. The latest
report of the Mining Expert sent out to investigate this mine, runs
as follows:--

"I have now been three days in the interior of the Do