Under the Conversion Law a fixed ratio was assigned as between gold and paper. A paper dollar, instead of being theoretically equivalent in value to a gold dollar, was declared to be worth only 44 cents gold; thus with 44 cents gold as the fixed equivalent of one dollar paper and, conversely, 2·27 paper dollars that of one dollar gold, and the smallest gold coin minted the equivalent of 2½ dollars gold, the use of paper in all the odd amounts of everyday transactions is inevitable and consequently the major portion of the gold which reaches the country is forced by the public need of the more convenient currency into the “Caja de Conversión.” The accumulation of gold in the “Caja” on December 31st, 1915, was well over 61 millions sterling, and it must be noted that these accumulations cannot leave the “Caja” under any consideration (unless by special sanction of Congress), except in exchange for paper currency, until the time when the currency shall be placed on a logically complete metallic basis. The provisions of the Conversion Law in this regard are exceptionally stringent; under them every official of the “Caja,” from the highest to the lowest, is personally responsible for their observance, and they cannot be overruled by any power in the land. So, until Congress approves what is commonly referred to as the conversion, the store of gold in the “Caja” will continue practically intact and will increase. The misuse of this term “Conversion” has given rise to much confusion of ideas, even in Argentina. The actual conversion took place with the above-mentioned assignment of the fixed ratio of value between gold and paper. It is obvious that the present is not the moment for the change in the form of the currency, but it should be added that apart from the immediate effects of the war the time for that change has not yet arrived. Irresponsible projects for the change have been put forward from time to time during recent years, but official declarations in that regard have never yet gone further than complacent platitudes to the effect that the time for it was fast approaching; without, however, the faintest indications of any schemes for carrying the change out in practice. Besides, under the Law it cannot be accomplished until a fund or deposit in the Bank of the Nation, and to which the National Government makes contributions out of revenue, has reached the amount necessary to form a reserve against the paper currency in circulation prior to the passing of the Conversion Law. For a long while past, the amount of that fund stood at six millions sterling, but this amount (then still insufficient for such reserve) became reduced in August last to two millions sterling in consequence of special financial measures adopted by the Argentine Government at the outbreak of the war and referred to more fully in the chapter on “The War.”