The Government, called upon for currency by national banks which were embarrassed by lack of paper owing to the financial _crise_, lent them sums from the emergency issue, charging two and a half per cent interest. Next, pressed for payment by creditors many of whom were merchants supplying the various governmental departments, and the emergency issue being insufficient for the purpose in all cases, recourse was had to Treasury bills; as these are not legal tender the merchants were not altogether pleased, and in some cases refused to accept the bills and had to wait longer. The creditor who did accept them found himself with paper in his possession which could not be passed over the counter or paid into a checking account at his bank, and his only recourse was to sell the bills for what they would fetch, bearing the loss between their face value and market price. Although the bills bear interest at five and six per cent, almost the only buyers were the banks which had borrowed money of the Emergency issue, for in the meantime the Government agreed to accept the Bills as repayment of these sums, in a “curso libre,” or (limited) legal tender.[17] The price of the Treasury bills was always below par, and the writer saw them quoted in Brazilian newspapers as low as seventy-six. Buying at this or higher prices the bankers were able to present them to the Government at their face value in payment for currency advances, and were thus in the fortunate position of making profits on borrowed money. Promptly labelled “sabinas” in this country where everything has a nickname, the Treasury Bills roused a storm of discussion in the press. Totals of bonds (apolicies) and paper money issued from August 1915 to October 1916 amounted to nearly 550,000 contos. In late 1916, the total currency of the Republic stood as regards paper money at 1,551,122:650$500, over a million contos being inconvertible. It may be useful here to explain the manner in which Brazilian money is counted. It is, like the Spanish from which most American systems are derived, very simple, based as it is on the decimal plan. The theoretical single _rei_ or _real_ does not exist, the smallest coin now consisting of the nickel one hundred _reis_.[18] There is also a coin of two hundred reis, which pays a car fare or buys the _Jornal do Commercio_, and 400 reis, and a silver 500 reis. The silver _milreis_ is what it says it is, one thousand reis, and any sum reckoned in milreis and below a thousand of them is written with the figures first, followed by the “dollar” sign; thus four hundred milreis is written 400$000. One thousand milreis (a million reis) is a _conto_, the colon sign being written immediately after it. Six contos is written 6:000$000. The present exchange value of the conto is a little over fifty pounds sterling. The following figures, extracted from reckonings made by the _Brazilian Review_, show some of the variations in paper currency: