SWEDEN--NORWAY--DENMARK (SCANDINAVIAN UNION) These have the gold standard and have for their unit the _krone_, equal to $0.268 United States currency; their subsidiary silver has various fineness; paper currency of Sweden is issued by the Royal Bank, owned by the Government; notes are legal tender and may be issued to a fixed amount in excess of gold on hand or in foreign banks, but must at all times have gold to the extent of at least 10,000,000 _kroner_. Norway has a single bank of issue, controlled by the State, which owns a majority of the stock; notes are legal tender and may be issued to twice the amount of gold on hand and in foreign banks. Denmark's paper money is issued by a privately owned bank, but under strict control by the Government; the notes are legal tender and may be issued to a sum 30,000,000 kroner in excess of the gold on hand. RUSSIA Russia is on a gold basis and has for its unit the _ruble_, of 100 _kopecks_, equal to $0.51456 in United States currency; the silver coins in common use are the ruble, one-half and one-fourth ruble; paper money is issued by the Imperial Bank, which is owned by the Government and managed as part of its finance department; the law requires the coin reserve to equal two-thirds of the note issue.... JAPAN Japan maintains the gold standard and its unit is the _yen_, equal to $0.498; the yen is divided into 100 _sen_, the sen into 10 _rin_. The yen equals 11.574 grains of pure gold. The Bank of Japan may issue notes to the extent of $120,000,000 upon securities, any amount upon specie, and also may issue further sums in excess of specie, subject to a tax of 5 per cent. The stock of the bank is all privately owned. Japan first copied the national banking system of the United States and after trial abandoned the same for a central bank. She has managed her finances and her banking with wonderful ability and great success. Besides the Bank of Japan, there are many strong private banks, notably the Yokohama Specie Bank. CHINA China, silver basis, had for its unit the _tael_, divided into 1000 _cash_; there are said to be sixteen different kinds of tael in the different states of China; the most valuable is the "Haikwan," or "_customs tael_," the one in which customs dues are reckoned, and this equalled $0.664 United States currency, October 1, 1914. The cash is of base metal, with a square hole punched in the centre and is worth less than a mill in our currency. In the last years of the Empire a new system of coinage was established and since continued by the Republic. The unit is the _yuan_ of silver, worth $0.477, but varies with the price of silver; one-half, one-fifth, and one-tenth yuan are also coined in silver and smaller coins in copper and brass.... PHILIPPINES The unit of value is the _peso_, equal to $0.50 in United States currency. The fiscal affairs are administered by the United States and the currency is safe and maintained on [essentially] a gold basis. ARGENTINA