af- When Mr. L. Kenake, of the S. Court for China, started giving roubles away on September it was a brief and diverting pastime, But after he gavel several thousand of them' to a reporter of the "North China Daily News" who promptly put the event into a small story, it became a rather boring amount work, "Yesterday morning there was a run on the rouble bank in 'Shangtai, according to Mr. Kenake, who was kept busy all morning! passing worthless bills across} the counter. 'There are far foo many. people in Shangh: according to Mtr. Kenake, want Russian roubles for' some obscure reason. They may be holding them in the hope that there will be a reversal of fortune. They may paper the walls with them, or staff mattresses with them. But anyway they want them, and those who do are not all Russians either.
One gentleman came in and demanded fifty thousand roubles, He explained why he wanted them, saying that he was going to pay off a bet of ancient standing to a Russian lady. The stock of roubles' on top of the safe in the U.S. Court almost completely demolished, Mr. Kenake says that people are always willing to collect any kind of money whether it is worthless or hot. The hardest kind of money to get rid of, according to Mr, Kenake who has tried it out, is the twenty dollar gold piece. For some. paychological reason people are rather' dubious as to. whether or not the golden eagle is a slug. You can always throw them away, of course, and some persons will pick them up, bat it is the hardest thing in tthe world to sell anyone a twenty dollar gold piece for a dollar. There are not many twenty dollar sold pieces in Anteriea nov,—but before the war no one used" anything else in California. 'They passed all right in that state but every time one was offered in New York' it had to be taken to a bank end be properly identified.
US. Court Giving Away Rouble Mr. L. Kenake, of the U.S. Court for China, was giving Russian roubles to chance visitors on September 5. He had three enormous stacks of them on top of the safe, tone Inbelied "Bons clu Tresor de Cinq Mille roubles. Remboursable 10 Octobre 1920," one labelled "Treasury Bill of Two Hundred and Fifty roubles. Payable on 1920, sury Bill of Fifty roubles Pa; on 1 July 1920."
There are, however, fifty-five thousand bona fide roubles locked up. in the U.S. Court for China [which will stay there until the safe is blown up or otherwise destroyed. the Court came into possession of the roubles after a case. Several years ago a man in Shanghai took out a life insurance policy and paid his premiums in roubles, fifty-five thousand dollars worth, in the days when roubles meant money. At the end of ten years he decided he wanted to take out his money. Tt was paid to him, in roubles, in the days when roubles did not mean money. He sued the insurance company for sold dollars based on the former rate of exchange during the time when in he was paying off his premia, He ost the ease and the court con-ions|fiscated the fifty-five thousand fs] roubles.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.