"
Stopping before a glass case containing little heaps of ordinary copper
coins, Harrington pointed out that these were the odd cents which the
scrupulous science of statistics insists on leaving attached to vast
sums of money. He showed me the 27 cents which, added to $3,469,746,854
represented the value of the foreign commerce of the United States in
1910; he showed me the twopence ha'penny which, increased by
L788,990,187, constitutes the total funded debt of Great Britain; and he
laid special emphasis on the eleven pennies which Tammany's most
vigorous efforts at economy could not pare off from New York City's
budget of $166,246,729.11 for the year 1909.
Another row of glass cases contained what appeared at first sight a
collection of comic dolls. Cooper pointed to a sturdy little mannikin in
boots and a Russian blouse, who, with mouth fearfully distended, was
endeavouring to swallow an iron bar four or five times his own size.
"You may have read," said Cooper, "that the annual consumption of
pig-iron in Russia is 3.7 tons per capita. This figure shows the fact
concretely.
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