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The first of these mistakes was a measure making (January 1885) the currency inconvertible for a period of two years.
On the 31st of August of the same year a series of proposals upon the currency question was submitted to congress by the president, whose real object was to counteract the too rapid appreciation of the inconvertible paper money.
In 1878 depreciation had set in, and the inconvertible paper had by the close of 1881 grown to such an extent that it was then at a discount of 80% as compared with silver.
The country was still labouring under the curse of an inconvertible currency originatingwith the Legal Tender Act res - paperY g dncy.
The great struggle compelled every resource to be strained to the utmost: the issue of long-time bonds, continual borrowing in very large amounts on short-time inconvertible paper money, an elaborate and all-pervading system of internal taxes, and, finally, heavy import duties.