Quite another object was aimed at in its enactment.

The influence of contraction, which had gone into operation by the Act of the preceding summer, was already felt in the business of the country.

The real significance of the Act just passed was that to a certain degree it checked and even neutralized the operation of the statute which ordered contraction.

The compound-interest notes served the National banks as a part of their reserve, and as rapidly as they were cancelled, legal-tender notes were to be held in their stead.

Their withdrawal from circulation for this purpose led therefore to a direct and forcible contraction of the actual currency of the country.