ignorant of the meaning of the term. Unfor-
tunately these things are not usually taught in
our schools.

"The Funds," generally speaking, is the term
applied to the National Debt of Great Britain,
the money borrowed by the Government from
the people, chiefly for the purpose of carrying on
the great wars at the beginning of the present
century. For these loans as much as 5 per cent.
has in former years been paid, but at present 2 3/4
is the rate payable on the great bulk of the debt.

The year after the Battle of Waterloo the
National Debt amounted to nine hundred mil-
lions of money; at the present time it amounts
to about five hundred and seventy millions, and
is steadily diminishing. This being the case,
there is of course no need of further borrowing
at present, but the loans outstanding - any por-
tion of them - may be bought and sold in the
market; that is, any lender may transfer all or
any part of his loan to some other person, and
as there are, daily, hundreds and thousands of
individuals wanting to buy or to sell, there is no
difficulty whatever, through the medium of the
Stock Exchange, in arranging so that a person
can obtain, or dispose of, the exact amount of
stock he desires.