XII

THE WORKINGS OF THE MONEY EXCHANGE AND THE CHAUVANISMASCOPE A POPULAR FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT

Albert takes me to see the workings of the Money Exchange, better to understand the financial institutions that provide the broad base on which Herttach stands supreme amongst trading nations. That evening we visit The Chauvanismascope a popular form of entertainment.

THE TRAVELLER. I must confess that I slept badly during my second night spent in The Capital, dreams of a dark hue disturbing my usual equilibrium. Around four after the midnight bell, I was forced to take from my bag the small flask I always carry, and having drunk a good measure of brandy, fell into a somewhat more peaceful slumber.

Awakened by the youth who attended me on arrival, I was gratified to see that he fetched for me a dish of chocolate and some slices of spiced bread laid out on a tray. This he placed on the counterpane informing me that Albert had needed to leave early to deal with some matters of importance. The Solar Cab was fixed to collect me at ten, thus to convey me to The Money Exchange where Albert would join me. Happy to lie abed for awhile longer this particular morning, after dismissing the youth, I drank my chocolate and ate the bread with satisfaction, feeling comforted after the rigours of the night. Thus I occupied myself until beyond nine of the clock, rising in to make my toilet and dress in good time before I needs quit the house.

The Solar Cab conductor knocked on the front-door and The Housekeeper sent the boy up to inform me of the arrival of my transport. Going down and taking my farewell of the servants, the driver of the Solar Cab, a most civil fellow, attired in riding-breeches, close-buttoned jacket, and peaked cap, eased me aboard and an instant later I was once again immersed in the ebb and flow of traffic and noise of The Metropolis. Looking about myself as we progressed I reflected this was the first time I had travelled alone since my arrival in this island country.

After some time and without mishap we reached our intended destination. Albert greeted me warmly, standing awaiting my arrival on the steps of The Money Exchange, and begged my pardon for having not been able to accompany me during the journey from our lodging. He explained a message had reached him concerning official matters that would brook no delay. I assured him that there was no need of any explanation and added further that I was eager to take a full part in what he had in store for my interest and information during this day. So stating we entered the building and some short time later found ourselves in a gallery adjacent The Trading Floor.

The Main Hall of The Money Exchange resembled some vast circular cavern wrought by the hand of man. The ceiling soared high above the marble tiles of the floor itself, the general style of the architecture imparting a notion of the interior of some important church or similar edifice of religious devotion, rather than being a place for the transaction of monetary business. Leaded windows, framed archaic tracery, rich in colour, designs illustrating aspects of industry and commerce. Agriculture. The smelting of iron and steel, looking at which, I could not for a moment but think of the view I had seen on the viaduct above The Valley of Tindall. The preparation of chemicals and drugs. Construction of public buildings. Banking. Trade by water, across seas and along canals. The conveyance of goods by means of large Solar Carts. The phalanx of activity concerned with the making and accumulation of wealth, symbolized in coloured glass edged and held fast in place by strips of the base metal.

The many interior doors were fashioned from rare hard woods, the side pillars and lintels wrought from the choicest marble, carved, mitred, and polished. Illumination, additional to that the stained-glass windows provided, was furnished by an array of gilded chandeliers hanging from chains fixed high above hanging down from on ornately gilded and decorated bosses.

Albert led the way up many stone staircases and breathless we found ourselves standing on a gallery running in full circle around the interior walls and fixed no less than twenty metres above the Trading Floor, a perch that allowed us the opportunity to take advantage of a choice of vantage points.

Dominating the scene below was a massive apparatus that occupied the central area on the floor and that of the Trading Hall itself. Allow me to describe in some detail the features of this remarkable, and within limits of my previous experience, unique edifice.

The base portion could be likened to a round-table of formidable circumference, around which were placed no fewer than seven hundred chairs, Albert confirmed this number. Chairs that were identical in design and upholstered with velvet and embellished with golden tassels, providing, apparently, a designated seat for every elected member of The Money Exchange. The area of table in front of each chair was separated from those adjacent by the use of wooden rails, no more than a hand span in height, marking off the raked surface, every individual isosceles triangular segment covered with green baize cloth. The base of these triangular areas marked the outer edge of the table, their apex abutting the principal cylindrical structure, of massive diameter and height, with an unbroken surface, other than small openings, perhaps two hand spans square, each individual opening set above the apex of the allotted seven hundred segments of the table.

Most remarkable was the activity whose progress commenced soon after our arrival. The top of the giant metallic cylinder, which we could view clearly from where we were at this moment standing, was sealed, except for the addition of a kind of funnel, fixed and rising from its centre. You may perhaps imagine its form with greater clarity by recalling the shape of that simple utensil employed to fill wine bottles with a jug, thus to prevent spillage. This funnel measured about one hundred hands spans from edge to edge and I could glimpse and beneath it yet another cylinder fixed within the larger outer casing.

At a point on the outer-gallery directly opposite to the point where we ourselves were standing was fixed a walkway dizzily high above the floor of The Money Exchange. One end was attached to the gallery the other ending at a point above the mouth of the funnel. This walkway, made from wrought and cast-iron was hung in place with rods of steel attached to its handrails and then on upwards where they were fixed to metal-plates riveted to the ceiling.

Porters, each carrying a wicker hod strapped to his back, began to emerge in line through a doorway which I had noticed previously, an entrance closely secured by an inner door made from stout iron bars. At either side of this portal stood uniformed halberdiers. The inner and outer door and gate had now been thrown open giving one a glimpse of the strong-room within.

The first of the porters led the line of his fellows and commenced crossing the narrow span of the gallery and trod what I considered must surely be a perilous path out from the gallery along the walkway, where on reaching the end directly above the cylinder, deposited the contents of his wicker hod into the open mouth of the funnel below him. This being done, the next man did likewise, the first returning to fetch a second load, there being just enough room for two people to pass side-by-side along this precarious gangway. The porters, twenty in number, counted by me, were all without exception, Albert explained to me, men of extreme integrity, chosen to fulfil this daily task only after long and faithful service in the role of less senior servants to The Money Exchange. We observed the ritual for a goodly length of time. I must confess to a profound ignorance, not grasping the significance of what was occurring before mine eyes. In mitigation, you must allow that our point of observation, even though on level with The Porters, was in fact fixed some considerable distance from the end of the walkway, and I could not see, though my eyesight is considered good, what was the nature of the substance being carried and tipped into the bowels of the towering cylindrical apparatus. Albert enlightened me.

ALBERT. “The Coin of Herttach,” he said revealing the true nature of what it was the trusted attendants transported on their backs along the elevated walkway. “The highest denomination of Herttach Crowns.”

THE TRAVELLER. Countless was the number of loads each attendant sent tumbling down into the open mouth of the column. Then at a point where I sensed the task was all but completed, a hubbub drew my attention to what was occurring in the tableaux far beneath us. Considerable numbers of men, all without exception in garments that hinted at wealth and position, began to enter, thence to occupy the chairs that stood awaiting their arrival.

The last load of the Herttach Crowns having been tipped into the funnel, the porter tasked with bearing the concluding coin filled wicker hod, closed off the gate at the end of the walkway and retired to join his fellows in the strong room, pulling to the iron gate behind himself with a loud clang, followed hard by the scrape of a great key turning in a lock, its metallic note echoing along the gallery walls.

Albert bade me look down onto the floor of The Money Exchange and I could observe now that that all the positions around the perimeter of The Great Device were occupied. Then of an instant each seated Member abruptly concluded verbal exchanges with those persons adjacent to him. An atmosphere of quiet expectation pervaded. After some minutes of silence, astonished, I heard the inner-cylinder, wherin the Coin of the Realm had been deposited, starting to revolve. Albert informed that the mechanism by which this rotation was achieved was by means of a shaft fixed to the base of the vessel, this passing down through the floor, where a Solar Engine of special design was employed to enable the circumvolution. Faster and faster the inner-cylinder spun reaching a velocity that I imagined could not be sustained without damage to the apparatus, then, a deafening crash, the cylinder came to rest within a second of time, following by the noise of cascades of Herttach Crowns coins spewing from the apertures and sliding down the incline of the partitioned table segments there to be grasped and gathered by the waiting hands of some, though not all, members of The Money Exchange, some apertures seemingly having yielded no coin.

An eerie silence followed, broken only by sounds of those who had Herttach Crowns to count and stow within voluminous purses, their less fortunate compatriots, those whose table segments were devoid of gain, taking their leave with many a salute of farewell until the morrow.

ALBERT. Come,” he said, “Sensing well the depth of my confusion and general incomprehension concerning the nature of the drama I had just witnessed. “Let us repair to The Mess Hall there I can explain whilst we consume some, no doubt welcome, refreshment.”

THE TRAVELLER. So saying he led the way through a door and off the gallery. After walking down many stairs and negotiating our way along a myriad passages, we at last reached The Mess Hall, a place cheer and refreshment reserved for members of The Money Exchange and others on official business.

The servants employed seemed to know Albert well and we were directed to a table without delay, most of the others being occupied by members who were pleasantly engaged in drinking a bottle or two of claret or sparkling wine, the easier to mull over the business of that morning. A bottle of sound red wine was placed before us and expertly poured by a white gloved minion, another laying before us wooden-platters filled with ham, cheese, pickled vegetables, a basket of crisp white bread and butter. Famished, nothing was said for some time until the edge of our appetites had been softened and only then whilst finishing our luncheon, did Albert devote himself to explaining the substance of what I had just witnessed.

ALBERT. “Consider the axiom The gain of one man is the loss of another,” Thus he commenced his discourse, punctuating it by taking mouthfuls of bread and ham and gulps of wine. “Cognizance of this constitutes the foundations on which this ancient and worthy institution is based. All members of The Money Exchange are elected by a committee of their peers, consideration only being given if the intending member can demonstrate proven access to a substantial level of wealth. Gaining admittance is difficult, and rightly so, even by those who meet the conditions stated. Numerous applicants spend a life time on the roll of those who wish to be considered, but are never called forth. In former times each elected member worked in offices within these walls for many hours each day, transacting, changing, competing for business against his fellows. Until a searching question was posed: “To what purpose was all this activity?” Sir Edrich Hijack, a high academic, ensconced in our most ancient university, formulated A New System of Economic and Social Politick”. His profound thoughts were expounded in a book that claimed the immediate attention of all people of influence. In essence it stated the aforementioned and obvious fact: That the gain of one man is the loss of another. This truth being self-evident then why then indulge in irksome daily tasks when the distribution and redistribution of money could be organized with particular ease and logic. Each day, The Machine you observed, devised and constructed, by the inventor of The Malleable Number Engine, is filled with Herttach Crowns, the total sum of which is fixed yearly by The Money Exchange Council. Daily, Monday to Friday each member at the appointed hour takes his allotted position around this ingenious engine and in due course gains or does not gain, governed by pure chance, the apertures from which coin is or is not ejected, totally random in nature. The member sitting at a productive position takes the money flooding on to his changing desk. The member positioned at a place where the aperture remains void takes nought, knowing that on the morrow the hand of chance might deal in his favour. Consider the elegance of such a procedure. Over the course of time all members receive a share of what money there is in circulation with ease and simplicity, giving them time to depart early each day from this place of business, thereby freeing them to partake in preferred pursuits, hunting, fishing with an angle, visiting fields where horse races against horse, in fact all pastimes deemed suitable for gentlemen and their ladies.”

THE TRAVELLER. Replying to Albert that I could without doubt see the manifold advantages of this mode of wealth distribution to those fortunate enough to have access to its benefits. But in my own, undoubtedly untutored opinion, I sensed present within it a deadly flaw. He inquired what defect could this be. I replied that surely the general store of coin available must in truth become less each day under this system, for surely more is taken than was ever returned

ALBERT. Almost choking on morsel of cheese with an excess mirth “My dear Sir you have a marked propensity, if you will forgive me stating so, to seek problems where no problem exists. The Reserve Store of Herttach Crowns is added to daily from the coffers of a multitude of Foreign Bankers, much I might add, to the particular satisfaction of all concerned.”

THE TRAVELLER. Presently a servant came to inform that The Solar Cab, retained for the duration of my visit to The Capital awaited or presence. Albert informed me the driver, a local man, having knowledge of by ways, the better to travel with to avoid undue delay, had returned at a previously fixed time to convey us elsewhere in the city.

Leaving The Money Exchange, Albert receiving and bestowing many nods and waves of recognition, we made our rendezvous with our carriage and were soon off into the now familiar morass of wheeled traffic. Having time to reflect, Albert used these otherwise idle moments to explain the workings of a salient aspect of The Money Exchange System.”

ALBERT. “You might not have observes them,” he said “on the trading segments that make up The Members Desks, directly in the middle of the receiving area, there is bored a small hole, just a trifle larger than the coins spilling over it. Most days a few coins find they way into this aperture which is connected by a lengthy series of tubes to a small trough set in the outer walls of the building. By this means a small store of coin becomes available to those of the poor who wish to retrieve them, proving without need for dissent the truth of yet another conclusion of Sir Hedrich Hijack’s dissertation: that wealth trickles down through the fountain of society to the satisfaction of the moneyed and the succour of the needy.”

THE TRAVELLER. No sooner this said and a few other less important matters mulled over than The Solar Cab halted in front of a large theatre. Albert had hinted earlier that day it might be of interest for me to witness a type of entertainment that enjoyed enormous popularity in The Island of Herttach. The Chauvanismascope, for thus it was called, stood on a wide avenue, close to the seat of government.

THE CHAUVANISMASCOPE

We quitted the Solar Cab and Albert read from the Play Bill pasted on a bill-board outside of The Theatre giving notice of what performance would take place that day.

A MAN FROM SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

A YOUTH BORN IN THE MOUNTAINOUS SOUTH.

A WOMAN FROM THE FAR NORTH.

These plus other descriptions of male and female persons. The only similarity I could discern linking these performers was that of their stated origins were countries outside of the shores of The Island of Herttach.

Here too Albert was recognized by on this occasion by The Theatre Manager and with dispatch and courtesy we were seated in great comfort within a private box situated second up to the right of the proscenium. There was time to take a dish of coffee served on a silver slaver before illumination was dimmed and the performance commenced, this likewise giving me the opportunity to gaze upon the other theatre goers there assembled.

The seats below and facing the stage were occupied by many persons of fashion and I inferred, superior status. This impression was confirmed by Albert, who pointed out to me the identity of some of the persons of note we had the good fortune to see during The Arrival of the Villagers during the evening of my first day in Herttach. Lolling in their seats, most with a glass in hand, they chatted to their immediate companions or called and waved across to others more distant.

The First Balcony was the province of persons of The Professions. Lawyers, Doctors, Money Agents, their garments more sober than those seated below them, in keeping with the exterior appearance essential to those persons who cultivate a visage of trustworthiness.

The Second Balcony filled with a better class of tradesmen and shopkeepers, some wearing the garments particular to their occupations, others wore Best Day Raiment.

The Third and Highest Balcony, so far up within the body of the building, the heads of those seated on it almost touched the ceiling with their caps and bonnets, were a noisy, rowdy congregation, many of whom I judged to be the worse for strong liquor. Impatient for the entertainment to commence, many of these persons of rude rank, shouted oaths, quips and made ribald utterances, coarse words accompanied with the throwing of pieces of orange skin down upon to the heads of their betters seated in lower and more select parts of the theatre.

The Master of Ceremonies took the stage to a roar of general delight. Addressing the audience with a few preliminary remarks he busied himself placing a large card on an easel that stood stage left. On it was written in large letters, so all in the theatre, no matter where their seating, could read it with ease.

ACT ONE. A CITIZEN OF …

A country I recognized as having its geographical location in the eastern regions of The Great Continent. This performer, dressed in the costume of his native country, walked to the centre of the stage. At once a great roar of approval and laughter greeted his appearance. He stood quite still, showing no emotion or any tendency to movement, whilst I wondered what was his theatrical speciality likely to be? Juggling. Acrobatics. Singing. The Telling of Jests. An instant later two other fellows bounded on stage each carrying a stick to which was attached a bladder decorated with the colours of the Flag of Herttach, joined to the stick with a long cord. They at once commenced to belabour the unfortunate performer about the head and body with the bladders, the audience greeting each blow with greater and greater peals of laughter and mirth, so much so I saw some with tears running down their cheeks with rapt enjoyment of the spectacle. This continued for no less than five minutes and then ceased abruptly. All three persons on the stage took deep bows and exited stage right.

The Master of Ceremonies returned to be followed by a performer from yet another distant country. The routine of hitting with the bladders repeated in the same fashion that had gone before. This second performance gave the onlookers even greater satisfaction, laughter turning to uncontrollable shrieks of glee. So it continued, with not less than fifteen persons from diverse regions of the globe standing stock still to be assaulted with Herttach Flag decorated bladders, much to the general satisfaction and delight of the audience.