The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-11-11


GOLD AND SILVER FIRST Used in TIE SHAPE or
BARS OR INooTs.
| A considerable period must however, have
elapsed, after the introduction Of the precious
metals into commerce, before they were gene
| rally used as money BuI, by degr-,s, lhr va
rous qualities, which SO peculiarly hi thfn for
this purpose, would become obvious, and every
individual, in consulting his own advantage,
would endeavor 10 exchange part al least, Of
the produce Of his industry, TOR commodities
which could he easily concealed or carried
about which did not deteriorafe by being kept,
and OF which he could give portion equal in
value ~ the value of any other commodity he
might aft, rwards wish 10 obtain.
When first brought 10 market gold and silver,
like copper, iron, or any other metal, were in an
unfashioDed state, in bars or ingots. shefp,
an OK, bushe Of wheat, &C. was then bar
tered for piece Of gold or silver, exactly as il
would have been bartered for iron copper, cloth,
or any other commodity. The parties first agreed
upon The qualify OF the metal 10 be given for
the goods, and Me quantity which the posses
sor Of the metal had bound himself TO pay, was
next ascertained by height.
Nor is this mere conjectural statement, ad-
vancedsin later age 10 explain appearances,
and resting on probability only. Aristotle (Po-
lit. lib. j, cap. 81 and Pny Hist. Nat. lib. 33,
cap 81 tel Us tudt sucn was III idCty lnS OIiBl-
nal method by which the precious metals were
exchanged in Greece and Italy and the sacred
writings present US with striking and remark
able example of the prevalence of the same
primitive practice in the East. We are there
told that Abraham aceighed four hundred She
kes of silver, and gave them in exchange for
piece of ground he had purchased from the
sons OF Heth, Genesis, chap. xiii yer 16.) 1t
is also mentioned that this silver was "current
money NTH the merchant'-an expression that
evidently refers to its quality only: for, had it
been coined, or marked with stamp indicating
its weight and 6neness, il would have been un-
necessary to have Weighed it. These ancient
practices still subsist in various countries. In
many parts of China, gold and silver do not cir
culate as coin under the authority OF ublic
stamp, but their value is always ascertained by
weight When exchanged, they are cut into
pieces, supposed 10 be nearly proportioned to the
value OF the commodity they are to be given for,
and the pieces are then weighed TO ascertain
their precise value. This practice is also prev
alent in Abyssinia and Tonquin, (Gouzet de
POrigin des Loix &c, tom j. p. 26S, 4th edit.
See also Parks trarels, p. 464, octave edi-
TOM
Before the art OF metalurgy was well under
stood, the baser metals were frequently used as
money. Iron was the primitive money of the
Lacedemonians, and copper of the Romans. But
both tron and copper deteriorate by being kept;
and besides this defect, the rapid improvement
of the arts, and the consequent reduction of
their price, speedily rendered their bulk in pro-
portion to their value, too great TO permit of their
continuing TO be used as money. Copper, how
ever, is still adyantageously used in the form of
tokens, convertible into silver in very small pay
ments. In Great Britain, copper pence and
halt pence are at present rated at about serenity
tlro per cent above their real value but, as the
issue Of them is exclusively in the hands Of Go
vernment, and as they are legal tender 10 the
extent Of one shilling only, in any one payment,
this generalization has not, for reasons which
we shall afterwards explain had any bad eff
feet, (See Memorandum on the SLIDER coinage
Of 1917, by the Master offhe Mint, p. 1878 of
the Appendix to the Lords Resumption Of Cash
Payments by the Bank)
COINAGE OF GOLD AND SILVER.
The trouble and inconvenience of weighing
the quantity of metal in every exchange Of gold
and silver for commodities, must have been ear
y experienced; but the greatest obstacle 10 the
use OF unfashoned metals as money, would I'M
doubleday be found in the difficulty of determin-
ing their quality, or the degree of their purity,
with sufficient facility and accuracy.
The operation OF dssdying, is one Of great
nicely and delicacy, and, notwithstanding all
the assistance derived from modern art ii is still
no easy matter to ascertain the precise degree Of
purity OF particular piece OF metal
been performed in very clumsy and bungling
manner. 1t is most probable, indeed that when
the precious metals were first used as money,
their quality was appreciated only by their weight
and color. very short experience, however,
would be sufficient TO show the extreme mex
actness of conclusions derived from such loose
and unsatisfactory criterla and the deyslng
some method by which the fneness OF The me-
tai might be easily and correctly ascertained,
would very soon be felt as indispensable 10 the
general use of gold and silver as money. Such
method was not long in presenting itself.
twas early discovered, that to ascertain the
purity of metal, and also to avoid the trouble
and expense of weighing ii, no more was neces-
sary than to mark each piece with a stamp, de-
claring its weight and ineness. Such seems TO
have been the various steps which led the an
clients 10 the introduction of coined money (Gou-
yet, De POrigine des Loir, &C., tom. l,p. 269);
an invention of the very greatest utility, and
which has, perhaps, contrib uted more than any
other, to facilitate commerce and 10 accelerate
the progress of civilization and he tarts.
ADVANTAGES oE COINED MONEY
Without some article of known exchangeable
value, such as coin, readily received as an
equivalent for other things, the interchange of
commodities must have been very limited, and
consequently the divisions of labor very imper-
feciy established.
Now, money ubvates these evils, and by two
fold operation augments production. In the
first place it all that time and labor which,
while the intercourse between man and man is
carried on by barter, must frequently intervene
before person can be supplied with the quanti-
ty of The commodity which he wants. In the
second place, and in consequence Of its saving
the time and labor which must otherwise be
spent in effecting exchanges, il multiplies the
transactions Of mercantile industry, and thus al
lows the divisions Of employment to be more
thoroughly established