New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-12-02
,,x, july II. page "a

h.,etofore pointed ous, pe'"Voh
on.ioD when used chiefly for calcuiauon' "uu
sno me'. ar actual weiehr ard measunugi though
"hen .,ao, IA more obvious with money than WIZ
me o's'' sf measure. remarkable instance OF
o;ssd IN this country prior 10 the introduction Vi
..I money. The moneys Of account in all the tnen
r.,.,es and sub,eduent States, were pounds sIu-
nsnce and farthngs, the ratios between these ae
i,s,;ons being the same as in English or sse'h"s
- I'M, thew had four distinct values In diheion'
- ~ the country. each of these being dneren' o
-, v,Iue. The actual coins were very va.
-. ,ba cb;ef Of which was the Spanish piece Oh
'~h, or dol.y with lbs divisions into pieces o' iouf'
"a on. half reals Beside these there wefe
-. ,Dn;dor.s Johannes English and French
-. prv,;.h sbilipgs, and various copper CONS,
~ -. o,ry,s ponding in raIne TO the moneys o.
49,, /. spy of the Colonies Accounts were kept
"a r,a,osptiIe calculations made after the English
...,hod in pounds, shipgs and pence, but In differ
-, sections according to their locsl valae; but pay
,,sp,s were made in heterogeneous coins, which, Tor
Che nxrposes of the merchant had to be reduced TO
,bsr equivalent value in the local money OF account
TIE people and small retailers often made purchases
.dnayments by the local and often diverse names OF
a currept coins, sometimes suffering BY their unset
lied value, and continually embarrassed by me per-
pe1ing reductions OF these coins 10 .heT equValsnS
ia pounds, tbillings and pence
Thess iocouvopiences of the currency were strongly
felt at the period of the Revolution. "Pesce was
scarcely concluded before the preliminary step
taken toward national coinage. Congress directed
the Finanosr of the Confederation Robert Morris to
"sy before them his views upon the subjee! Of coins
Hstd currency. The report was presented early in
nl7S2 and ia stated by jefferson TO have been the
Hvofk of the Assistant Financier, 6ouverneur Nor.
"rsp This report proposed table of denominations
Of morey, to which the coins to be made 10 cor.
respond all Of them with decimal ratios, but of such
value as to be easily reduced TO and from the four
iipg species Of money of the different States. The
report contains this observation Although is not
absolutely. necessary, yet it is very desirable chat
"'moaey should be increased in q decimal ratio be-
"csuse BY that means al calculations Of interest,"
"chsnge Insurance. and the like, are rendered much
"nore simple and accurate, and Of course more with
"in the power Of the great mass OF the people.
Manual of CONS, Dubois g. Eckfedt p. 1884,
proposition somewhat different from Gouvsrnsur
Norriss, but with s decimal feature was made by JEFF
fon and adopted aud forms the basis OF our present
system of money Our national coinage was established
about the ime time as the French decimal weights
snd measures, and though our Government was q few
years in advance in the proposal, each perhaps de-
rived something from the other. Jefferson aud others
5sgned also decimal weights and measures, and the
project was at time deferred to obtain the results
Of the French scientific commission.
We have seen the Ill success Of the French decimal
mea,pres. What has been that of our decimal money!
Money. far more than weighs and measures requires
calculation; it Ia needed to some extent in every
count Of money kept in figures and almost every per-
son finds an advantage in having money easy of cscu-
iston, which is hardly apparent in other species OF
measure. Hence the conformity of the ratios of money
denominations to the numerical system in common use,
Notwithstanding its conflict with the natural method of
continual division by two is likely to meet with more
syor than q similar conformity in weights and meas
NEE which are used by the mass of the people only In
actual application and very little fer calculation. Yet
John Quincy Adams says in his report, made in 1871,
almost thirty years after the Issue of the decimal COIN
age that IL was then almost unknown to the people,
though at that time accounts were chiefly kept in dol
lars and cents that the Spanish COINS with strictly
binary division, were still the popular currency in all
mall transactions and that even merchants, brokers
and suconeers continually employed the binary ratios,
notwithstanding their conflict with the decimal money
Of sccount Almost to the present time similar state
Fittings has oxisted-he Spanish coins still msiRtan
ing their place 10 the hands Of the people for more than
EIty wears against the constant influence of Govern
nent until Congress- by an enactment which affected
these coins in peculiar and powerful manner, after
having provided the people with the awkward but in
despenssble substitute Of hreece pieces Ia coin with
out name or place in our system, has at length chiefly
expelled the Spanish coin from circulation.
But has this result given us at length what Jefferson
designed viz THAT there should be one money Of
account and payment throughout the United States,
and that It's parts and multples should be in deci
" NAL ratio" (Act Cong. Conf 1856. JEFF. Rep,
July 4, 1890, p. H. Dubois & Eckfeldt, p. 14O) Let
us see. Our authorized coins are twelve in number
viz Double eagle, eagle half eagle, three dollar piecs
quarter eagle dollar half dollar quarter dollar dime,
half dme three-cent piece and can't OF these only
four viz the eagle dollar, dime and cent, correspond
10 The protessed decimal system Of our money. Six
Others are derived by purely binary ratios from the
four decimal cons The remaining two-the three
dollar and three piecss-are anomalies but the lat
Ter owes its importance chiefly to the fact that sprac
tcaIy accounted the thirty second part of dollar
IN all small Transactions aud may therefore, be consid
BRED a. one of the binary coins. So that of our so
called d. cmal coDs only third are really decmal
while nesry all the rest binary. The importance
Of these latter may be inferred from the difficulty which.
any one can perceive, would arise from coming only
The four decimal coins and suppresang oil the others.
Il questionable whether the smaller operations OF
commerce could be carried without these coins, or
zone substitute for them. So that Jeffersons system
has failed to do away with the distinction between
moneys of account and coins. The former are not dee
nal but centesnal the latter neither exclusively
but in fact chiefly binary and their adaptation and the
facility of making change not so good even as En'
yli'h money Decimal money has therefore failed with
rs nearly as decimal measures have in Frsnce, aud
from the came cause.
To sum up the resuts arrived at. The ratios OF