Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-12-04
For the VERMONT FARMER.
GOLD AS CURRENCY.

Gold has been used rs u measure Of val |
ues US far back in time us you can find any |
record And this is the important fact that !
we rs n people must not ignorc.-B. II. Lay; |
w. Farmer, Noe &C.
A statement placed as one of the funda,
mental propositions in an argument should
have its meaning more obvious or its accu.
racy less questionable. The antiquity of the
use of gold as medium OF exchange is owl
IDENTIFY claimed. But in what form2 Not
as coin certainly. The time of the coin.
age of gold is within the pale of history.
In Rome it was first coined in the year 207
B. @. In Athens there is no evidence of
genuine golden coinage before about 325 b.
g. In the Old Testament Scriptures there
is no mention Of gold as money until the re-
turn from the captivity at Babylon about
the year $50 B. Q. Aud it is about this
time that the most reliable traditional histo-
ry dates the earliest coinage of gold known.
Nor is there any well grounded historical
evidence for belief in the use even Of for
eign gold in Greece before about 425 b. q.
But authentic records carry US back to 800
b. 9. in that country.
Or does this statement mean that gold has
always been a standard to which other things
were referred, although it was uucoined.
This is not quite correct. In Rome aud iu
the other early Italian states a copper coin
age was in use from time immemorial In
large sums, as in the case of a soldiers pay,
the money was dealt out by weight as the
name stipendium, weigh-giit, indicates. ln
fact the more common name Of money in
the classic Roman authors is es, copper,
aud all the words derived from the name OF
money are derived from this word. The
earliest recorded medium in Athens was of
both silver and copper. Foreign golden
money was mentioned by Thucydides as be-
ing somewhat known aud used in Greece at
about 425 b. G. The common silver coins
at Athens we're in present value from seven.
ty cents down to seven mills. The copper
coins were from seven mills down to halt q
mill. But this was when skilled carpen-
ter earned seventeen cents n day. The
general name for money was arguron, silver,
money are derived from this word.
Ii does seem that the statement might
mean that gold was so used as far back as
we have any record The earliest recorded
purchase in any well known history is that
by Abraham Of the cave of Macpelsh in
which the medium Of exchange was silver
and was dealt out by weight. This cannot
have been later than 100 b. G. And in
nearly, ifnot quite, all of the transactions
mentioned for the next thousand years silver
is the medium of exchange. There is his.
toric evidence that gold was used as an art-
clio of merchandise, long after silver was a
medium of exchange, just as diamonds now
are. In countries where gold was much
more plentiful, as in Egypt, it is probable
that rings, ingots and bars of gold were used
as circulating medium, but only by weight.
This seems to have been the case with all Of
the earlier exchanges by means Of the pre-
cious metals. Indeed silver is the standard
by whcE gold has been measured until
quite recently. Boeckh says of gold Tho
value of gold is more fluctuating than that
of silver. The latter may therefore bc con.
sidered the scale for determining the price
of gold as well as Of other commodities" +"
In fact within historic times we find the rel
ative values of gold and silver varying from
the ratio Of TO- to that of l5 : |. In 40 A.
d. the ratio was l2.l799 /, and about fifty
years later it was ll.30l5:1.
Lastly, the writer Of the statement at the
head Of this article might have meant that
always within record some Of the precious
metals have been universally used as a
standard of value. lie may have meant
thus, that if man went anywhere, his gold
or silver would have been legal tender. lie
cannot have forgotten that where he lives
three hundred years ago a string of wan
pum-of shells-was used as a measure o
value while gold was an article of ornamen
or curiosity. Only thirty years ago golC
was simply an ornament or curiosity
among the Indians of California as is attest.
ed by the earlier miners. Such is the case
with some countries in Africa, where cattle
are such a standard as gold among us. II
is there where an English traveller was re
Gently asked how many cattle were owned
by his queen, when the native wished Il
learn her wealth aud Importance. In that
place gold is an article Of merchandise anC
its value is measured by cattle.
We cannot fully understand the prope
place Of the precious metals as a measure o
value unless we can know the state Of socie
ty without them. Happily we have such Al
opportunity The HOmeric poems, what
E ever may be their date, are acknowledges
faithful to nature in that they delineato tn
customs ofthe time Of the poet. The result
of a careful study of these poems give us tn
following results "The business Of ex
D change had not passed beyond the form O
4 barter.
3 yet it appears that gold had begun
. be used as a convenient material for the re
D quital of service, aud probably also for tn
0 liquidation of penalty.
5 "But a measure OF service is one thin
and measure of value for exchange
: another; aud we have no sign that gold 9