The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-03-29
ROBINSON cRusoE's MONEY"
Mr.. David A. Wells's Satire of the
Soft-Money Folly.

advantage of being always too much in
earnest to dwell upon the funnier features
Of his subject, and Of having to fit closely
the fable and the moral throughout;
nevertheless he has produced a lively pop
ular satire which cannot fail of its effect
with any reader who is ''open to convic-
ton" The illustrations by Mast are, with
one or two exceptions, Indifferent.
Mr.. Wells undertakes to give the history
and experience Of community through
the different stages Of simple barter, the
various forms Of circulating medium,
imitation, speculation and disaster, present
ing all that he has to say in familiar
vein, and where the folly he satirizes ap
pears too monstrous for belief, quoting
from recent local infationist literature to
show that this madness is, with Butler,
Kelley and Morton, accounted wisdom
Robinson Crusoe, he begins, had, when he
was alone, tools, clothing, &c, wealth,
capital, articles of utility, but without ex-
changeable value or price; also, three bags
of coin, which, though popularity regarded
as the symbol and concentration of all
wealth, had, under the circumstances,
neither utility, value nor price. When
Crusoe's family was enlarged by the
presence of Friday and Fridays father,
there was still no use for money, for they
haired all things in common and made no
exchanges. With the large and perma-
nent increase Of population the family
system was abandoned and each member
k,,k Il
modlties and services became exchange
able and acquired the attribute of value -
Direct barter proving too costly and
cumbrous to be satisfactory, the inhabi-
tants, under the guidance of instinct and
without any enactment of law agreed to
select some single commodity invested by
common consent with a universal and com
paratively unvarying purchasing power
Their first money was cowry shells, to col
lect one hundred Of which required about
as much lime and labor as to produce a
bushel Of wheat, consequently wheat
regularly exchanged fo: cowrles at the rate
of one hundred cowries per bushe and
other articles in proportion.
Ere long, however, some idle fellows
found part Of the island where cowries
were very abundant, and, amassing boards
of them, began to buy everything that was
offered. Shopkeepers, mechanics, aud
farmers, having so much more money, felt
Impc'led also 10 buy something; demand
increased, and so did prices; people be-
gan to speculate because they distrusted
their money and wanted TO change it of
for something else; finally, other people
discovered cowry mines and inflated the cur
rency till it took a wagon load Of shells to
buy bushel Of wheat. Then the bubble
burst, and every one was poorer save the
original shrewd fnanciers who had got
valuable things in return Tor their shells
and had kept them.
The islanders tried several other kinds
Of currency, bananas, wheat, cows, glass
beads, &c, all of which had conspicuous
Gisad vantages, and at last pitched on gold
substance which was universally in de
mand and of general utility, practically IN
desructiblc, retaining all its attributes
whether it was divided into small pieces,
or these were reunited-the thing OF al
material things that most men have de
sired most. The inconvenience of weigh
ing and testing it at every transaction sug
gestcd coinage into disks, each represent
ing a constant weight Of gold of uniform
purity, and thus the people Of Crusoe'
island had coined money, whose intro
duction and use at once gave an impetus t
business and enriched the people, becaus
it saved time and labor in making OK
changes.
The ISLANDERS, being honest, did nc
cumber their statute books with anythin
about legal tender, enactiDg that whe
any one bought goods for which he PROF.
ised to pay after time he might discharg
his debt by rendering what the state sal
was money, though instead OF gold it nigh
be half lead. They prospered and cam
into commercial contact with the cute
world To save the trouble and danger q
carrying sums OF gold from one part of tn
island TO another, persons began givin
written Or1srs for money on each other
this led to establishing public offic
where people deposited their gold. rece1
ing in return tickets designating tn
amount deposited, which as the substitut
and representative OF money, came int
currency and finally, by mere fiction G
speech, were known as paper money
War with the cannbal5 followed, and t
carry on the war the government had (
borrow from the people, borrowing bein
less obnoxious than imposing taxes. Fc
the supplies and services loaned, the go,
eminent paid III promises Of two kim s.
able at a fixed time; the other. thong
their promise was definite, specifying L
particular time for carrying it out. The
were called bonds and bluebacks. Th
latter came into currency readily as til
equivalents and representatives Of none,
though instead OF an accumulation of COL
and goods, they represented an actual d.
struction Of the things employed 10 tn
war, The new currency was instrument
in affecting exchanges, and this encou
aged the people to believe that the repre-
sentative of the debt to be paid was
means of paying debt, and made the
blind 70 the fact that it had ceased to be
common equivalent, or in itself an objeC
OF value in exchange. The bluebaci
ceased to be a constant measure Ct an
thing; they huctuated in value from day
day, according to the success or rcvers
OF the army, and as no one could tell VIII
they might be worth in the future. 6
dealers charged an extra price above cos
profit and ordinary risk to cover Il
greater risk Of fuctuaton Of the Gu
rency. This was gambling in ordinary ar
legitimate business; among the profe
sional SPECTATORS the evil was greater.
AT the close of the war great indust
to repair its ravages was displayed al
the era of schemes dawned. The island
foreign commerce delayed because Il
islanders had nothing to ship in return
purchases, and cbstructions had be-
placed in the way of foreigners who wish,
tO sell ponds 70 tbavp The island n