The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-03-14
IDEAL MONEY OF ACCOUNT.

rival factions, who make up III clanlor
for the lack Of common sense argu--
ments. in their persistent advocacy OF
'mOnO-metalliSm ana "bl-metal-
lism.' it has never occurred to this
average American that more than
nine tenths of the worlds exchanges
are effected by a purely ideal standard
of values. which is not only. like Il
mathematical point, without length.
breadth or thickness, but is absolute
ly intangible and uncomfortable. work
ing as silently and effectively us the
law of gravitation or the digestive
apparatus OF a healthy person.
That such 9 measure or denOmlna-
ton of value exists is readily shown
! by the frequent quotation in our re-
tail markets Of prices in shillings and
siXpences, none Of which have been
in circulation for a quarter of a centu
. ~ or perhaps have ever been seen by
, a majority of our business people.
Early in this century ideals mon
eyS of account were in many regions
almost entirely the medium of think
ing. expressing and regulating values
and exchanges. For example, the
''sovereign' or pound sterling in
Scotland, according to the testimony
of Sir Walter Scott and his contempO-
raries, though q ''tangible symbolic
coin was seen excepting lin the
purse Of Il miser or the cabinet of Il
virtuoso, by whom these coins were
cherished as curiOsities.H
Many Of us living north OF Philadel-
phia have never seen q silver dollar.
although its ideal. during its existence
Of Il nearly Il century, has adjusted
many hundred millions Of values.
(By the silver dollar we make no ref
erence to the so-caled trade dollar.
which is not a monetary existence.
but u snug package Of metal. put up
like kcg OF nails for commercial
convenience, but, unlike the nails, is
kindly prepared by a paternal govern
ment at the cost of the people for the
benefit Of silver miners and tea mer-
chants.) But the original silver dol
lor-the coin which OF late would-be
wits have dubbed 1.-The dollar of the
daddies '-has been for generations
hourly quoted but never seen, and if
suspicious critics has deemed its eX-
istence, like Sarey Camps friend,
Mrs. Harris, purely apocryphal, they
would have had Il good case.
Of late the query has often been
pressed "what is Il dollar - and most
responses have been rs unsatisfactory
as Daball's definition OF an inch,
which he told us was made of ''three
barley-cornS, the trusting queriSt
accepting the same at an exhaustive
and satisfactory definition, although,
perhepS he had never seen barley
corn. But if the economist or ety.
mologists should appeal to Webster's
dictionary he would find that dollar
is "a silver coin of Spain, and the
United States of the value of one
hundred ctnts;' then looking for the
definition of u cent he would find
it to be "a copper coin whose value is
the hundredth part OF dollar,
which definitions might be banded
from the dollar to the cent and back
again III an eternal game of battle
door and shuttlecock, with no APP
proach to Il logical or satisfactory def
milton.
AS our English cousins have been
longer in this business than we, they
have Il more varied phenomenon to
exhibit. For centuries the sphynx-
like conundrum "What is pound
Sterling!' has with the persistency
of Banquo's ghost been perpetually
recurring and no power of church,
state or college has yet been able by Il
satisfactory answer to put it to rest.
Numismatlsts might perhaps exhibit
ut the museum Il roughly beaten and
stamped chunk of silver and tell us it
was the original pound in weight and
value. and susceptible of mechanical
and monetary division into twenty
equal parts called shillings, but that
1T the present time it could be divid-
ed into siNty-siN shllings. and was,
therefore. three pounds and three
tenthS money of present legal value.
although only the original pound in
weight.
Twenty-Five years ago. Il skillful
analyst ir Hunts Merchants Maya
zine April 1882. gave as Il result of
his researches the following: Ii we
have attained a clear perception of the
money of account we are able to an
swer the question, What iSa pound ,
by simply replying that it is the unit
of the money of account of Great
Britain.
AtleI generations oi controversy
the British government influenced by
desire of settling this yexatious
question ut once and forever. secured
the services of Sir Isaac Newton to
catch and embody in some tangible
symbol this vague but yivacious So
called standard of value" which had
SO far been more successful in evading
its pursurers than the traditional
lrishman $ flea. The distinguished
Philosopher found that this task of
furnishings local habitation for what
had been 50 purely ideal was more
difficult than his accomplished labors
which had discovered and stated the
laws of sidereal movements, and
made it as possible to weigh planets as
potatoes. Although his intelligent
administration caused many great
abuses at the mint to disappear. this
great social factor-the money of ac.
count-eluded even his sturdy grasp.
and an apparently superhuman power
continued TO run the financial opera.
tions of the nation in accordance with