Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-01-21
History of Money.

a concert troop from Paris, on their
way rouud the world, gave AN entertain
ment at one of the Society Islands. inhab
tied chiefly by natives. The soprano was
to receive third part of the receipts
When the concert was over she found that
her share consisted of forty-f chickens,
twenty-three turkeys, three pigs,t five thou.
sand cocoanuts, and several piles of bana-
mas, lemons and oranges. Not being able
herself to consume much of this treasure,
she was soon obliged to feed the pigs and
poultry with the fruit; and. as there was
scarcely any money in the island she bad
to leave behind her most of the proceeds
OF her professional lahors.
Professor Jevons very aptly relates this
anecdote to show The Inconvenience of not
having money. Often travellers have hal
similar experiences. Among primitive
tribes if man has fish to sell. and hap
pens to want knife, he carries his fish
round until he finds some one who will
give him knife for it, A family may
have everything else usually wanted, such
as cloth, beads, paint, rum; but if they
cannot produce knife. they cannot have
fish for dinner. Consequently, at n very
early period certain precious things were
fixed upon to serve as y medium of eX-
change.
rhe first money was probably the skins
of animals; which still serve that purpose
in many parts Of the world. A hundred
years after the settlement of North Amer
ica, beaver skins were as truly money as
our coins and greenbacks are to us. When
civilization had advanced beyond the hunt
ing stage, and men began to have tlocks
and herds. then cattle and sheep were
money. Among the Utes Of Colorado,
ponies serve rs money. Homer speaks of
suit of armor being worth nine oxen
In the early ages Of Greece, the prize for
the victor in the public games was Ger.
tain number of oxen. What indeed does
our word, capital, mean? 1t is derived
from the Latin capuL, head and COMES
down to US from time when Il mans cap
ital was rcckoned by the number of heads
of cattle he possessed. 1t is probable, also
that tho Latin peCunid, which means mon
ey, was derived from pccus, cattle. A
recent writer, Sir II. S. Maine, remarks
that the words capital, chattel and cattle,
were all derived from the same root,
meaning head Currency also, means
running.
In Africa, as the reader is aware, slaves
have long served rs money, and mans
wealth is of,en reckoned by the number of
slaves he possesses, or could possess; the
value of man ranging from thirty to -
hundred and fifty dollars.
Early in the dawn of civilization articles
of ornament slch rs shells, peculiar teeth,
and certain bones difficult to procure,
served rs money. A traveller in Africa, a
few years ago, found himself in the heart
of the continent with q large stock of red
beads, upon which he depended for his
supplies, having been assured that there
was nothing the people in that part of h: :
country so much valued. But he found 10
his great inconvenience, that they gener.
ally preferred white beads, of which he
only had a small supply. Their desire for
white beads, however, was SO great that
he WAS able to purchase the necessaries of
life with the few he had. The next wear,
going through the same country, he laid
in IN ample stock of white beads. But
the fashion had changed. White beads
were regarded with contempt; particu-
lar kind of blue bead was in request; and
he was no better off than he had been in
the previous journey.
1t is surprising what passion there is
among savages for the fashionable articles
of ornament, whatever it may happen to
be. The Indians of this country in the
early days would take rs much trouble to
make string Of wampum rs one of our
men of business to make several thousand
dollars. The best wampum was made of
IL small, very hard she'll, very difficult to
ind, ana still more difficult to perforate
Every shell had to be drilled in certain
way, and as the Indians had very imper-
feet means of doing this, ii took long
time to get through one shell. One of the
old travellers says
With this wampum you may buy all
they have. 1t is their Mammon that en-
ticcs and persuades them to do anything
and part with anything, even their wives
and children. With it they buy of MUIR
derers; and whatever man can do that is
i'll. this wampum will quit him cf."
Indian wampum, in l6l9, was declared
by the government of Massachusetts to be
legal tender to the amount of forty shil.
lings. Among the Fecjee islanders, to this
day, the small teeth OF the whale pass AS
money, white tooth being worth about
twenty-five cents, and Il red tooth rs much
as five dollars. In countries sustained en-
entirely by agriculture, the most valued of
their products was usually the medium of
exchange. In the fall of 1921, pints and
quarts of maize, in packages, served as
small change 10 the pilgrim fathers ut
Plymouth and for ages cocsanuts have
served as currency in the countries that
produce them. In 1918 tobacco was made
n legal tender in Virginia at the rate of
three shillings pound, and any man who
refused ut that rate was liable to three
years hard labor. When wives were i'm =
ported into Virginia, the price of one was
fixed by law, first, at IA hundred pounds of
tobacco, and afterwards mt II hundred and
fifty pounds. Indeed, almost everything
has served for money at some time or
place gum, salt, beeswaX, feathers, pack
ages of tea, nails, iron shovels, eggs. indi-
90, bullets, coffee, rum.
AT very early day, however. the prec-
ious metals began 10 be used for this pur-
pose in preference to other commodities
For the ordinary daily traffic no substances
in nature are so convenient. They have
been used in every form: quills full of
gold dust, pieces of gold and silver wire,
rude globular Jumps, coins, square, round,
many sided, and ohong. 1t is probable
that the custom of wearing rings, origi,
mated in the use of wire money. which
was often rolled into spiral rings and car
ried upon the finger. Bracelets, too, were
originally money carried around the wrist.
and anklets were money carried around
the ankle. The early kings and chief.
merely punched the irregul. r-shaped piece
of gold with their private mark or seal,
only to certify that it weighed the right
number of grains.